London Calling

London calling, yes I was there too
An' you know what they said? Well, some of it was true!

July 7-8th

We visited the Victoria and Albert Museum. The kids liked the gem and jewelry galleries, as well as the medieval galleries. Next a stop at the butterfly garden at the Natural history museum. Sam and I caught the DLR (Docklands Light Rail) to Greenwich to visit the Maritime Museum, and observatory. We got to check my watch (GMT) and see the Harrison I, II, III, and IV, and then stand on the Prime Meridian (If you have a spare moment, and are at all interested in navigation, longitude or time and the history of modern time keeping, “The Longitude Prize” is worth a quick read).

The morning of the 8^th we were off to Paddington Station to catch an early train out to Bath. After a circuitous cab ride, we ended up in Bradford-on-Avon. We are staying in a great old house called the Georgian Inn. It is a classic pub downstairs, with rooms upstairs. The front of the building looks about 300 years old. We caught a short train back to Bath this afternoon to explore the Roman Baths, and the town.

The kids (Sam and Roan) are journaling every night about the days adventures, and are getting very good at reading the Tube Map and train schedules. Roan likes the Pub atmosphere, and watching the pints being pulled. Sam is having a good time exploring. Ani is enjoying the parks and animal things we see.

Arrival

We arrived in the UK 5 July around 11am tired from our red-eye flight. The kids did great besides a lack of sleep. We seemed to sail through immigration and got our luggage no problem; always a strange feeling….usually things have to have some long ridiculous delay. Maybe we should consider it a gift because I’m sure we’ll have some moments where our patience will be tried.

Checked into our hotel, the Holiday Inn off of Old Street in London. The first day is a blur of sleep, food and “day walking”. Had wonderful pizza, of course!

Today, 6 July, we took the Underground to Tower Bridge with a nice walk through Potter’s Field and a latte stop. The weather waivers between a little chilly to very humid and rainy, so tricky to know how to dress and what to carry. We walked across Tower Bridge to the Tower of London. We had some time to spare before it opened so we trekked to the All Hallows Church where the boys discovered that John Quincy Adams had been married at this Church and where William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, had been baptized.

We visited the Tower of London. The boys’ favorite places were the prisons, the Armory and seeing the Crown Jewels. The highlight of our visit was when we noticed the Beefeater’s organizing and diverting people to alternate paths around the grounds. We sat on a bench for a moment to see what was happening noticing that there were cameras ready for something and then overheard that Prince William would be arriving. So we waited and sure enough he arrived! Got some shots through the throngs of students and visitors crowding to see him. Quite a surprise!

We then took the Thames Cruise to Westminster and got off at “Big Ben/Parliament”, crossed over to the London Eye and walked back to the Tower Bridge Underground . Along the way: ice cream, whining, counting pigeons, Tate Modern, The Globe Theater, The Golden Hinde, more whining, and then to our stop whereupon it started pouring rain! Back to our room for rest then dinner on Regent Street with a visit to the Apple store for a new adaptor….. ahhh…. Just like home (kinda).

Tomorrow- Victoria and Albert? Maritime Museum?.... we’ll see how it goes

Monica

Departure: "Hang on St. Christopher..."

1. The act of leaving.

2. A starting out, as on a trip or a new course of action.

3. A divergence or deviation, as from an established rule, plan, or procedure: ordered curry as a departure from his usual bland diet.

4. Nautical The distance sailed due east or west by a ship on its course.

We left home yesterday to stay with family before heading out to the airport tomorrow. It was hard to say good-bye to the house and animals, knowing that it will be quite some time before we see them all again. Everyone seems strangely relaxed, the months of planning are now behind us and we are away from home. The quiet before the storm?

"Sure hope the old man got that tractor beam out of commission, or this is gonna be a real short trip. Okay, hit it!"

-Han Solo

Prologue

It is difficult to articulate all of the preparation and planning that is going in to this adventure.  Taking the time from our everyday lives to do something extraordinary is not an uncommon dream, having the courage of those convictions seems less common, and the real challenge.

 When the opportunity for me to take a sabbatical presented itself, the first impulses to travel began to make themselves felt.  When the opportunity for Monica to take a leave of absence coinciding with my sabbatical became a possibility, and then a reality, the wanderlust took hold.  What about the Kids? We looked into several homeschooling options, and talked with several parents who were active homeschoolers.  When we asked if they wanted to take a year off from school to travel, the boys were ecstatic. There was some concern that they might miss some of their friends, but this seem to disappear when we began to talk about our plans.

 We spent many long walks on the beach discussing possibilities and options, and daydreaming about what we might do.  There seem to be no end to the places we wanted to go. The reality of the planning, the emailing and making contacts, fell mostly with Monica (the brains behind "Team Furmanski").  We wrestle with constant tension between the intuitive impulse to have an open ended organic experience, and the practical need to know that when we get off that train in the middle of the night in the freezing rain that we will have a warm room to sleep in.  Where is the balance? We will find out.

 The Itinerary.

After many long conversations revolving around weather, geography, seasons, time and hemispheres, we arrived at this imperfect but very workable itinerary. This is a very loose list of the path we are going to travel over the next year.

 July 4^th, depart (Independence Day!)

Europe, North Africa, Turkey, Egypt,  India, China, Japan, Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Tahiti, South America, Home.

 We are leaving out many things that we wanted to see, but any good adventure needs to plant the seeds, and leave room for a sequel.

 Hopes?

For a life altering experience, to see the world first hand, to give our children a perspective that is unique, the opportunity to bond in a way uncommon with one and other.

 Fears?

That we fly too close to the sun. I feel an obligation to seek out temples devoted to Icarus as well as Hubris while we are in Greece, and leave generous offerings.