This week, we had to take Dan up to London to renew his US passport at the Embassy in Grosvenor Square. (The English always say "up to London" even though it's downhill and south of us in Cambridgeshire. The Scots never say "up to London".) Hanna had made all the arrangements and sorted out the paperwork in advance, but we never expected an easy day.
For a start, the only appointments available were before 11 am. That's because no-one wants to pay rush-hour rates and share the trains with grumpy commuters. A one hour return journey to King's Cross for three at 8 am cost £110. I've bought cars for less than that!
Secondly we thought that Dan would find waiting in line for no perceivable reward a dreadful trial.
As it turned out; Dan loved the train journey, especially the tunnels, so the tube was a real treat as it's just one big tunnel! There are loads of escalators and lifts too, just to make it even more fun. Then the staff at the US Embassy were incredibly helpful and we were admitted straight away.
Even so, our business inside took over and hour and a half and Dan was getting pretty restless by the end of it. As a reward for being really good, we walked down Park Avenue to The Hard Rock Cafe where we hoped to get a slap-up meal, but it was shut! To kill time until they opened, we visited their shop in a former bank next door. Dan soon found a giant iPad on the wall where he could browse the collection of Rock Memorabilia. That pretty much held him for half an hour until we moved back to the cafe to be the first ones inside, just before the skies opened and it poured with rain.
The service and the food were excellent; just ask Dan. If you remember that this is the poshest bit of London, the prices are really good, except for the drinks, and we escaped the worst of the rain at the same time. Dan loves the music videos and the general "vibe" of the place. It's still cool with us. But what should we do next, in the rain?
Being tourists, we made for Covent Garden because there's lots to see and you don't have to spend any money. The old fruit and veg market is full of stalls and eating places and the standard of busking and street entertaining is really high. It's also the home of the National Opera and some of the best theatres. At one point we thought we were going to see "The Lion King" musical, but it was sold out, despite what the touts told us. We were disappointed, but as I brightly pointed out, this meant we didn't have to part with another big wad of money.
We explored the place pretty thoroughly then spent an hour in the new, palatial Apple Store where Dan joined a group of Dutch, Italian and Chinese teenagers to play with iPads until we dragged him off to watch the street performers.
By the time we had watched the guy on the 7 foot uni-cycle and the Argentinian Charlie Chaplin we were worn out. We made a dash back to King's Cross to catch a stuffy, crowded commuter train home. But we were happy. Dan had behaved really well and we had actually enjoyed our day out.
You can see a slide-show here. The pictures were all taken on Dan's iPod as I forgot my camera. I think they are OK really, but I missed having the zoom.
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