Day Six

Our last day proved to be our easiest. We knew where we wanted to go. We knew how to get there. We knew we had to be up at 5 a.m. (and their time changed that night, too). We knew we had to get home to get to bed early.


We finally got to use one of the cool mail boxes:



This one was right outside our friends' apartment (across the street, on the corner). You can see it from their living room, a fact that my friend does not think is as cool as I do.

We decided to sleep in a bit and then hang out at Portobello Road - a giant outdoor market with stalls selling everything under the sun. We knew it must be a humdinger when there was a solid wall of humans marching from the tube station straight to the market area. Solid. wall. Really.



And it didn't let up once the shopping began:



I was so overwhelmed that I finally called it quits so we could go look for lunch. After a bite at Pret a Manger, we went for a surprise tube ride. The surprise for the kids was that they didn't know where we were going. The surprise for me was that I couldn't find it. But we finally made it to King's Cross Train Station to find the most famous platform of all:



Then it was time for "Revenge of the Babies". Let me explain. My husband went out on his birthday eve with our host to have a pint. Our friend introduced him to "Casque Ale" which is beer, but not really carbonated (is that right?). There is some kind of pump system that is part of the experience. Unfortunately, pubs that had casque ale didn't allow children and those that allowed children had no casque ale (or so it seemed to us). While at Portobello Road, we saw a sign advertising the ale, so we knew what to look for. And on Day ?, we stopped in one to be yelled at (good naturedly) by the bar keep with "No babies!". Well, at King's Crossing, the planets finally aligned and casque ale was being poured at a pub that allowed kids. The kids enjoyed their lemonade and let mama have a quiet pint. Revenge of the babies!



This is their idea of revengefulness. I just think that the lemonade it kicking in!

Luckily it wore off in time to fall into bed in their travel togs, ready to face the long trek home.




Just enough time for one more Cadbury fill up!