Friday, March 8, 2024
This morning we woke up really early (4:45am) after a really late night last night (everyone went to sleep between 12 and 3am).
We ended up getting out of the house a little later than we had anticipated, but Dinah helped us out, and we were able to make our train.
I find that people around here -- especially in the train stations -- tend to look at us in one of two ways. Either they look totally annoyed or they are really kind. Thankfully, the kind ones stand out so much more -- like the British passport lady, or the guy at KFC the other day who gave us an extra order of fries on the house, or the cashier at the London market who asked us what we were up to and said how cool he thought it was.
The train ride to London from Paris was pretty uneventful. I’m just glad that we made it. I need to be careful about these early morning departures. I wonder if I should change our plans for Monday.
I think we all fell almost immediately in love with London. Our first order of business was to walk from St Pancras station to King’s Cross to see the Harry Potter stuff. At the entrance to Kings Cross they had an awesome open-air market where we bought some delicious sweet and savory pastries for really cheap. Then we went into King’s Cross to see Platform 9 3/4. It was totally underwhelming, and we didn’t even really take a picture (you have to wait in line for it). I’m telling you, it’s a waste of time.
We also went to the Harry Potter store there. That one was a little better. We got the kids butter beer and every flavored beans. We tried to warn Betty, but I think she didn’t get what we were talking about, and I don’t know what flavor she ate, but it was something nasty. She didn’t like the butter beer much either. But then again, she’s never been that into Harry Potter. The best part of the store was the wands. They had all of the wands from all of the characters, and the girl that was working that part of the store was really knowledgeable, and she was happy and even encouraged the kids to take a picture with their favorite wands.
After that, we hopped on the tube (subway) and headed over to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard. It happens only on Fridays at 11am, so our timing was perfect. It took some time to figure out exactly what was going on, but in the end it was pretty cool. I’m a sucker for tradition and respecting institutions, and this checked all the boxes for me.
We had planned to go on a big walk, but with the lack of sleep, the heavy backpacks, and the cold (not rainy but windy), we decided to scrap that and head out to Grand and Emma’s house. They are total strangers who responded to a request for a place to stay in London. They are faithful members and they live right by the temple in a beautiful, renovated house that was originally built in 1869. On the way to Victoria station we grabbed some food at a store (it was surprisingly cheap), and then we hopped on the train out to Lingfield, where Grant picked us up.
After a nice visit and a bit of a rest, we got dressed and headed over to the temple.
The London temple is the 2nd oldest in all of Europe. It was dedicated in 1958. Only the Swiss temple is older. It’s actually about an hour outside of town. It’s definitely showing its age, but it has a simple beauty about it that I’ve never seen in another temple. And the workers were just the best. Brother and Sister Reid helped us the most in the baptistry, and they are Scottish. They were so kind and warm, we felt right at home.
The baptisms themselves went well, and overall the kids were much more alert today than on Tuesday when we were in Paris. Ian, however, is the exception. He was really tired today. During confirmations he just couldn’t keep his eyes open. At one point he was snoring and at another I thought he was going to fall out of his chair.
I went in for baptisms with the older kids while Betty stayed in the arrival center with River. Then, we we all got out, Betty went in to see the inside of the temple while we stayed with River. The sun was just getting low, so I went for a stroll to take some pictures.
While there I met a young man named Chris, who was just baptized in the last year. He was so excited to be a member of the church, and he was warm and energetic about everything. We walked around and just visited. It was a great time.
In the evening we had some amazing macaroni and cheese that Emma made. She’s really skilled in that department. And then we just sat around and visited. This house is beautiful, but it’s also got no insulation, so it’s pretty cold everywhere. But we just sat in the sun room with the wood stove and visited into the night. The kids were exhausted and soon started to fall one by one. Ian was the sleepiest. I simply could not get him to wake up. I’m sure everyone will sleep really well tonight. Except River. She napped for probably 8 hours today. So I expect she’ll be up in the night.
It’s a good day. Our first impressions of London and its surrounding area is that it’s awesome. The people are warm, the food is amazing, the city is beautiful. I can’t wait to explore it tomorrow.