Bus, ferry, ship, subway

For those of you who don't know, the reason I am here in London with Joanna and family is that Joanna is a competitor for Canada in her age group at the World Triathlon Championships.  So for her, today was some swimming, running, cycling, and registering for the preliminary swimming race tomorrow.  Sham and I had the kids to ourselves.

We got the one day transit pass and then the kids kept talking about the double decker bus, so we hopped one of those which went through the center of the city and over towards St. Paul's.  It was a short walk to the Tower of London and Tower pier.  Here we caught a ferry and took it across the Thames to the south side where the HMS Belfast is anchored.  She is a WWII cruiser with 12 big guns and more smaller ones.  Being a floating museum, we had opportunity to climb all over from the bridge to the brig to the guns, through the kitchen and to the seaman's quarters.  Both kids loved it but particularly Kieran who is boat obsessed currently.  (He came back to the house and immediately made a Belfast out of lego and explained all the parts to his mom when she got back.)  Clara liked watching the birds and other boats out on the river, so a good time was had by all.

We found our way to London Bridge station and took the tube back to the house.  It is a good public system and for 7.30 pounds for the day pass, a good deal.  (Kids under 5 are completely free).  A little sprinkle did not deter us from heading to the local playground in Hyde Park -- also gave us a chance to scout out the best places to view Joanna's race tomorrow.  And, the ducks and geese are most obliging to gobble the excess bread one has in one's pocket.

Joanna and Sham are out to dinner this evening for their 8th anniversary.  I remember that wedding so well and now 8 years have gone by.  If one didn't see the kids and how they are growing so quickly, it would be almost impossible to believe the time has gone so fast.  Happy Anniversary and may you have many, many more happy years together.