Monday, April 14, 2014

Ellen's Visit, Day 3

We opted to take the next day at a slightly slower pace.  When we finally headed out our agenda consisted of a visit to the London Eye and then Harrods.  We suggested Ellen buy fast track tickets - even then there's nothing truly fast about the process (but it's definitely faster, and with kids, anything to reduce line standing time is good!).  Finally, we made it!




A ride on the carousel was in order next!

Then a quick lunch, followed by some light child tossing to help burn it off....


As we tried to find a more stroller friendly way back into the Tube, we stumbled upon a poem on the underpass wall.  Turns out it had been recently (accidentally??) destroyed and repaired right after having been named one of London's best pieces of secret art.

Really, really beautiful.

Eurydice, by Sue Hubbard

I am not afraid as I descend,
step by step, leaving behind the salt wind
blowing up the corrugated river,


the damp city streets, their sodium glare
of rush-hour headlights pitted with pearls of rain;
for my eyes still reflect the half remembered moon.


Already your face recedes beneath the station clock,
a damp smudge among the shadows
mirrored in the train's wet glass,


will you forget me? Steel tracks lead you out
past cranes and crematoria,
boat yards and bike sheds, ruby shards


of roman glass and wolf-bone mummified in mud,
the rows of curtained windows like eyelids
heavy with sleep, to the city's green edge.


Now I stop my ears with wax, hold fast
the memory of the song you once whispered in my ear.
Its echoes tangle like briars in my thick hair.


You turned to look.
Second fly past like birds.
My hands grow cold. I am ice and cloud.


This path unravels.
Deep in hidden rooms filled with dust
and sour night-breath the lost city is sleeping.


Above the hurt sky is weeping,
soaked nightingales have ceased to sing.
Dusk has come early. I am drowning in blue.


I dream of a green garden
where the sun feathers my face
like your once eager kiss.


Soon, soon I will climb
from this blackened earth
into the diffident light.


After we finally found our way back into the Tube the adventure began in ernest.  I was laughing at how uncomfortable Will looked trying to keep Turner comfortable and snapped the following picture:

As I turned back around to say something to Will again I noticed someone stop next to him.  It was unusual since there was no one else on the escalator.  Then I watched the other persons hand slowly snake over to Will's pack.  I yelled.  Yup, I kept Will from being pickpocketed (it turns out there wasn't anything of value on that side of the bag, the beauty of diaper bags, but there were a few tense moments while we worried over it).

The rest of our journey was less eventful. Turner even managed to fall asleep - the only way to travel....

We finally made it to Harrods all in one piece.  The £200+ Easter basket:

So many yummy things:

After an exhausting amount of walking, we caught the Tube home.  Hold onto the strap, Turner:

We made it back in time to have a birthday celebration to all of us since we've missed so many apart this year:

Some bedtime reading to end a great day!


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