London Calling

Teaghlach Melchior got back to Galway last night after a wonderful week at the Walker estate in England. We had an amazing time with Lamia, David and their kids. Alex and Sam immediately hit it off and spent quality bonding time by blowing apart aliens with the various weapons available on X-Box. Meanwhile, Theo and Chloe spent time building with Legos.

On Thursday, we rode the train and underground from High Wycombe to central London, where we spent a great morning at the Tower. The boys enjoyed the castle and its stories. For lunch, we crossed the Thames to the Borough Market – a veritable town of open-air food and vegetable stalls, along with hot food vendors and fish mongers. Theo suggested purchasing the smoked hog’s head for our hosts, but Sue did not think there was enough stowage room in the back pack.

Sam indulged in a Cornish pasty made of venison and pigeon, while Paul enjoyed one filled with rabbit and lamb. They both noticed that Sam’s was a bit more deer in price, but Paul’s weighed just a hare more (and was therefore nothing to squabble about). Theo passed on the opportunity to have a wild boar meat pie, and he and his mom instead chose more conventional sausages. After Sue secured a kilogram of Turkish delight, we headed for Leadenhall Market - Diagon Alley of Harry Potter fame.

Friday morning, Lamia and Alex accompanied us to the British Museum to slake Theo’s hunger for Egyptian sarcophagi and Sumerian man-beast carvings. When we approached the Rosetta stone and were about to explain to him what it was, he burst into an excited dissertation about how ‘this is that rock that the archaeologists used to figure out hieroglyphics!!!!’. Later, we enjoyed the street performers and lunch at Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square, and a stroll around Westminster Abbey.

Saturday was spent at Windsor Castle. Liz was in the house while we were there, but didn’t bother to drop down to see us. We had a wonderful time despite the snub, but her guards were a bit rude at closing time, and Paul asked to have a word with the Queen about it. Because his request was summarily rejected, he is writing to Gordon Brown to ask that she and the whole clan be sacked and replaced by the next available Plantagenet or Stuart heir. Lousy Royals.

We spent Sunday at the British Natural History Museum, which was celebrating Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday. Paul was hoping that his hero’s corpse would be lying in state, but had to settle for reading some of his notebooks and seeing specimens from the Beagle voyages.

Every evening that we spent with the Walkers was better than the previous. The kids got along famously, including and especially Theo and Chloe, both of whom were moved to tears when it was time for us to leave. Sam and Alex removed their respective iPod earphones long enough to bid each other adieu, and off we went. It’s always bittersweet to see old friends, reconnect, and inevitably bid farewell until the next time.

To celebrate our trip to London, this week's song of the blog is A Town Called Malice from one of our favorite British bands from the 1980's, The Jam. Turn it up.