Giant Porthole...

The train was overflowing with passengers. One chick thought we should have to sit with our suitcases on our laps so she wouldn’t have to stand, but luckily her boyfriend was more reasonable considering we were already sitting with our backpacks on our laps. In comparison, the new Harwich to Hoek van Holland ferry seemed empty and luxurious. While I knew that our 3-person room would have a porthole, we were very surprised to discover how huge it was. Ashlynn wanted to sleep against the window; Veronica was afraid that we’d hit a wave and Ashlynn would smash against the window and fall out. I told Ashlynn she had to get permission from customer service. The Dutch fellow there must have thought we were nuts. He said they provided beds for sleeping and that it would be too cold in the porthole. Needless to say, whenever Ashlynn was awake, she was lying on the windowsill.
It’s hard to take a photo of a ship that large from the gangplank, but at least this shows our room on the top deck.

A Sunday in London...

The only market I’d ever visited in London was Camden, which is chaotic and touristy. What a joy it was go to two fantastic and artsy markets that wasn’t full of I ♥ London t-shirts. First we went to Up Market, in the Old Truman Brewery. I almost bought a belt made out of aluminum can tabs, but the girls talked me out of it.
Then we went to Old Spitalfields Market, which is housed in a Victorian market hall on a site that has hosted a market since 1638. We could have easily spent hours wandering the artists’ booths. We bought some transport card holders out of recycled maps and the artist took our picture for her Facebook page. There were lots of lunch options; Camilla and I especially loved the salad sampler from the Caribbean booth. Next we headed to the Foundling Museum; it shows the history of the Foundling Hospital, which began taking in orphans and abandoned children in 1739. It was then time to reclaim our luggage, make our way to Liverpool Station and grab some dinner at Marks & Spencer before getting on a train to Harwich to catch a ferry home.

Art in the Streets of London...

We started our morning in London with fresh bagels from the 24-hour bagel shop just down the street (unlike US or Dutch bagel shops, they only had one flavor). Since we were in East London, I requested that Camilla and Tristram find some offbeat nearby places to take us. Camilla chose to start at some Sunday markets; along the way, she found some interesting streets such as Brick Lane, infamous for its curry houses and street signs in English and Bengali.

Make Love, Not War...

Camilla dropped us off at the train station with less than 5 minutes to spare for our journey into London. She was bringing our luggage later in the day, which gave us a free afternoon. Veronica requested we visit the Imperial War Museum to go along with her studies of WWI and WWII this year. We skipped looking at the tanks and planes, but still managed to spend 3 hours wandering around. The Blitz Experience was very well done--it still amazes me that several of our friends’ parents were children in London during the Blitz. Above you see one of the 600,000 Table (Morrison) Indoor Shelters that were distributed; can you imagine your family sleeping in that? Ashlynn is outside an Anderson Shelter, designed to accommodate up to 6 people; 3.6 million of these were erected in the UK before and during the war. After a sushi lunch, we met Camilla at the train station to head to her sister’s house in Hackney, where we’d be spending the night. While Camilla and Tristram went to the opera, I looked after the girls.

Gruesome Wildlife...

On our final day in Kent, we went with Camilla’s other brother to Wildwood, an animal park. Unfortunately, many of the animals were still hibernating, so there were a lot of empty enclosures. While we thought much of the place was primarily geared for little kids, we changed our minds when we reached the lynx enclosure. While the keeper gave a short lecture, we watched the lynx decapitate a dead bunny by leaping in the air to grab it off a high pole. It was gross, but worth the price of admission.

Laughs in a Small Village...

It took over 1.5 hours to drive to Camilla’s older brother’s house in the small village of Penshurst on the western edge of Kent. We had dinner, then walked across the street to the historic town hall to watch a pantomime of Jack & the Beanstalk, written by Camilla’s brother. I don’t know if I’m just getting used to the British sense of humor, but I thought it was very funny; I especially liked Giant Underpants and the Elvis Fairy-godmother.

An Afternoon in Sandwich...

Our plans slightly changed when Camilla needed to take her car into the shop for a last minute inspection, so instead of visiting a manor house, we visited the nearby historic town of Sandwich. We took a nice walk through the marsh and the dunes of the Sandwich golf course, which occasionally hosts the British Open, to the beach for a picnic lunch of sandwiches, of course. While Camilla and Beatrix waited for the car, Freya gave us a walking tour of the town including a stop at her favorite candy shop.