The King's English : Mind the Gap!

After a pretty pokey morning, we headed to a nearby restaurant on the Thames for some breakfast. This restaurant has a really cool bunch of wind-protection domes so that diners can eat out on the patio yet still cope with the frequently strong winds that blow this way from the Thames. It looks really neat from our balcony to see everyone huddled inside the bubbles. The servers were pretty chilly this morning running back and forth from the main restaurant to the patio to keep their patrons happy with their orders. We opted for the indoor dining instead. We have been observing that many of the restaurant servers here are much older than the typical server age we see in restaurants we frequent in Canada. There were some pretty giggly moments this morning when Sir IF and J both got served their Americano coffees in beautiful blue pottery tea sets from Portugal. Uncertain if this was a "new" way to serve Americanos it took a few moments for our men-folk to get up the courage to catch the server's eye and check if a little mistake had been made.

We did lots of subway time this morning and our Mind the Gap blog header stems from our experiences. The automated subway voice commands at every door opening to Mind the Gap between the train and the subway platform. As we are sure you can imagine, Meg is closely watching the "gap" at every opportunity (not to mention ensuring that our whole party is all gathered up and getting on/off the train at the same time - much head counting going on ensuring our party is all together). Little P loves to hang around the platform after minding the gap and disembarking, waiting to wave farewell to the train. She's been delighted with those who loosen their British reserve and take the chance to wave back and put a smile on her face.

The British Museum was our focus today. A grand and glorious old building, we snaked through the queue area pleased to have avoided the large crowds. It's so delightful that almost all British museums are free to the public - it would be a wonderful concept to have in Canada but we can't see that ever becoming a reality in today's fiscal climate. The museum is home to a number of permanent exhibits that tell the story of the history of civilization. A significant number of displays featured elements of the friezes of The Parthenon and the Acropolis. The talent of these artists was incredible and one can only imagine how much effort went into creating all of the intricate details.

We walked through some quaint streets and loved all of the little bakeries and cafes that were lining the neighbourhoods. Sir IF and Meg will quite enjoy returning here at the end of their Scotland trip to take in more of these sites. There are so many options here for gluten-free diners, or as the locals call it, free from food. Thus far it has been challenging to find places willing to accommodate Meg's allergies so things look promising for a significant weight loss for at least one in our party. We're quite pleased we have an apartment in much of our locales.

The streets are incredibly busy and we can't imagine what it must be like to be here in the true tourist season. It's actually very challenging to wend your way on a lot of the sidewalks as the people and crowds pretty much take up every inch of space. Life is also a significantly faster pace here. The escalators in the subway stations move at a breakneck pace, people have to be sure to stay to the right if they don't want to be trampled by those who are almost running up the escalator. This pace continues on all of the walking on the sidewalks as well. It's such a huge city and there is so much ground to cover to get somewhere so perhaps that's why everyone's always in such a hurry.

We toured around the quays surrounding the Tower of London tonight in search of a place to eat dinner. There are so many tourists everywhere that one always feels safe, even when it's dark out, so it's nice to feel that way when travelling around. All of the buildings in much of London that we have seen so far have all been stunningly renovated. There is also a lot of new architecture going up as well. When we are not looking down at our feet to be sure we don't trip on the cobblestone, we have to remember to be sure to look up as the ornamentation on the tops of the historical buildings is really quite incredible.

Sir IF and J checking out all the boats. (And they say a daughter always chooses a man just like her father!).

The bubble domes are a popular eating spot.

One of the many friezes inside the British Museum. We thought Little P would particularly like this one (she and Mamma and Daddy P were off to Stonehenge today).