Cambridge Sabbatical

Somehow, an unfinished draft of this story posted itself… here is the complete version: We went to Paris on the Eurostar train - only 2 hours from London.  The main event was a visit to the Eiffel Tower. We started by scoping it out right after arrival.  Next morning, we tackled the lines and made it to the top: From the tower, it was a short walk to the Rodin museum, where we saw two thinkers: Lenny and Robert then took off on a random explanation of the desserts of Paris The next day, we woke up to rain - perfect time for a visit to a serious museum!h Here we are at Orsay: In the afternoon, we met up with Colette’s friend Betsy and her family in the Luxembourg gardens.  And on the last day, we visited the sewers  And also the Tuileries garden with yet another carousel We also checked out the outside of the Louvre, but decided to leave the inside for next time…

We took the train to London today. The ride took about an hour and Hanna won all the card games on board… After arriving in Kings Cross, we did not find platform 9 3/4, so we decided to check out London instead of going to Hogwarts  After lunch with their uncle Lawrence (somehow we didn’t take a picture with him) at the Borough Market, the kids enjoyed the playground under the London Eye in the Tourist Trap District. Many pictures of Big Ben followed… With sightseeing pictures accomplished, we finally headed to the British Museum for some serious culture and to see the stuff we will not see when we go to Greece later on.  Great day overall, can’t wait to go back for more museums and history. The train system really works well for going to the big city from our village.

 We dragged ourselves out of bed by 10am and headed over to meet some real British farm animals. Eliza was very excited, especially for the pigs. She’s a little obsessed with Peppa Pig right now, so she couldn’t believe she was seeing a pig in person!  She did wonder why it didn’t have clothes on though.  Then we found a pub for a Sunday roast lunch (roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, roast veggies) and rhubarb crumble with custard.  Then home by 4 to crash for naps and a short family walk to the river at sunset.  Hanna made fun of the swans on the river and they all (like 10 of them, and these are BIG birds) silently followed her until we turned off the path… I don’t think she will tease them again!