Eurojournal-13 Sept 2006 (London!)

Today we are on the way to London. We have been up since 8 am traveling by bus and it is now almost 3pm. The bus ride was long but amazing. We traveled along the western side of Norway island hopping. On one part of the journey we boarded a ferry, bus and all for about an hour. That was beautiful sailing in the water passing more mountains. In the ferry was also a play area for the children. I am amazed at how child friendly this place is. I had read that Sweden was child friendly but I guess I never really understood that they really meant it. On all public transit there are entrances and exits for strollers. On the bus Liam spilled all of his crayons. I got anxious as I walked around the bus looking for crayon stragglers. A man picked some up and I apologized. He said, “It happens, no problem” calmly. Ahh.

I am hesitant to be going to London. We just had an awesome time relaxing and I am not quite ready for the big city again. I worry more about the kids and have to be more like a drill sergeant so they don’t get lost. Fortunately our hotel/hostel has gardens and is not in the middle of the city. The kids told me today that they liked traveling around like this. They weren’t excited about the long bus ride but they also liked the beauty of Norway. I think we can all agree that Norway is our favorite place so far. How lucky we are to be experiencing such beauty.

London is like the US. We arrived at a small airport and waited in line for an hour to get through security. I guess that is to be expected. We arrived later in a giant bus station, crowded and chaotic. But there was a Starbucks! I didn’t stop though. We managed to not get lost and got to our destination smoothly. We are staying at a B&B in North London. It has a kitchen and a nice yard for the kids. We went to the grocery store and after the shellshock of Norway prices, it seemed rather cheap here. We made a late dinner and plans for tomorrow.

It is an adjustment being where English is the primary language. I have become rather passive in my interactions with people. In Norway everyone was fluent in both English and Norsk but the signs were in Norsk. Here everything is in English. I still approached a worker at the train station as I do anywhere else. It was funny.