More London

We had a good time at the British Museum. It's free, so we were stoked. We were also stoked to have someone offer to take our family picture. This doesn't happen very often. 

First stop in the museum: the cafeteria. 
We busted out some sandwiches that we bought the previous night at Tesco. I think the simplest combination of flavors available was egg and cucumber with mayonnaise. Kind of sick. 
On this trip Sloane got really attached to her mommy. That's why most of the picture of Sloane are with Grace holding her. You can tell from this one that she was pretty upset when Lance got too close. 

Zhou dynasty bronzes. The Chinese holdings in the British Museum were a little disappointing. Maybe they have other things in storage that they rotate throughout their displays, but the exhibit definitely lacked the breadth and quality of holdings of the National Museum in Taipei. Then again, nothing compares to Taipei's Gugong--a trip to that museum alone is worth the cost of a plane ticket to Taiwan.  
This is a Qing dynasty plate that was apparently commissioned by a foreign visitor to China. The subject matter of the picture is Christian and the Chinese artist is obviously not used to painting nude bodies. 
The Rosetta Stone.
An Egyptian lid to a sarcophagus. 

Down in the tube. When people still shot photos using film security guards would seize your camera and expose the pictures you took of the underground. Now I guess they can't do anything about all of the digital cameras. 

Sloane with a firm grip on the tube. 
Big Ben. We decided we needed to hit some of the more iconic British landmarks. 10 years ago when Lance lived in London he can't even remember coming to see Big Ben. It's just a clock. 
Waiting in line to get in Westminster Abbey. 

You can't take pictures inside.

The Thames with the London Eye in the background. We said London was sunnier than New York and Paris. 
On a tour of the Tower of London with a beefeater. 

The British military are not allowed to get haircuts. 

A beefeater up close. 

Outside the Crown Jewels. 

Display of armor inside the Tower itself.

 
This is a medieval toilet. There is a hole in that wooden plank into which one evacuates his or her bowels. The refuse then descends down a shaft and collects in a cesspit at the bottom. 

Sloane doing a jig.

Trafalgar Square outside the National Gallery. Also fun 'cause it's free. 

We hung out with some of Loren and Tomoko's friends near Russell Square. The food at this pub was good: some of the highlights were mackerel paste to spread on pita bread, pig cheeks, and sticky toffee pudding.   

If you want, you can look at Loren's face. It's on the right side of the picture.

London first impressions: sunny and nicer than New York

Sloane loved the flight from New York to London.
Lance and Grace loved finally getting food and movies on a plane. We hate domestic flights in the USA and all of the supposed cost-cutting strategies.
This is outside Grandma and Grandpa Crisler's apartment in London. We rested up a few hours because we were a little tired after the flight from the US.
Palace Court is a beautiful place and it was nice to be back.
Then we hit the streets to check out this city. We couldn't resist sitting on the upper-deck of a London bus.
Our excitement was only somewhat stymied by the gridlock on Bayswater.
Window shopping on Regent Street
led us straight to Piccadilly Circus.
If you try hard you can just make out Sloane's little face between us.
First time on the London Underground for Sloane and Grace--much more comfortable than New York's rickety old subway.
Tower Bridge

We were too late to get into the Tower of London that night so we spent some time taking pictures around the outside.

St. Paul's Cathedral
This is just outside Leicester Square. We spent most of the day walking around the city and wandering in and out of different streets.
Sloane dug he tube.
Check out the creepy guy peering into the picture in the background.

A long day of travel and sightseeing. We were ready for some sleep.

First leg of Spring Break trip

Sloane's first time in an airplane. She performed well--didn't cry even once on the flight from Denver to JFK.
She even got in a little nap, but she seems to have not been able to shake Uncle Lane's tongue disease.
Here is another view of this now well-documented disorder.
This is yet another first for Sloane: first time in train. This is the Long Island Railroad that took us from Jamaica Station to Penn Station in Manhattan. It was a stinky ride.
Lance in Times Square. He had to carry all of the bags this trip.

Grace got to carry Sloane--not such a bad trade. This was the first time that any of us had been to Times Square. We had a 7 hour layover at JFK so we thought we could at least check out some part of New York. It was cold, rainy, and really touristy.
Sloane liked the horses.
Grace holding her ground on the Air Train back to JFK.