London

The kids have høst ferie (Fall Holiday) this week, so we hoofed it to London. The Ryan Air flight was cheap, and no surprises: not very comfortable. But we've paid much more for just about the same level of discomfort on planes. At least the Ryan Air folks are honest about what you are getting- a cattle like experience, no food, small chairs. I do appreciate being short in these settings, Peter's legs were crammed into the back of the chair in front of him.

My sister Caroline and her family live in London, so we have a place to stay. Her daughter Regine (above) has attached herself like a limpet to Conlon and Juliette, she loves having her older cousins come to visit. She and her older brother Clement are not on vacation this week, but we enjoy goofing off in the afternoon with them.

London is a riot of people, a real world melting pot (like a lot of big cities). We have a hard time understanding the hard core English accent- there were a couple sitting behind us on the bus that I could only understand about every 5th word. That's approximately what I understand in Norwegian! Most of the Brits who guess where we are from (by our accents) guess Canada! I imagine that's because they are used to east coast or southern American accents.

Most of the museums in London are free (which helps, because everything else is expensive). We enjoyed the Natural History Museum so much, we will return today to visit the new Darwin Center. The Natural History Museum building is amazing in itself, designed by Alfred Waterhouse, after the first architect (Captain Francis Fowke) died.
Waterhouse altered Fowke’s design from Renaissance to German Romanesque, creating the amazing Waterhouse Building.