Adventures in London and Windsor
So, last week a whole gang of us went down to London for our Easter holiday...
Day 1 - Tuesday 2nd April:
I caught the 10:27 train with ju_bear, Paul and Jamie. We all splashed out the extra £15 for First Class, and I think we got our money's worth in drinks and snacks alone!
We met springmaker at St Pancras, along with Peri and their nanny. Ken was under the impression we were going straight to the museums (which we weren't), so it was a brief hello before we split up again. Especially with the comedy heading-down-different-escalators-and-losing-each-other moment.
We caught the Tube together for part of the way, then split up so I could take Ju, Paul and Jamie to see "Big Bob", which Jamie really wanted to see. I love the exit to Westminster station, how the clock tower suddenly looms over right in front of you as you climb the stairs. We snapped a few photos then headed off to check in at our hostel.
We had to find the Earls Court police box en route of course. I explained the joke reference in the previous week's Doctor Who episode ("Are you sure this time? Earls Court was embarrassing!").
We were staying in Earls Court YHA (or "Ya-Ha!" as we liked to call it). I was sharing a six-bed room with the Nightingales on the top (third) floor, and the Haynes were in another room one floor down. There was a minor cock-up as the YHA staff had trouble figuring out who was in which room and how many nights we were all staying for, but it was soon sorted once we explained it and got them to pull up the booking details.
We dumped our bags, did the compulsory nosing at each others' rooms, and then made for the Science Museum, where we met up with everyone.
As well as Ken and co, and the Nightingales, we met caraj316, Alex and Ben, and glitterybint and Daniel. The kids were scattered about Launchpad, which was absolute bedlam. Anyone would think it was the school holidays or something... I didn't really get to see any of the Science Museum (although I did have a makeshift bridge land on me), but that was okay as it was free entry and I've been around it lots of times before. I did get to say hello to everyone, which was the important thing.
About 4-ish I headed off with the Hayneses and Ken to meet Ebru, who'd kindly arranged to give us a tour of BBC Broadcasting House, where she works. W00t! It's the home of BBC Radio, some of BBC News, and the World Service. Oh, and they have a Dalek and a TARDIS of course (Two TARDISes in one day!). Peri stayed with Ken while the rest of us went on tour. Ebru showed us the huge open plan area you often see in the background on the news (Signs on the doors inform you of the dress code as you may be on camera!). It's much more crowded than my office, owing to the location. The floor area of each desk is £40,000 of real estate. *Gibber* We also saw the upper floors and a few of the smaller studios. Jamie decided he wanted to be a radio presenter and a TV cameraman.
Afterwards we headed back to the hostel, just beating the Nightingales back. I wandered out with longrat and Ju to forage for food. Ju managed to home in on an amazing variety of interesting looking takeaways. We ended up getting the ENTIRE mezes section of the menu (I love ordering whole sections like that!) of a Lebanese place and taking it back to the hostel.
The hostel itself was similar to most other hostels I've been to. It wasn't as luxurious as Hartington, but it was perfectly fine. It was friendly and there were a lot of families there, so we fit right in. The rooms had a sink but weren't en suite. The showers down the hall were fine, although the loos made the ones on the train look spacious, unless you wandered down a floor from our room to the alternative ones.
The main thing going for the place (unless you count the endless supply of hot drinks and tourist attraction discounts!) was the amount of communal space. As well as a decent-sized kitchen, there were two large lounges. The back one was often quite empty and had a great mezzanine level which the kids used to play "mountain rescue" on. Ruby seemed to designate herself Keeper of the Keycard for the week, and was very helpful in opening doors for everyone.
We didn't sleep particularly well the first night. Mainly this was because the room was too hot and we were all too polite to unilaterally decide to open the window. We got past such foolishness the next morning and I know I (for one) slept well after that - partly because of the long and busy days! :o)
(Click on any of the photos for larger versions, or here for the full gallery - although they're all included in this post.)
Day 2 - Wednesday 3rd April:
LEGOLAND!!! :oD
The main reason I came on this holiday! I've been wanting to go here since it first opened in 1996, but hadn't made it so far. We managed to get five adults and four kids up and mobilised impressively early and made our way there, aiming to squeeze a whole day out of it (Opening hours are 10am to 6pm, and we almost made it as soon as it opened). The journey involved the Tube, two trains and a bus ride, but it wasn't as bad as it sounds. Ruby announced very definitely that she was going to Legoland "with you" (i.e. me) and I was her "paw partner" (holding hands so neither of us got lost) for much of the day.
We had a bit of time to kill at Paddington, so we found The Bear and his shop (though Tim and I were tempted by the nearby pub, which my parents have since told me is really good...) and took photos. It seemed bizarre that we couldn't get to Windsor direct from London, considering its touristy nature. Windsor station is also rather odd - It was clearly once quite a sizeable Victorian station, but now it's down to a single platform.
The station is right by the castle, so we got a quick look at that (Something to do in a future visit!) and caught the bus. To avoid holding things up, I bought all our fares, and so began a (light-hearted!) week-long battle, in which we all tried to pay for things before anyone else did, and kept trying to give each other money.
Legoland was... Well, where do I start? Bryony asked me if I was in heaven, and I said I was in a place pretty close to it. As you go in, the whole park is spread out before you in the valley, all 25 million bricks of it. Mined out of the ground by Lego moles, didn't you know!
Once we were in, B, Roo and I charged off down the hill, where the park makers had considerately thought to install slides alongside the steps and the disabled ramp, which meant we got down even quicker. We had a good look around Miniland with it's very impressive London in Lego, as well as many other locations.
As you'd expect for a theme park, Legoland is full of rides, most of which are Lego themed in some way. It's divided into "worlds" (pirates, Vikings, knights, etc.) with rides and other activities in each world. You pay a lot on the door (although thanks to the Nightingales' Merlin passes, they got in free and the rest of us were half price). It's 90% outdoors and the weather was flipping freezing. This was okay though, as it meant the place wasn't too busy and queues for the rides weren't too bad at all. There was probably about the right number of people to keep the place buzzing without being too crowded. And we'd wrapped up warm, so we were fine.
We went on the Atlantis Submarine Voyage (an aquarium with real fish amidst Lego ruins and divers) and the Dino Safari (exactly what it sounds like) before going to the restaurant, laughing at the prices (Seriously - If you go, bring your own food) and heading to the picnic area for lunch.
While we were there, B had a go at a few games stalls and won a blue raccoon almost as big as she was. I took Jamie on the Squid Surfer ride (which spins you round on a mock jetski, on which you have a steering wheel to adjust your speed / how far you get flung out from the centre / how much you spray onlookers - Maximum fun is to be had by hitting top speed as quickly as possible, slowing down then repeating). By the time we got off, B had won another toy almost as big as she was. Then she won a smaller green dragon for Tani. Then Tim banned her from playing any more games ;o)
Leaving her winnings with the stall holders for us to pick up later, we carried on to Lego City, where we watched the Pirates of Skeleton Bay show. It was impressively acrobatic, with a good dose of slapstick coupled with Looney Tunes-esque sound effects. It had that form of sexism peculiar to adverts and kids' entertainment, in which all the male characters were hopeless and there was a single female character who they'd all be lost without. That didn't spoil it too much though. It was a fun show with a lot of laughs. "You make me maaad!"
After that we resumed the rides. Our favourite was Pirate Falls, which takes you through various Lego pirate scenes (and pirate graves with terrible, terrible puns - D. Ceased, Marcus A. Plot, etc.) before winding you up a wooden tower and flinging you down a log flume. Thanks to Ju for bringing along a waterproof poncho for me so I didn't need to buy one from the machines. Ju also bought me a copy of the photo of us going down. Jamie wasn't convinced by the spray, but most of us loved it and went on again. Funnily enough, the queue wasn't that big. Not that the time in the queue mattered, as they have lots of Duplo to play with while you wait, and a rather foolish sign asking you not to build tall towers with it. Which we obeyed of course. *Ahem*
The Dragon was also brilliant. Like Pirate falls, it takes you through various Lego scenes (a fantasy castle in this case), before hurtling you off into oblivion. Or outside onto a fast roller-coaster track at any rate. I rode with Ruby and she loved the ride. It was slightly alarming that the kids got seatbelts in their seats and the adults didn't.
Time was marching on by this point. I wanted to see the Star Wars exhibit so we went there next, as it was on the way back to the exit. It was pretty damn impressive, with all the major scenes from all six films set out in Miniland (1:20) scale, plus larger versions of most of the main characters.
After that, we went to the "4D" cinema, where Bryony wanted to see the new Chima show. Unfortunately we ended up watching Clutch Powers instead, which just goes to teach us to check the show times properly. After the show, there was just enough time for a quick visit to the shop before it was time to go.
The journey back was frankly a bit of a pain. The buses weren't running as they should, which meant we were stuck waiting in the cold for a bit. Then it took forever to get through the car park traffic as everyone was leaving at once. When we made it back to Slough on the train, we had that "creeping death" in which our connection was first two minutes late, then four minutes, then six minutes... Once it hit 12 minutes we switched platforms for another train. Then that one started being delayed as well so we switched back.
We eventually made it back to the YHA. Tim and Bryony clutching giant toys greatly amused a bunch of Germans on the Tube. Everyone was shattered by this point, so Ju completely undermined finding all those amazing takeaways the previous evening by buying us all filthy, evil KFC. It was exactly what we needed! :o)
Day 3 - Thursday 4th April:
Thursday was a slightly more relaxed day, though still a fairly early start. We went to the Natural History Museum, and it was probably a good job we picked something indoors to do, as this was the day it snowed. In Central London!
We got to the museum just as it was opening and headed straight for the dinosaurs before the queues built up. B wanted to find the Edmontosaurus skeleton (still half in the rock and with some of its skin preserved) so she and I shot off ahead. The Hayneses caught us up and we eventually all met back up again. We wandered through the mammals section, where Jamie refused to have his photo taken with another bear, although we did get one of Tani with another weasel ;o)
Unfortunately the earthquake simulator was closed, which the girls really wanted to see. But we still found plenty to do. We saw the whales, the human biology section and the geology section. We made our donations to the museum by experimenting lots with the coin whirlpool. 2p coins work the best, though (funnily enough) the museum suggests you put £1 coins in instead. 20p and 50p coins were rubbish. We ended up quite spread out, and I went round with Tani for a while, who enjoyed all the hands-on activities. And proved she is definitely smarter than a chimpanzee.
Eventually it was time to say goodbye to Ju, Paul and Jamie who were heading back to Sheffield. Sorry to see you guys go!
The rest of us went for lunch on the museum canteen, where I borrowed Liz's mobile and tried to find a quiet spot to ring and book my ticket to Legoland the next day (We hadn't decided if / when we were going back for a second day in advance, and you need to book tickets at least a day before to benefit from the Merlin family & friends discount). Yes, I said, "find a quiet spot," in the Natural History Museum on a Saturday lunchtime during the school holidays. Don't laugh.
We flaked out at various different points in the afternoon. Tim took a tired Roo and Tani back to the hostel while Liz and B had another look round the human biology section and I explored the new "Cocoon" wing (where you can see the specimen storage and labs) and the "Treasures" gallery upstairs. I also love all the different natural history sculptures all over the walls and columns of the museum, and could look at them all day.
We made our ways back separately and met up back at the YHA. As the evening was yet young, we had a couple of games of Monster 4 and Shave a Sheep, then went out for a proper meal at a Mediterranean place just over the road. The food was cheap and brilliant - We ordered what was meant to be a dish for four to share between us all. It was full of breads, dips and grilled meat. Yummy, but there was just too much of it! We took a doggy back back to the hostel kitchen and donated it to the other guests.
Day 4 - Friday 5th April:
Legoland day 2, and we knew exactly what we were doing this time in terms of trains, buses, which ticket gate to enter and how warm to dress! It was definitely worth going back for a second day. I was amazed how quickly the time whizzed by, but we pretty much did everything we wanted to, so I think we can safely say we have "done" Legoland now!
We started off with Kingdom of the Pharoahs, which we'd given up on the first day as the queue was too long (being indoors...). It was one of those "ghost train with lasers" rides, through an Egyptian temple. I scored 17,000 points with my hits but Liz trumped me with 19,000. Curses! ;o)
Getting the queasy rides out of the way before lunch, we went on the Spinning Spider and then the others went on the Pirate Ship. I don't do Pirate Ship rides as they just make me ill, and Bryony didn't fancy it either. We wandered off and went panning for gold instead. I was a little concerned that within five minutes of me being in loco parentis, she'd managed to get completely soaked (I mentioned it was cold, right?). I showed her how to lift the pan without tipping water everywhere and kept checking that her limbs weren't about to drop off. Thank heaven for big walk-in dryers - best invention ever! We both got medals for the gold we collected, which we got to show off and chink together for the rest of the day.
We planned and made sure we saw the 4D Chima show this time. Liz and I noted that it was apparently okay for the I-can't-believe-it's-not-Lion-O character to take the "chi" (which is meant to be for everyone) for his own personal use, but it's not okay for the crocodile character to. Who put the lion in charge anyway? Still, there was live fire, fart gags (with green smoke effects) and it out-did Tolkien by not only having giant eagles come to the rescue out of nowhere in the third act, but giant eagles with frickin' laser beams. So it wasn't all bad.
We had lunch in front of the pirate show. I took advantage of the second viewing to figure out how they did some of the stunts. Afterwards, we went on the Space Tower, Viking River Splash (which we immediately went on again, as there was no queue) and Orient Expedition, as well as doing Squid Surfer, Pirate Falls and The Dragon again (because they were ace!). Tani sat in the front on Pirate Falls for the first time, which meant she got the full brunt of the splashdown. We asked her if she was okay, and she turned round with the biggest adrenalin-junkie grin that I've ever seen. Tim declared that there were generations of Nightingales all over the country who must've suddenly found themselves grinning in sympathy for no apparent reason :o)
All of a sudden it was quarter to six, and we had to dash back to the shop before it was time to go. I was fairly restrained. Only spending *cough* £153 in the shop over the two days counts as being restrained, right? Actually I was genuinely good the first time, and resisted buying the medieval village. Then the others talked me into it on the second day. They twisted my arm, I tell you. Honest. (Now I just need to book time with B to help me build all 1601 pieces of it.)
I took B round the shop and helped her spend her money (She really didn't need help!), including on a set of make-your-own mini-figures. We got out around half six, later than on Wednesday and technically past closing time, but we had a much smoother journey back and ended up back at the YHA at least an hour earlier. We bumped into one of the Legoland ride operators on the train who asked us about our day. We had a good chat and complemented the ever-cheerful Legoland staff as a real asset to the place. Then we had to avoid looking like we were stalking him, as he seemed to be heading to the same platform as us to catch a connection.
Proof (if it were needed) of the motivational power of Lego - As we got back to the YHA, Liz told the girls they could only play with the Lego they'd bought after they'd showered and got ready for bed. By the time she, Tim and Tani got to the top of the stairs on the way back to our room, B was already streaking past them in the opposite direction in a towel. It just goes to show how quickly kids can get ready for bed if they want to!
We built B's new Lego Chima set and Roo's new Lego Friends sets while Tim went out to gather pizza, and then ate that in the comfort of our room. We all had an earlier night as we had to pack the next morning.
Day 5 - Saturday 6th April:
Last day! *sniff* I was very touched by sad Weasel not wanting me to go home. Very cute, despite her claim that today she was going to be "not cute and a little bit fierce". There was still plenty of fun to be had before we left though. And it was a glorious sunny day. Hard to believe it had been snowing two days earlier.
First off (after packing, checking out, and Tim making a trip to the post office to mail Bryony's giant soft toys home), we headed to the London Eye together. It being a sunny Saturday in the Easter hols, queues were the order of the day. There was a massive queue for Tube tickets, which I avoided by making my first foray into the world of Oyster cards.
Tim asked Bryony and I, "Are you two being Doctor Who nerds again?" as we crossed Westminster Bridge. I don't know why. We were only talking about the Eye being a secret transmitter for the Nestene Consciousness ;o)
The others had their Merlin passes, but I had to collect the discounted ticket I'd bought through the YHA. The queue was enormous and I worried about how long I was going to make them wait for me, but it moved extremely quickly. It was quite remarkable how they shifted four separate queues at rapid pace through a room clearly not designed to handle even half that many people. So we soon met back up and joined another queue to get on...
I last went on the Eye shortly after it opened, but it was a cloudy day then. The visibility was much better this time round and the view was great (although B wasn't keen on looking down). After we got off we went our separate ways - The Nightingales were off to visit Madame Tussauds (which they later said was absolutely heaving). I wasn't bothered about visiting there so I went off to do my own thing. There was more Weaselly sadness as we said our temporary goodbye.
I had planned to visit the Dali exhibition in County Hall, but it's currently closed while it moves to a new home. So instead I took a leisurely walk along the South Bank and then continued the theme of seeing London from on high by visiting (and climbing) St Paul's.
Visiting is pricey at £16, but it's cheaper than the Eye and you get just as good a view from the top, with the advantage of being in the open air as well. Plus you get to see the rest of St Paul's. It's just a shame they don't allow you to take photos inside. I wasn't the only one taking a few sneaky shots from up in the Whispering Gallery. At least their excuse ("respecting the sanctity of this place of prayer") is slightly more plausible than the nonsense the Westminster Abbey staff try to pull about copyright infringement.
My favourite bit was the view and seeing the structure of the dome as you climb through it. The glass panel in the floor at the top, from which you can look down 300+ feet to the cathedral floor is quite terrifying. After the climb, I was ready for lunch in the café in the cathedral crypt.
Liz rang me (I'd borrowed Tani's mobile!) with near-perfect timing as I'd just about finished looking round. We arranged to meet up in Regent's Park at 4pm. After the earlier fuss about me leaving, Tani demanded to know why I hadn't gone home and pretended to shoot me. Go figure. Mind you, having remembered that I'm soft enough to give her a carry, her legs very quickly became "broken" again despite having been fine all afternoon.
I remarked that the girls were going round the park gathering uncles. Wthin five minutes of meeting me, we met up with Uncle Ken again. As it was a nice day, we stayed in the park and the girls played in the playground until it was time to start the journey back. Liz and Tim were very kind and complementary about my helping to child wrangle during the holiday, though I'm sure at one point they accused me of being a responsible adult. Whereas really I was just enjoying the chance to go out and play with you all :o)
All too soon it was time to go our separate ways again, and for the last time. Quite what the rest of the park thought of us as we left, all singing the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet version of the Doctor Who theme, I've no idea. In fact, Doctor Who seemed to be a bit of a theme for the week all told. Tim and I headed back to the YHA together to collect our bags, beating a sharp retreat to avoid any Doctor Who spoilers from the TV in the lounge.
I got to St Pancras with enough time to spare to grab some sushi to eat on the train and have a leisurely browse in Borders. I eventually made it back home at about 11pm as scheduled. And that, as they say, was that.
All in all, it was a brilliant holiday, going to great places with fabulous friends. A huge thanks to everyone for letting me come with you and all the fun we had together. I'm only sorry that it had to end. Next holiday please!
Day 1 - Tuesday 2nd April:
I caught the 10:27 train with ju_bear, Paul and Jamie. We all splashed out the extra £15 for First Class, and I think we got our money's worth in drinks and snacks alone!
We met springmaker at St Pancras, along with Peri and their nanny. Ken was under the impression we were going straight to the museums (which we weren't), so it was a brief hello before we split up again. Especially with the comedy heading-down-different-escalators-and-losing-each-other moment.
We caught the Tube together for part of the way, then split up so I could take Ju, Paul and Jamie to see "Big Bob", which Jamie really wanted to see. I love the exit to Westminster station, how the clock tower suddenly looms over right in front of you as you climb the stairs. We snapped a few photos then headed off to check in at our hostel.
We had to find the Earls Court police box en route of course. I explained the joke reference in the previous week's Doctor Who episode ("Are you sure this time? Earls Court was embarrassing!").
We were staying in Earls Court YHA (or "Ya-Ha!" as we liked to call it). I was sharing a six-bed room with the Nightingales on the top (third) floor, and the Haynes were in another room one floor down. There was a minor cock-up as the YHA staff had trouble figuring out who was in which room and how many nights we were all staying for, but it was soon sorted once we explained it and got them to pull up the booking details.
We dumped our bags, did the compulsory nosing at each others' rooms, and then made for the Science Museum, where we met up with everyone.
As well as Ken and co, and the Nightingales, we met caraj316, Alex and Ben, and glitterybint and Daniel. The kids were scattered about Launchpad, which was absolute bedlam. Anyone would think it was the school holidays or something... I didn't really get to see any of the Science Museum (although I did have a makeshift bridge land on me), but that was okay as it was free entry and I've been around it lots of times before. I did get to say hello to everyone, which was the important thing.
About 4-ish I headed off with the Hayneses and Ken to meet Ebru, who'd kindly arranged to give us a tour of BBC Broadcasting House, where she works. W00t! It's the home of BBC Radio, some of BBC News, and the World Service. Oh, and they have a Dalek and a TARDIS of course (Two TARDISes in one day!). Peri stayed with Ken while the rest of us went on tour. Ebru showed us the huge open plan area you often see in the background on the news (Signs on the doors inform you of the dress code as you may be on camera!). It's much more crowded than my office, owing to the location. The floor area of each desk is £40,000 of real estate. *Gibber* We also saw the upper floors and a few of the smaller studios. Jamie decided he wanted to be a radio presenter and a TV cameraman.
Afterwards we headed back to the hostel, just beating the Nightingales back. I wandered out with longrat and Ju to forage for food. Ju managed to home in on an amazing variety of interesting looking takeaways. We ended up getting the ENTIRE mezes section of the menu (I love ordering whole sections like that!) of a Lebanese place and taking it back to the hostel.
The hostel itself was similar to most other hostels I've been to. It wasn't as luxurious as Hartington, but it was perfectly fine. It was friendly and there were a lot of families there, so we fit right in. The rooms had a sink but weren't en suite. The showers down the hall were fine, although the loos made the ones on the train look spacious, unless you wandered down a floor from our room to the alternative ones.
The main thing going for the place (unless you count the endless supply of hot drinks and tourist attraction discounts!) was the amount of communal space. As well as a decent-sized kitchen, there were two large lounges. The back one was often quite empty and had a great mezzanine level which the kids used to play "mountain rescue" on. Ruby seemed to designate herself Keeper of the Keycard for the week, and was very helpful in opening doors for everyone.
We didn't sleep particularly well the first night. Mainly this was because the room was too hot and we were all too polite to unilaterally decide to open the window. We got past such foolishness the next morning and I know I (for one) slept well after that - partly because of the long and busy days! :o)
(Click on any of the photos for larger versions, or here for the full gallery - although they're all included in this post.)
Day 2 - Wednesday 3rd April:
LEGOLAND!!! :oD
The main reason I came on this holiday! I've been wanting to go here since it first opened in 1996, but hadn't made it so far. We managed to get five adults and four kids up and mobilised impressively early and made our way there, aiming to squeeze a whole day out of it (Opening hours are 10am to 6pm, and we almost made it as soon as it opened). The journey involved the Tube, two trains and a bus ride, but it wasn't as bad as it sounds. Ruby announced very definitely that she was going to Legoland "with you" (i.e. me) and I was her "paw partner" (holding hands so neither of us got lost) for much of the day.
We had a bit of time to kill at Paddington, so we found The Bear and his shop (though Tim and I were tempted by the nearby pub, which my parents have since told me is really good...) and took photos. It seemed bizarre that we couldn't get to Windsor direct from London, considering its touristy nature. Windsor station is also rather odd - It was clearly once quite a sizeable Victorian station, but now it's down to a single platform.
The station is right by the castle, so we got a quick look at that (Something to do in a future visit!) and caught the bus. To avoid holding things up, I bought all our fares, and so began a (light-hearted!) week-long battle, in which we all tried to pay for things before anyone else did, and kept trying to give each other money.
Legoland was... Well, where do I start? Bryony asked me if I was in heaven, and I said I was in a place pretty close to it. As you go in, the whole park is spread out before you in the valley, all 25 million bricks of it. Mined out of the ground by Lego moles, didn't you know!
Once we were in, B, Roo and I charged off down the hill, where the park makers had considerately thought to install slides alongside the steps and the disabled ramp, which meant we got down even quicker. We had a good look around Miniland with it's very impressive London in Lego, as well as many other locations.
As you'd expect for a theme park, Legoland is full of rides, most of which are Lego themed in some way. It's divided into "worlds" (pirates, Vikings, knights, etc.) with rides and other activities in each world. You pay a lot on the door (although thanks to the Nightingales' Merlin passes, they got in free and the rest of us were half price). It's 90% outdoors and the weather was flipping freezing. This was okay though, as it meant the place wasn't too busy and queues for the rides weren't too bad at all. There was probably about the right number of people to keep the place buzzing without being too crowded. And we'd wrapped up warm, so we were fine.
We went on the Atlantis Submarine Voyage (an aquarium with real fish amidst Lego ruins and divers) and the Dino Safari (exactly what it sounds like) before going to the restaurant, laughing at the prices (Seriously - If you go, bring your own food) and heading to the picnic area for lunch.
While we were there, B had a go at a few games stalls and won a blue raccoon almost as big as she was. I took Jamie on the Squid Surfer ride (which spins you round on a mock jetski, on which you have a steering wheel to adjust your speed / how far you get flung out from the centre / how much you spray onlookers - Maximum fun is to be had by hitting top speed as quickly as possible, slowing down then repeating). By the time we got off, B had won another toy almost as big as she was. Then she won a smaller green dragon for Tani. Then Tim banned her from playing any more games ;o)
Leaving her winnings with the stall holders for us to pick up later, we carried on to Lego City, where we watched the Pirates of Skeleton Bay show. It was impressively acrobatic, with a good dose of slapstick coupled with Looney Tunes-esque sound effects. It had that form of sexism peculiar to adverts and kids' entertainment, in which all the male characters were hopeless and there was a single female character who they'd all be lost without. That didn't spoil it too much though. It was a fun show with a lot of laughs. "You make me maaad!"
After that we resumed the rides. Our favourite was Pirate Falls, which takes you through various Lego pirate scenes (and pirate graves with terrible, terrible puns - D. Ceased, Marcus A. Plot, etc.) before winding you up a wooden tower and flinging you down a log flume. Thanks to Ju for bringing along a waterproof poncho for me so I didn't need to buy one from the machines. Ju also bought me a copy of the photo of us going down. Jamie wasn't convinced by the spray, but most of us loved it and went on again. Funnily enough, the queue wasn't that big. Not that the time in the queue mattered, as they have lots of Duplo to play with while you wait, and a rather foolish sign asking you not to build tall towers with it. Which we obeyed of course. *Ahem*
The Dragon was also brilliant. Like Pirate falls, it takes you through various Lego scenes (a fantasy castle in this case), before hurtling you off into oblivion. Or outside onto a fast roller-coaster track at any rate. I rode with Ruby and she loved the ride. It was slightly alarming that the kids got seatbelts in their seats and the adults didn't.
Time was marching on by this point. I wanted to see the Star Wars exhibit so we went there next, as it was on the way back to the exit. It was pretty damn impressive, with all the major scenes from all six films set out in Miniland (1:20) scale, plus larger versions of most of the main characters.
After that, we went to the "4D" cinema, where Bryony wanted to see the new Chima show. Unfortunately we ended up watching Clutch Powers instead, which just goes to teach us to check the show times properly. After the show, there was just enough time for a quick visit to the shop before it was time to go.
The journey back was frankly a bit of a pain. The buses weren't running as they should, which meant we were stuck waiting in the cold for a bit. Then it took forever to get through the car park traffic as everyone was leaving at once. When we made it back to Slough on the train, we had that "creeping death" in which our connection was first two minutes late, then four minutes, then six minutes... Once it hit 12 minutes we switched platforms for another train. Then that one started being delayed as well so we switched back.
We eventually made it back to the YHA. Tim and Bryony clutching giant toys greatly amused a bunch of Germans on the Tube. Everyone was shattered by this point, so Ju completely undermined finding all those amazing takeaways the previous evening by buying us all filthy, evil KFC. It was exactly what we needed! :o)
Day 3 - Thursday 4th April:
Thursday was a slightly more relaxed day, though still a fairly early start. We went to the Natural History Museum, and it was probably a good job we picked something indoors to do, as this was the day it snowed. In Central London!
We got to the museum just as it was opening and headed straight for the dinosaurs before the queues built up. B wanted to find the Edmontosaurus skeleton (still half in the rock and with some of its skin preserved) so she and I shot off ahead. The Hayneses caught us up and we eventually all met back up again. We wandered through the mammals section, where Jamie refused to have his photo taken with another bear, although we did get one of Tani with another weasel ;o)
Unfortunately the earthquake simulator was closed, which the girls really wanted to see. But we still found plenty to do. We saw the whales, the human biology section and the geology section. We made our donations to the museum by experimenting lots with the coin whirlpool. 2p coins work the best, though (funnily enough) the museum suggests you put £1 coins in instead. 20p and 50p coins were rubbish. We ended up quite spread out, and I went round with Tani for a while, who enjoyed all the hands-on activities. And proved she is definitely smarter than a chimpanzee.
Eventually it was time to say goodbye to Ju, Paul and Jamie who were heading back to Sheffield. Sorry to see you guys go!
The rest of us went for lunch on the museum canteen, where I borrowed Liz's mobile and tried to find a quiet spot to ring and book my ticket to Legoland the next day (We hadn't decided if / when we were going back for a second day in advance, and you need to book tickets at least a day before to benefit from the Merlin family & friends discount). Yes, I said, "find a quiet spot," in the Natural History Museum on a Saturday lunchtime during the school holidays. Don't laugh.
We flaked out at various different points in the afternoon. Tim took a tired Roo and Tani back to the hostel while Liz and B had another look round the human biology section and I explored the new "Cocoon" wing (where you can see the specimen storage and labs) and the "Treasures" gallery upstairs. I also love all the different natural history sculptures all over the walls and columns of the museum, and could look at them all day.
We made our ways back separately and met up back at the YHA. As the evening was yet young, we had a couple of games of Monster 4 and Shave a Sheep, then went out for a proper meal at a Mediterranean place just over the road. The food was cheap and brilliant - We ordered what was meant to be a dish for four to share between us all. It was full of breads, dips and grilled meat. Yummy, but there was just too much of it! We took a doggy back back to the hostel kitchen and donated it to the other guests.
Day 4 - Friday 5th April:
Legoland day 2, and we knew exactly what we were doing this time in terms of trains, buses, which ticket gate to enter and how warm to dress! It was definitely worth going back for a second day. I was amazed how quickly the time whizzed by, but we pretty much did everything we wanted to, so I think we can safely say we have "done" Legoland now!
We started off with Kingdom of the Pharoahs, which we'd given up on the first day as the queue was too long (being indoors...). It was one of those "ghost train with lasers" rides, through an Egyptian temple. I scored 17,000 points with my hits but Liz trumped me with 19,000. Curses! ;o)
Getting the queasy rides out of the way before lunch, we went on the Spinning Spider and then the others went on the Pirate Ship. I don't do Pirate Ship rides as they just make me ill, and Bryony didn't fancy it either. We wandered off and went panning for gold instead. I was a little concerned that within five minutes of me being in loco parentis, she'd managed to get completely soaked (I mentioned it was cold, right?). I showed her how to lift the pan without tipping water everywhere and kept checking that her limbs weren't about to drop off. Thank heaven for big walk-in dryers - best invention ever! We both got medals for the gold we collected, which we got to show off and chink together for the rest of the day.
We planned and made sure we saw the 4D Chima show this time. Liz and I noted that it was apparently okay for the I-can't-believe-it's-not-Lion-O character to take the "chi" (which is meant to be for everyone) for his own personal use, but it's not okay for the crocodile character to. Who put the lion in charge anyway? Still, there was live fire, fart gags (with green smoke effects) and it out-did Tolkien by not only having giant eagles come to the rescue out of nowhere in the third act, but giant eagles with frickin' laser beams. So it wasn't all bad.
We had lunch in front of the pirate show. I took advantage of the second viewing to figure out how they did some of the stunts. Afterwards, we went on the Space Tower, Viking River Splash (which we immediately went on again, as there was no queue) and Orient Expedition, as well as doing Squid Surfer, Pirate Falls and The Dragon again (because they were ace!). Tani sat in the front on Pirate Falls for the first time, which meant she got the full brunt of the splashdown. We asked her if she was okay, and she turned round with the biggest adrenalin-junkie grin that I've ever seen. Tim declared that there were generations of Nightingales all over the country who must've suddenly found themselves grinning in sympathy for no apparent reason :o)
All of a sudden it was quarter to six, and we had to dash back to the shop before it was time to go. I was fairly restrained. Only spending *cough* £153 in the shop over the two days counts as being restrained, right? Actually I was genuinely good the first time, and resisted buying the medieval village. Then the others talked me into it on the second day. They twisted my arm, I tell you. Honest. (Now I just need to book time with B to help me build all 1601 pieces of it.)
I took B round the shop and helped her spend her money (She really didn't need help!), including on a set of make-your-own mini-figures. We got out around half six, later than on Wednesday and technically past closing time, but we had a much smoother journey back and ended up back at the YHA at least an hour earlier. We bumped into one of the Legoland ride operators on the train who asked us about our day. We had a good chat and complemented the ever-cheerful Legoland staff as a real asset to the place. Then we had to avoid looking like we were stalking him, as he seemed to be heading to the same platform as us to catch a connection.
Proof (if it were needed) of the motivational power of Lego - As we got back to the YHA, Liz told the girls they could only play with the Lego they'd bought after they'd showered and got ready for bed. By the time she, Tim and Tani got to the top of the stairs on the way back to our room, B was already streaking past them in the opposite direction in a towel. It just goes to show how quickly kids can get ready for bed if they want to!
We built B's new Lego Chima set and Roo's new Lego Friends sets while Tim went out to gather pizza, and then ate that in the comfort of our room. We all had an earlier night as we had to pack the next morning.
Day 5 - Saturday 6th April:
Last day! *sniff* I was very touched by sad Weasel not wanting me to go home. Very cute, despite her claim that today she was going to be "not cute and a little bit fierce". There was still plenty of fun to be had before we left though. And it was a glorious sunny day. Hard to believe it had been snowing two days earlier.
First off (after packing, checking out, and Tim making a trip to the post office to mail Bryony's giant soft toys home), we headed to the London Eye together. It being a sunny Saturday in the Easter hols, queues were the order of the day. There was a massive queue for Tube tickets, which I avoided by making my first foray into the world of Oyster cards.
Tim asked Bryony and I, "Are you two being Doctor Who nerds again?" as we crossed Westminster Bridge. I don't know why. We were only talking about the Eye being a secret transmitter for the Nestene Consciousness ;o)
The others had their Merlin passes, but I had to collect the discounted ticket I'd bought through the YHA. The queue was enormous and I worried about how long I was going to make them wait for me, but it moved extremely quickly. It was quite remarkable how they shifted four separate queues at rapid pace through a room clearly not designed to handle even half that many people. So we soon met back up and joined another queue to get on...
I last went on the Eye shortly after it opened, but it was a cloudy day then. The visibility was much better this time round and the view was great (although B wasn't keen on looking down). After we got off we went our separate ways - The Nightingales were off to visit Madame Tussauds (which they later said was absolutely heaving). I wasn't bothered about visiting there so I went off to do my own thing. There was more Weaselly sadness as we said our temporary goodbye.
I had planned to visit the Dali exhibition in County Hall, but it's currently closed while it moves to a new home. So instead I took a leisurely walk along the South Bank and then continued the theme of seeing London from on high by visiting (and climbing) St Paul's.
Visiting is pricey at £16, but it's cheaper than the Eye and you get just as good a view from the top, with the advantage of being in the open air as well. Plus you get to see the rest of St Paul's. It's just a shame they don't allow you to take photos inside. I wasn't the only one taking a few sneaky shots from up in the Whispering Gallery. At least their excuse ("respecting the sanctity of this place of prayer") is slightly more plausible than the nonsense the Westminster Abbey staff try to pull about copyright infringement.
My favourite bit was the view and seeing the structure of the dome as you climb through it. The glass panel in the floor at the top, from which you can look down 300+ feet to the cathedral floor is quite terrifying. After the climb, I was ready for lunch in the café in the cathedral crypt.
Liz rang me (I'd borrowed Tani's mobile!) with near-perfect timing as I'd just about finished looking round. We arranged to meet up in Regent's Park at 4pm. After the earlier fuss about me leaving, Tani demanded to know why I hadn't gone home and pretended to shoot me. Go figure. Mind you, having remembered that I'm soft enough to give her a carry, her legs very quickly became "broken" again despite having been fine all afternoon.
I remarked that the girls were going round the park gathering uncles. Wthin five minutes of meeting me, we met up with Uncle Ken again. As it was a nice day, we stayed in the park and the girls played in the playground until it was time to start the journey back. Liz and Tim were very kind and complementary about my helping to child wrangle during the holiday, though I'm sure at one point they accused me of being a responsible adult. Whereas really I was just enjoying the chance to go out and play with you all :o)
All too soon it was time to go our separate ways again, and for the last time. Quite what the rest of the park thought of us as we left, all singing the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet version of the Doctor Who theme, I've no idea. In fact, Doctor Who seemed to be a bit of a theme for the week all told. Tim and I headed back to the YHA together to collect our bags, beating a sharp retreat to avoid any Doctor Who spoilers from the TV in the lounge.
I got to St Pancras with enough time to spare to grab some sushi to eat on the train and have a leisurely browse in Borders. I eventually made it back home at about 11pm as scheduled. And that, as they say, was that.
All in all, it was a brilliant holiday, going to great places with fabulous friends. A huge thanks to everyone for letting me come with you and all the fun we had together. I'm only sorry that it had to end. Next holiday please!