Easter Weekend 1

The Easter holiday here gives everyone a day off from work and school on the Friday before and the Monday after Easter Sunday. It is a really nice four-day weekend. Banks are closed, but shops are open.

On Friday, we went once again to Oxford Street to shop for a rug, and additional lamps and tables for our flat. Afterward, we went to Marylebone High Street to see what kinds of shops were there. After having lunch at a pub, we took a couple of double-decker bus rides around the city to see some different areas. We saw Paddington, which has a very large station with an express train direct to Heathrow airport. We rode through Notting Hill, the neighborhood that loaned its name to the movie with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant. We also went to Kensington – one of the areas we might have lived in – and walked along the High Street. It was jammed with people carrying packages and running in and out of stores.

Saturday began with a snow shower. Then minutes later, the sky was blue again and the sun was shining brightly. That pattern repeated itself several times throughout the day. One minute the sun would be shining in a clear blue sky, and the next minute, there would be black clouds overhead and it would start to rain. When it was cold enough – three or four times throughout the day, the rain would turn to freezing rain or sleet or even snow. At some points, the snow was falling so heavily and the wind was blowing so hard, it looked like a blizzard. Then ten minutes later, it was all gone, and the sun was shining again.

We went to the Museum of Natural History Saturday morning – along with every family in London who had children under 14. (I theorized that this was probably the busiest day of the year for this museum: the weather was bad, the kids were home from school, and Mom and Dad were home from work.) In spite of long lines (queues) and lots of crowds, it was a very interesting place to be. We spent two hours looking at exhibits on the earth and what changes it, the evolution of the earth, the evolution of man (Darwin was from England), minerals, and plants. I am sure we only scratched the surface; we could go back many times and see many more interesting displays.

Just down the block are the Science Museum and the Museum of Victoria and Albert. We will return on another day.

We walked and rode the underground and took buses, and came home for a late lunch: soaking wet and cold. The afternoon was a good time to read The Time Traveler’s Wife -- the current selection of the St. John’s Wood Library Reading Group. (The meeting is in two weeks, and this is a very thick book.)

On holidays and weekends, it is typical for several of the tube lines to have restricted schedules –or to be closed altogether - because of “engineering work” being done. So if you don’t drive a car, it can be more difficult than usual to get around during holidays and weekends – just the time you most want to go places.