This was the year that Heidi put her

foot down.   We would not be taking

a family ski vacation this winter.  No

way!  She needed a change from

Whistler and Tremblant, so for

March Break this year, we headed

to London instead.

Now ski vacations don't come

cheap, but they seem like a bargain

compared to visiting London.  We

booked our flight out of Buffalo, to

save about $1000 on flights.  And

we scoured VRBO.com to find a 3

bedroom flat in South Kensington,

so that we could avoid the very

expensive, and very small hotel

rooms that we remember from

previous trips.  Both decisions

worked out very well.

Our flat was a couple of blocks from

the Gloucester Road tube station,

which was a great location.  It was 

spacious, especially by London

standards.   There was a large

living room, separate dining room, 3

bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.   We

were able to keep costs under

control by eating breakfast and

some dinners in the apartment. 

The local Waitrose grocery store,

just beside the tube station, had a

good supply of precooked meals

(including some fairly decent

curries).   So we stocked up here

each day, and over dinner at the

flat would talk about what we had

done that day, and plan tomorrow's

activities.

Even in 7 days, we weren't able to

do everything that we wanted.  But

we did manage to take in...

...changing of the guard at

Buckingham Palace ( much ado

about nothing)

...the London Eye (not quite the

eighth wonder its fans claim, but fun

nonetheless),

...the Museum of Natural History, 

(the building is amazing, the

displays fairly standard museum

stuff.  An exhibit of the "2007

Wildlife Photographer of the Year"

was worth the time though.)

...Harrods,  (a really big store)

...the Tower of London  (Heidi had

been waiting for 25 years to visit the

Tower; she never made it during

other visits.)

...the British Museum  (of course a

terrific collection, but the we took a

guided tour, which was basically

private as there was only one other

person on the tour and she didn't

say anything.  The tour guide was

incredibly knowledgeable and,

although we only saw a small

number of highlights, it was far

more memorable than traipsing

around the entire bldg.)

...the National Gallery (a whirlwind

tour, but managed to see a small

exhibition by Canadian painter, Tim

Gardner)

...the British Library (I think that

when Heidi became a librarian she

became genetically programmed

with a desire to return to the British

Library - kind of like salmon need to

return to the spawning grounds

where they were born.  Interesting

that the Library has a display of

Beatles memorabilia alongside

materials like the Lindisfarne bible,

and the Magna Carta.)

...the Tate Britain gallery (there was

a special exhibition of Hogarth

paintings that I wanted to see.  It

was very good, but Andrew and

Colin found it quite tedious).

...and, the London Aquarium (not

worth the effort IMHO)

We were also able to reunite with

friends (Mike Cass) and family

(Irma and Paul Gasson) that we

haven't seen for too long.

During the evenings we took in a

couple of plays.  The first, "The

History Boys" was more serious -

but still quite funny.   It has recenly

been made into a film, and kind of

makes one wonder   -  "Is every

single teacher at every British public

school gay?"

The other play was a lark - a

remake of "The 39 Steps" with only

4 actors, and well over 100 parts.  

It's a hoot.

Oh, one more thing....  the weather

was amazing.  Mid to upper teens

for the entire week, and not a drop

of rain.   Hard to believe it was

England in March.