I took E by myself, leaving B home with the baby. She was supposed to nap, but he only got about 20 minutes of peace out of her. By that time, the boy and I were well on our way - train from our local station to Waterloo, which took about 15 minutes. E was very excited, got on the train and bellowed: "This train is going to Waterloo!" which provoked many smiles and a few outright chuckles from the passengers. He then sat across from an older mother and her teenage daughter and proceeded to chat to them the entire way. They were charmed.
Once out of the train station, his enthusiasm did not wane. The London Eye (big ferris wheel type thing) was very exciting to him.
It was a bright sunny day (if a little chilly) and Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament were gilded in sunlight.
Inside the aquarium, we found an open tank where we could look down from the top at the fish. Here, a ray is visiting us, poking its nose above water. We weren't allowed to touch, although in the San Francisco aquarium, we could. They feel like... slimy, spongy cartilage, basically.
There was a great walk-through tunnel with fish/sharks/rays swimming above us and little peekholes for children.
BIG fish in this tank plus sharks plus sea turtles (not pictured). There were lots of little kids crowded around watching.
Croc.
Buddha-in-a-tank.
There were penguins in this tank but I didn't get any in the hasty photo I snapped.
Brightly colored fish! He was nearing the end of his patience by now, and wanted some lunch.
So we walked back to the station to find some, chasing pigeons along the way.
And back home afterward, walking up through the graveyard listening to the trains roll past. Along the way, he snatched up two sticks and told me he was going to sing the blues. Then he performed "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" in a minor key.
All in all, it was a beautiful day, if slightly overwhelming for a 3 year old (and, to be quite frank, the London Aquarium is too expensive to visit lightly - nearly 30 quid for just the two of us).
It was Remembrance Sunday, so there were many in the graveyard who had come to pay their respects to the World War I/II memorials. We walked past, and chatted (very briefly) about his great-great grandfather (buried in the Somme American Cemetery) who was a sergeant and a medic in World War I, from Coxsackie, NY.
A 3 year old is too young to understand, but all the time I was walking, I thought of the World Wars. In Flanders fields, the poppies blow/Between the crosses, row on row.... and was so grateful to have a whole family and an intact flat to come home to.
