Pearl and I were very lucky to have a second chance to get together with WhyMommy, and she invited Jessica and Jean and Kristen to join us for tea, donuts and chocolate. It was a wonderful morning, full of laughter and joy and I got to hold Baby Alice who is very sweet. I feel blessed to have finally met Susan, we clicked instantly and I feel like I have another best friend!
But now, already, we have left the US and are in London. The flight over was very bumpy to begin with, but we each got a couple of hours sleep and managed to stay awake to walk around and look at some of the city yesterday afternoon. The weather was typically unpredictable, with sunshine, thunder, lightning, hail, and torrential rain all taking their turn.
We got to bed at about “bedtime”, and slept through until morning – how wonderful! Very nice to feel awake and refreshed at the proper hour of the day, especially after such a long trip.
We spent today at the British Museum. Our friend C, who is hosting us, came along to add local commentary which was great fun. We picked up an activity booklet on my favouritest-ever exhibit, the Sutton Hoo treasure, and Pearl happily found all the bits and pieces and learned lots.
cool old gold!
Then we wandered through the Roman Britain rooms and through to see some Egyptian mummies – Pearl was keen until she realised she was looking at dead bodies.
We had lunch near the museum with another friend, G, and swapped family news and tales. Letters and emails are all very well, but it’s more fun to talk in person! Even if it is only every five or six years…
G accompanied us all back to the museum, where we picked up a children’s activity backpack on Roman Britain. I cannot recommend these packs highly enough. When we had finished the Roman one, we went back and got another, this one on South Asia. Not just Pearl, but we all four of us, learnt a lot about the exhibits we saw, and they have wonderful activities which bring the history and cultures to life. Pearl made a mosaic, tried Roman sandals, “built” a couple of temples, and learned quite a bit about Buddhism. At a large sculpture of Siva and Parvati, we had objects to compare to the carvings. A passing Indian tourist showed us how to play the little cymbals, and was glad to explain the significance of other pieces of the sculpture as well. Just this one day in the museum probably justifies the 3 1/2 weeks of school Pearl is missing!
Pearl reading the Roman Britain backpack instructions
Pearl dressed up as Lord Ganesha for the South Asian backpack activity
We managed to escape the gift shop without too much damage, startled to discover that it was nearly 7pm by the time we got home. Now it is already past “bedtime”, and with another very full day planned (probably over-planned) for tomorrow, I had best be off.
© UpsideBackwards 2011.
Tags: ancient rome, british museum, children, friendship, latin, learning, london, parenting, travel
UpsideBackwards 
June 7, 2011 at 2:06 am |
Those backpacks sound like a great idea! Sounds like such a great day!!