A day in London

Sophie woke me at 4.15am this morning, which was a bit of a shock as I was deeply asleep and had forgotten we were going down to London for the day!

By the time I'd showered and dressed I felt a little more awake and we were all ready to go by 5am. We took ET as I'd booked a car parking space at Northampton train station and I figured it would be easier to park the little Hyundai there. I'd heard horror stories of no spaces being available in the early morning!

Luckily there were plenty of spaces available and we were soon parked and waiting on the platform for the train doors to open. We'd booked tickets on the 5.46am train to Euston which was very early indeed! It was a cold frosty morning and once we'd got going it was great to see the sun come up over the icy fields. There is no sign of Spring just yet!

We were at Euston by 7am and we took the underground to Embankment where we changed for just one stop to Westminster. We knew we'd be too early for Sophie's interview but we found out where she had to go and had a coffee in McDonald's.

At the appointed time we said goodbye to our daughter and caught the packed underground train back to Tottenham Court Road as Keith and I were going to pay a visit to the British Museum. We wanted breakfast first, though, as the museum didn't open until 10am. After wandering along Oxford Street for a while we backtracked and spotted a Garfunkel's restaurant serving breakfast. We spent a pleasant hour enjoying a full English and drinking tea before walking the short distance to the British Museum which was now open. Our bags were searched in a tent like structure that reminded me of the security process at the Reichstag in Berlin and then we were through. As we were both wearing coats and scarves we deposited these at the cloakroom for £4 and went off to explore.

The Great Court, as you enter, was designed by Sir Norman Foster who, funnily enough, also did the Reichstag!

You can just see two men cleaning the glass!

There were three exhibits I wanted to see in the museum - the Egyptian Mummies, Lindow Man and the Sutton Hoo discoveries. Keith also wanted to see the Elgin Marbles, now renamed as the Parthenon Sculptures.

We visited the Egyptian halls first and I marvelled at the sight of the coffins, some of which contained Mummies, with the CT scan pictures next to them. While we were looking at the exhibits, I was messaging Mike who was in charge of the house while we were away, and I sent him this picture as he regularly comes to the table for dinner with a towel tucked behind his ears!

A striking resemblance to Mikey!

We spent a fair amount of time looking at all the displays and saw a very well preserved body of a man who had died five and a half thousand years ago. It was fascinating, if a little creepy. His skin had been preserved by the hot climate of the desert and it was amazing to think this was once a man who had lived and breathed so long ago.

We also saw Lindow Man who had died and been preserved in a peat bog near Wilmslow in Cheshire. He was about 25 years old when he died and you could even see that he had a beard that was apparently "neatly trimmed"!

By now our feet were aching a bit so we took advantage of the seats dotted about and rested for a little while. I love days out in the city but the walking takes its toll! After a brief rest we found out where the Sutton Hoo display was and had a quick look before going down to the ground floor to see the Parthenon Sculptures. This area was very busy with school children and groups of students and after looking at the sculptures and marvelling at some huge stone edifices that guarded the entrance to ancient cities, we decided to call it a day.

How did they transport these back to London?

We walked back to the Tottenham Court Road underground and caught the train to Embankment as I thought it would be nice to walk along the river. It was a gorgeous day with clear blue skies and sunshine and was quite mild after the frosty start. We found a bench in a very pleasant public garden and sat people watching for a while. Nearby, a couple on their lunch hour were playing table tennis so it was all very relaxing!

From our bench we could see the London Eye and it was great to relax and soak up some sunshine. I think it was the highlight of my day!

As we were a little footsore we decided to head towards a pub we'd seen in the morning but it was packed with nowhere to sit so we headed further along Whitehall and into Parliament Street and found another place overlooking the Houses of Parliament (encased in scaffolding) called St Stephen's Tavern. This was also busy with seating only for diners, but we were lucky enough to grab two seats at a tall table with a man on his own. After a little while we struck up a conversation with him and we discovered he was on holiday from Canada and was going to Paris, Rome and Prague after visiting London. He said he found the UK expensive and we had to agree!

As the time was getting on we walked back up to Whitehall and had a drink in The Clarence until we heard from Sophie that she was finished. By now the lunchtime drinkers and diners had gone so we were able to find a comfortable table and we enjoyed a sausage roll each served with mustard as a snack with a beer.

Sophie called me and said her interview was over so we told her where we were and she joined us. She thought her day had gone well and enjoyed a half of lager as a treat! Our train back home was at 6pm so we made the journey back to Euston with a couple of hours to spare. The station was crowded with people and we sat on a balcony above the main concourse where Sophie had a plate of cheesy chips until it was time to go down to the platform.

Luckily, we managed to get seats but by the time the train left it was crowded with several people having to stand. Our particular train stopped at every station on the way back to Northampton but it had emptied out considerably once we got to Milton Keynes.

We were delayed for ten minutes at Northampton as we couldn't get into the station and by now we were all very tired indeed. We had been on the go for fourteen hours! I drove home, stopping at McDonald's on the way to get a burger and chicken strips for the children and by 9pm the three of us were heading to bed!