Godsill Away

Well we made it to the end of our journey here in the UK. Today we spent our final day in London seeing sights and keeping our step counters in business.

We started our day with another visit to Kings Cross Station to see platform 9 3/4 again and to take Mack to buy a Harry Potter t-shirt. The line was long again for the picture but Brian got one from the side. Then like kids do, she chose the expensive sweatshirt after going in for a t-shirt. She now owns a cute Harry Potter hoodie and loves it. Next, breakfast! I always share our breakfast. Not because I think you want to see them, but really the pictures are for me and my family. Every year I go back and reread our blogs and take my trips all over again with them. It’s fun to see what we ate, where we went, what we liked, what we didn’t, and where we stayed.

After we ate we headed down to the underground and made our way to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard. Again, 8000 other people did the same. It was a pilgrimage from the train station across St James park. We squeezed ourselves into a spot by the fountain and waited a few minutes. We were above to see bits and pieces and could hear the band play. It took about 45 minutes. Mack was highly unimpressed. Fi and I kept telling her that a corgi kept popping its head up in the palace window. Kept her looking. Yes, I told her we were lying after.

I really love this picture of them.

It was noon by now. Two hours after my cappuccino and glass of water. Can you guess where I wanted to go? The search was on. The next destination was Harrods as Fiona wanted to buy something from there. It turns out to be bougie city in there. Way fancier than any of us was comfortable with. Brian commented on how Vuori and Outerknown are expensive brands he buys and how they don’t even compare to what people spend in there. This was like book a personal shopper and a private room kind of place. Not my circus. Fiona found what she was looking for and I found the bathroom and then all of us wanted out of there STAT.

Brian led us to Burroughs Market after to get some lunch. It’s under the railroad tracks and is a huge outdoor food market. What it also is, is very disorganizing for anyone with sensory issues. Holy moly. The crowds were loud, the live music was loud, and every time the train would pass over, the area would shake and hum. Mack went into a tailspin and I could see Fiona starting to blow a fuse. They struggled to find any food they wanted and I couldn’t calm Mack. I grabbed a couple smoothies and a big pretzel to share with Mack, a piece of quiche and a smoothie for Fi, and Brian grabbed some fish and chips. It was not my favorite lunch, but we survived.

Harrods Tea Set

After lunch we hit a couple spots from Harry Potter movies and Mack wasn’t able to let herself enjoy seeing them.

The Leaky Cauldron

Leadenhall Market inspired Daigon Alley.

Time to head back to the hotel, we get on the tube and after the first stop, there was a delay. We waited a few minutes. Then came an announcement that there was someone trespassing on tracks and they were trying to apprehend them so there would be extensive delays. Ok. Off the train. Plan B. Take this bus and then transfer to that bus. Haha…nope. The bus is full and drives right by. Hey kids, we have to walk! This news was not received well. We walked a good distance and then found a cafe to get a cold coffee and a little bite. Cafe Nero…well Cafe Far-O per Fiona. After the snack we stopped by St Paul’s Cathedral. Brian really was bummed we didn’t get to go visit. He said it would cost about 60 pounds for us to visit. It was just about 5:30 by now and we settled for walking around the outside.

After we walked around to the front, we saw some people go inside. Brian ran up to ask the guard about going in. He said the mass was just about over and let us go in and sit down. It was really beautiful. Amazingly beautiful. They weren’t allowing photos, but Fiona snapped one.

Hopped on a bus finally and made it back to our place. Grabbed Mack a snackie dinner from the grocery store. She was fully cooked from the day and wanted to tap out. Fiona and Brian and I went around the block and had some pasta and gelato. Shhh don’t tell Mack about the gelato part.

We will be waking up in 4 hours to walk Fiona to the train station and send her off to the airport. Then we will head back and Get Mack ready for our trek home. It’s a really long ways to Kauai.

We have had a great trip. Some moments were greater than others and some moments were once in a lifetime moments that our kids aren’t old enough to appreciate yet. I am guessing this is our final official family vacation all together. Fiona is spreading her wings and Mack just doesn’t like to travel. Brian and I have lots of places we would like to go. Our trips may start to look a bit different after this. Makes me sad sometimes, but we have been so fortunate to show our kids parts of the world that are so special and unique.

Here are the stats for this trip before I sign off of Godsill away until the next time.

I asked everyone the best and worst part of the trip.

Fiona

Best- Highland coos and afternoon tea.

Worst- Walking through Belfast to find dinner.

Mackenzie

Best- Visiting Conrad and Annika’s pets.

Worst- Walking.

Brian

Best- Hiking around Skye

Worst- the crowds in London.

Best- Skye and The Cotswolds (really all the small towns in the rural areas) and afternoon tea.

Worst- The drug scene and crowds in Dublin.

Signing off. See you next year. xx

I could tell from the minute we left our hotel today that my socks were not going to be team players. Well, on my right foot anyway. By the end of the block, it was already sliding off my heel and disappearing into my shoe. The funny thing is that I have only two kinds of socks on this trip- hiking socks or these lame heel sliders. We all know that this is London and because I have a cute jumper on today, I cannot pair it with hiking socks. So, I chose fashion way over function and had the extremely unsatisfying sensory sock experience for 17,500 steps. I am now the proud owner of a Muji 3 pairs of socks for 10 pounds deal.

We had what seemed like a pretty fancy breakfast. My oatmeal was a little sweeter than I was used to, but I’m loving the fresh berries here.

After breakfast we hopped on a train to head toward Abbey Road. Before breakfast, Brian was working with a credit card company this morning while adding a card to his apple wallet and was disconnected. He struggled to get them back on the phone before we needed to leave. Unbeknownst to us, the unfinished conversation flagged our cards and we wouldn’t find that out until the purchase of our train ticket. Long story, added morning frustrations. Whatever…we figured it out. To ride the bus, we need 4 different credit cards. Got it handled and rode a couple buses to our destination.

This crosswalk was very crowded today with people holding up traffic. All trying to get a cute picture. We took a couple from the side and the headed over to the Abbey Road gift store. Well it was too crowded for me.

After this iconic spot, we headed over to Notting Hill to soak in the Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant vibes. Loved the movie, and the area was adorable. Eight thousand other people felt the same. Lots of photo ops and places to shop. My puppy bladder decided it was time to find a bathroom, but there wasn’t one and we couldn’t find a cafe we liked to get something small and use their loo. We finally decided to settle with Starbucks and then they didn’t have a bathroom. Now I had a sock all bunched up in my shoe and I was once again concentrating on finding a bathroom.

A bad picture of the blue door to Hugh Grant’s flat in the movie. I took it from the bus as we were passing. We actually walked by it and were unsure if it was the right one.

This bookstore! I am a sucker for a romance novel. A whole store full of them!? Yes! I’m in.

Back on the road to walk some more to shop and walk and shop and walk.

Mack recognized the Liberty store from the Cruella movie. None of us would have even noticed it. We let her go in and wander around. We very much did not fit in with the other shoppers. At one point Mack was holding the sleeve of a burgundy velvet coat (gorgeous) and the tag read $2320 ! I told her that she wasn’t allowed to touch any more of the clothing and she had 2 more minutes.