We had a wonderful few days of traipsing around London. We explored a secret Garden in Hampstead Heath and the kids were as wild as dinosaurs racing along the paths with their newest friends. We got to have a taste of what its like to be a family living in London by staying with our dear friends in Golders Green. Ruben was especially popular with the children Spike and Maude and Mabel(ages 3,6 years old and one just 7 months) it’s a pleasure to see him grin and enjoy the company and admiration of youngsters. He is extremely considerate and patient with young kids and takes great pleasure even in holding the baby. He becomes exceptionally responsible and thoughtful, entertaining the wee ones tirelessly and it makes my heart swell to see him this way. Mia was especially helpful caring for 7 month old, Mabel. She is extremely helpful and revels in the role of “big sister”, pushing the stroller and changing nappies.
The kids got an eyeful up the London eye. Here they had a chance to understand how vast a city London is and get their bearings before exploring. Standing in the sunshine we were able to see the incredible architecture of the Parliament buildings, West Minster Cathedral and Big Ben. We took a cheesy tour around London with a guide who gave us interesting history lessons. We all now understand where the phrase “bless you comes from” having learned about the London plague while sitting a top a Double Decker bus. Our second day in London was spent visiting the Tate Modern.Outside St. Paul’s Cathedral there was a camp of anti capitalist protests. This is the second protest we have come across on our travels, the first being the Occupy Wall Street campaign in New York,here was an opportunity for some political conversations with the kids.
Leaving London we made our way to the beautiful old city of York. Here we visited the cathedral in time to hear the organ playing for Sunday evensong. Ruben and Mia enjoyed gallivanting around on the historical city walls where they acted out Medieval characters whilst waving imaginary swords.
Ruben had an authentic Yorkshire pudding served with his huge traditional roast beef pub dinner, it was great to recall having learned to make Yorkshire pudding in Calgary near the beginning our trip. We continued North and each of us admired the beautiful landscape. We took a stroll (Tom and I actually strolled) Ruben and Mia ran, wrestled and galloped along a beautiful path beside the River Ure.
We then wound are way up into Scotland and to our fantastic hosts in a lovely house in Kippen. This is where our real Scottish education began, Ruben and Mia bravely explored new foods. Mia learned how to cook a traditional soup with June, including the fish we bought from the fish monger who sold it to us from his van on the street in front of the house. We shopped together with June at the butcher up on the “high street” and met the coal man on his daily route. We can now boast of having tried and enjoyed traditional Scottish foods such as Haggis, Cullen Skink and Black Pudding. Ruben and Mia also tried a turn at reading Roberts Burns’ poem, Address to A Haggis, but the opportunity to hear our hostess June reading with her beautiful Scottish lilt was certainly unequaled. June also taught us a number of Scottish words and expressions, it was fascinating to hear this unique language spoken. Ruben now has the word “dreich” (wet, dismal) secured in his vocabulary which will come in handy for describing the weather back home in BC. Ruben and Mia both also had a chance to put their creative Lego hats on for a few days while we were there, playing with an old collection. We all got our exercise climbing the beautiful mountain of Ben A’an. It was an exhilarating climb as the view from the top was out of this world. Mia, June and Tom certainly had their love of nature in common and the three of them kept their eyes open for treasures in the woods. They found boletus, an amanita, and a rare white adders tongue. We enjoys these hikes and the kids walk for hours uncomplaining and enjoying the opportunity to be out of the car and in the fresh air. We said farewells in Kippen knowing that we have made fast friends who we will eventually see again when they visit Vancouver. Next on the route to explore was Edinburgh. We walked the Royal Mile more then a couple of times and visited the Museum of Childhood. The highlight in Edinburgh was an evening of story telling at the Netherbow Theatre, listening to old folk stories told in Gaelic as well as stories from far away Sardinia. From Edinburgh we headed in the direction of the ferry that would take us to Ireland and another chapter of our adventures.
