Harder than I’d realized

Bill joined the sightseeing today. But I don’t know if it was exactly what he bargained for.

Before we left France, Bill had told me which things on my potential to-do list he wanted to do, too. The one thing that topped both our lists for the weekend is the Tower of London.

Before we could go to the tower (the tower! The tower! Rapunzel! Rapunzel!) we had to take a detour to the same-day ticket booth. Kaitlyn saw posters for shows in the metro stations and has been begging to go to a show. (I had a chance to buy Lion King tickets, but just couldn’t bring myself to spend the money on them… with the exchange rate it just was too much at 60 Pounds a piece.) We found the ticket booth and I got in line while Bill and Kaitlyn ran around the park. Luckily, a friend of the person behind me walked up and said we were in the line for matinée tickets. So we switched to the other line. That gave me a chance to read the list of plays with available tickets. Not a single one I thought Kaitlyn would enjoy… or even understand. Bill rejoined me and we agreed that a better bet would be to convince Kaitlyn that a movie (aka: picture show) would be a great alternative to a play. Given that she doesn’t even know what a play is… and there was a big poster for Enchanted nearby… it was a pretty easy sell. We had to wait another half hour or so for the box office to open. Kaitlyn and I went in search of drinks and instead found a gellato shop that scooped up an overflowing bowl of watermelon gellato. By the time the box office opened, both Kaitlyn and I were coated in a sticky film of the stuff. It’s a good thing, though, that we waited to buy the tickets in the morning. Turns out, the theater has assigned seats.

Once that was taken care of, it was off to the Tower. I’d gotten Bill to figure out the bus route map and how to catch a bus that looked like it wound right past the landmarks like Big Ben that Kaitlyn would recognize from movies. Finding where to catch this bus was a different story. We walked and walked and walked to the spot where we should have been able to get on the bus only to find the intersection torn up and the bus route obviously re-routed. With no signs. We walked and walked and walked some more until we found the end of the route. Where you can’t get on the bus. So we walked and walked and walked some more until we found a place to get on the bus. The one at the stop wasn’t a double-decker, but it was starting to rain so we got on. We did see Big Ben briefly, but overall the ride was hardly worth the effort it took to take it. Although it did stop right by the Tower of London, after crossing over the Tower Bridge. I think I’m the only one who thought that was kinda neat.

It took so long to get to the Tower that Bill decided we should eat before going inside. We found what looked like a fast-food chicken restaurant that served you on real china. Bizarre. Bill ordered and I went to find a table. He finally arrived with our food in little styrofoam boxes. All I could think to myself was “twenty years ago when I came here with my mom, everything went perfectly… and it’s not going that well for me on this trip… “ and it made me miss her. And I burst into tears. Bill had trouble understanding why I was crying over eating out of a styrofoam box; he had even more trouble understanding why I’d sit there crying if it wasn’t over eating out of a styrofoam box. I guess I have to admit that for the past two days, everywhere I’ve gone I’ve asked myself if it was somewhere I’d gone with Mom. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Tower is someplace she took me… and it became too overwhelming. So I cried. A lot. But when I finished, I felt better. A little. At least I finally admitted that being in London was harder than I thought it would be.

Inside the Tower, I was excited to join in the Beefeater’s tour to hear the stories of who’d stayed in the famous prison. I was the only one who was interested. So Bill and Kaitlyn wandered around, looked at the ravens, and let me go on the tour. Listening to the same stories I’d heard 18 years ago standing there with my Mom was actually therapeutic. It made me feel better instead of worse… it made me happy to still be able to enjoy something my Mom had introduced me to. And I know that’s how she’d want it. She wouldn’t have been thrilled about me sitting at lunch crying when she was alive; I know that’s not what she wants now. Kaitlyn and Bill also checked out the crown jewels before I caught up with them. But they were both ok with riding the conveyor belt past the crowns again. Kaitlyn wasn’t as impressed with them as I thought she would be, but she is still only four. She really liked the weapons display where you can try to fire a crossbow (simulator) or put on the metal gloves from a suit of armor and try to pick up a sword.

From the Tower, we found ourselves back in the area of Hamley’s. We’d climbed aboard a double decker bus in hopes of finding a place where I could have tea. Yes, I am obsessed with clotted cream. But we didn’t find tea and scones. We found a place for a quick soda and snack, then Bill took Kaitlyn back to the toy mecca for another shopping spree. I wandered around the other stores, desperate to find something that I could justify buying when you double the price on the tag. I didn’t. I started to worry because I hadn’t heard anything yet from Bill, so I called. They were in the dress-up dress area and she was in the dressing room. Luckily, all the dresses were too itchy. I finally met them at Hamley’s (because I had to go to the bathroom and a store for kids was sure to have one). Kaitlyn had picked out yet another outfit for her new bear.

Time was running out to manage to eat dinner before going to our “show,” so we rushed to the tube to zip to the hotel to dump off our stuff. We were standing on the platform waiting for the train when the “mind the gap” recording was interrupted by a man telling us to “clear the station… everyone out.” And calmly and orderly, everyone just turned around and walked to the exits. In the U.S., people would run and scream and knock old ladies out of their way to get out. While we were heading to the exit, our train pulled up and actually stopped. So we (and a few others) turned back and jumped on the train. What better way to get out of the station? Bill thinks that they were evacuating because of a lone suitcase he’d noticed sitting by the turnstiles. When we got off the metro at Harrods, security wasn’t letting anybody into the station. We asked if that station was closed, too. No… “crowd control.” By the time we stopped at the hotel and walked back, the crowd was controlled and we got right back on the subway.

We’d agreed to grab a quick dinner before the movie. We didn’t have time for anything different. It was looking like our best choice for a quick dinner was the Pizza Hut next to the theater. I don’t eat at Pizza Hut in the U.S., I hate to think that’s where I’m going to eat in London. I turned up my nose, and Bill frantically looked for a realistic alternative. We spied a fish restaurant with open tables and reasonable prices. The hostess said they could certainly get us in and out in 40 minutes. So we took a chance. We were so glad we did. Kaitlyn had a wonderful plate of fish and chips. I had wonderful fried shrimp. Bill had so-so crab cakes. Ok, two out of three isn’t bad.

The movie theater was different. The multi-plex put the theaters on different floors. We were on the top floor. The theater was not much bigger than some home theaters in the U.S. Or at least on HGTV. Before the trailers, we were treated to about 6 minutes of commercials. Then the trailers. Finally, the movie. Kaitlyn loved it. She’d gotten to go to a show in London. She was exhausted, but happy. Finally, all was well. Or at least, better.

One Response to “Harder than I’d realized”

  1. D.A.D. says:

    You actually participated in a tube evacuation in London, although your chosen method of evacuation probably doesn’t fit the description in the terrorist-avoidance manuals. That’s something you can put on your things-to-be-remembered list. It is a little scary to think stuff like that goes on, and sometimes you’re in the middle of it.

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