We had a wonderful second half of our London trip. We spent an afternoon at the amazingly massive Greenwich Park – acres of open space and really cool wooden play structures. We also visited the National Gallery – kids got a kick out of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers and Monet’s Lily Pond (the girls painted this in an art class a few years ago). Then hit the Natural History Museum to see some dinosaurs.
We had an awesome Pakistani dinner in the Indian/Bengali district of Brick Lane (although a touch spicy for the kids). We also met our hometown Carlsbad friends, the Greenes, on a Harry Potter Tour around the city – very interesting mixture of London history and seeing various locations from the filming of the movies. Then we stopped at one of the oldest pubs in London followed by ice cream. Always ice cream with these kids! (but we figure all the walking – and we walk a TON – balances it out).
And of course we had some funkiness as well. Like the night we stayed out late with the Greenes and went to catch the Tube home only to find out they close at Midnight. Doh! So… after several buses, some meandering and eventually a taxi – we arrived at our appt around 2am. Of course we had to get up at 6, walk in torrential downpour to the bus stop (Taryn almost got hit by a car), bus to Tube (missing our stop and backtracking) then a mad scramble to the airport to barely catch our flight to Paris. And since I forgot to check in the day before we all had separate middle seats. Huge kudos to the kids for sitting next to strangers (nice strangers) and actually not dying! It was a good test. And in the end, we made it to Paris. I guess it’s this chaos that makes this all more memorable… right??
So we say goodbye and cheers to London – an amazing city. We will miss it’s energy, it’s diversity, it’s culture and it’s welcoming spirit mate! And on to France´.
Stivers Tribe 
It will be great to get out of the hustle and bustle of the city and enjoy the gorgeous French countryside, the quaint villages, the historic architecture and the very kind French people you will meet along the way.
Not sure what direction you are heading but we know people in Saint-Projet, Midi-Pyrenees (mid-West). Very very kind people. Also have friends in the South if you are interested. Please let me know. They would be so excited to show you around.
Thank you for all of the wonderful pictures!! This is so exciting!
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Cool, thanks! We ended up taking a train to Amsterdam yesterday. Excited to explore the city today. We expect to visit the South of France later in the Fall after Italy. Email me your friends info and we’ll reach out if we’re near them. mikestivers@sbcglobal.net And thanks for the reminder about Jim Morrison’s grave. Really wanted to go check it out but ran out of time. Oh well.
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Wow! Exciting and action packed! Our kids are so envious about the Harry Potter tour – they’ve been rereading the books and are very into all that right now! Lots of love from us ❤ Enjoy France!
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Harry Potter tour was really cool – our guide was super passionate about it all. It was through London Walks – basically a walking tour through the back streets of London, discussing the various scenes shot there. He asked how many people had the books in another language – one person had read it in I think 3 or 4. And another had read it in Klingon!! Good times.
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Greenwich Park looks so cool. I also like the wooden play structures they look like a lot of fun.
I’m so excited for tomorrow when I find out who my teacher is for school.
What has been the best part of your trip so far?
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Hi this is Taryn. I liked going to the top of the Eiffel Tower. We went to some museums like the Louvre that holds the Mona Lisa. We also went to the Natural History Museum. It had a lot of dinosaur bones. I tried snail and it was okay.
For you guys it’s a big day. What teacher do you want? I’m having a lot of fun here. Right now we are in Amsterdam. We just left Paris. Can you tell me what teacher you and Sami get.
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