London

At the end of May we finally made the trip to London a reality. We had been meaning to go during Holy Week to visit Valentina, Miguel, Tomas and Eva, but decided to try for late May. I think it turned out to be a good decision, as we enjoyed cooler weather just when Madrid was starting to heat up! Fede's sister, Valentina, and her husband and kids have lived in London for five years now. After visiting them, and enjoying what London has to offer (extraordinary museums, amazing parks, culture), I can see why they like living there!

On the first day there, we decided to do visit the must-see places, Buckingham Palace and the changing of the guard, St. Jame's Park, Westminster Abbey, Parliament and Big Ben. We had a lovely picnic at St. Jame's Park and then slowly made our way back. The kids were really amused at the differences between the Metro (subway) in Madrid and the "Tube" (subway) in London. The big difference being that the London Metro has fabric seats (so impractical and probably unhygienic!)  and the cars are smaller and rounded compared to Madrid's system.

The last time we were in London was in 2007, when Antonio was 14 months old and of course, he didn't remember anything, so it was really fun to take the kids to all of these terrific landmarks.

On day two, we took Valen and Miguel's advice and visited the London Transport Museum --it was awesome. Antonio, who is pretty much obsessed with anything having to do with Metro's, buses, planes, motorcycles, and rockets, had a grand ol' time. Francisco and Alejandra also loved it. It was actually really interesting to learn how the underground system evolved and met each challenge with a solution. They have a complete collection of old subway cars, double-decker buses throughout the decades, horse-drawn carriages and of course modern models of transportation. They also have one of the best gift shops I've ever seen.

From there we planned on lunching on a delicious "crispy duck" at a Chinese place, but as we passed by Covent Gardens the intoxicating smell of the outdoor farmer's market took possession of our senses rendering us helpless against the Indian aromas, Polish sausage, nutella-stuffed crepes, and such. We camped out there for a while, watching the street performers as we ate the best carrot cake of all time.

A big part of our trip were the parks. We just loved hanging out with the kids at St. Jame's, then Hyde Park and on the final day we went to Regent's Park. The cousins, Tomas and Eva, had school but in the afternoons and weekends we were able to go on outings together.

Being that Antonio (6), Tomas (5), Alejandra (4), Eva (2), and Francisco (2) are so close in age, it means a lot to us that they are able to see each other while we're in Europe. As you can see, they have a really good time together. It is really amusing to hear Tomas and Eva speaking a British English, while our kids speak American English, but then when they all speak in Spanish it's with a Colombian accent! Right about now, this whole globalization thing really starts to hit home :)

Tomas, with his beautiful smile, made for an irresistable subject!

And well...Francisco is our perpetual clown and the camera seems to gravitate towards him too!

Within Hyde Park we find a fun kids' park for them to play.

Another day we visited the Museum of Natual History- another great decision- wow what an incredible museum. And, I'd just like to take a moment to congratulate the British for having the brilliant idea of making their museums FREE. Yes, you heard right, these museums --these Jewels- are free!!! Talk about a great way of educating the general public and sharing the wealth! The museum is really too big to enjoy in one day, so we had to go quickly through sections that deserved more time. Amongst the things that most stand out are a life-size dinosaur skeleton, a life-size recreation of a blue whale (above), the cross-section of a 1,300-old sequoia tree --huge!, an earth-quake room, and an extraordinary collection of rocks and minerals. I could have stayed in that museum for a week I think.

Here we are at Regent's Park, where we spent the final day having a picnic and taking a pedal boat ride.

The kids were delighted to put on lifejackets and jump in the boat. Certainly the highlight of the boatride was when Miguel and Valen's boat got stuck in the shallow rocks along the edge of the lake and The Martinez boat had to go rescue them by throwing over a rope and furiously pedaling backwards! Meanwhile, their boat was positioned in just such a way that water started to quickly fill the floor of the boat and for a split second we thought that they would actually sink! Luckily though, the drain was soon unobstructed and everything was fine. Still, it was our little adventure at Regents!

Regent's Park had an amazing sand park for the kids where we spent the rest of the afternoon.

How cute are they? First thing in the morning they would pile up on the couch to watch cartoons and their sleepy faces made for a great shot.

We end with one final shot of yours truly walking across what is perhaps the most famous crossing in all of London if not the world: Abbey Road! This is exactly where the Beatles crosses all those decades ago. And, what is very amusing, is that tourists are always crossing here (yes, some without shoes) and taking pictures, much to the annoyance of Londoners who are desensitized to the importance of this place for us tourists!!

A final thank you to Valentina and Miguel for their tremendous hospitality. We had a wonderful time and hope to be back again!