Further tales of my explorations, picking up a week before Easter. (I wrote this back in April, then never finished polishing and posting it. So I’ll just leave this where it is and make another post continuing the story!)
My SCA guests left the same time that my husband did. During his week at Google headquarters in California I had three boys and a limited social support network (the only regular adult-time activity I have, hosting the local SCA singing group, was cancelled for the week). Rather than take it easy, I filled our days to the fullest.
First Weyland and I toured St Paul’s Cathedral. That building seems very special to him, and I don’t know whether it is because we lived by it for a month, or because it is such a recognizable feature of the skyline. The self-guided tour is on an iPod touch, which was perfect for Weyland — launch the children’s tour, and he was competent to navigate the menu himself. He often listened to sections more than once, especially the one featuring the boys choir. For such a young child, he was incredibly focused and well behaved. I had to coax him to climb the steps to the Whispering Gallery (an inside view of the dome, looking down on the transept) and carried him at times, but once in the gallery he was fearless. It is a LONG way down to the floor from there, and although I’m not afraid of heights, my stomach did lurch as I contemplated the view. Especially when Weyland leaned so confidently on the iron railing, displaying a complete lack of concern for the drop. We couldn’t climb higher up the dome to the external viewing platforms because they were closed for maintenance.
Normally the crypt would be a place I would linger, but since the oldest effigies are both Elizabethan and damaged by the 1666 fire, I didn’t fret too much over the injunction against photography or Weyland’s desire to hurry through. We tarried in the Oculus film experience, though. Cuddled on my lap he happily watched a virtual tour up the dome, a bit about the daily life of St Paul’s, and images of cathedral history, repeating some parts of the film before he wished to leave. You can walk into the film at any point in the loop, but I noticed that almost all the adults walked out again without absorbing all that was there for them to enjoy. I was glad that day to be with my curious, tolerant preschooler rather than a hurried adult.
When the boys got out of school early on the last day of the term, I left Weyland in preschool and tried touristing with the older two. We rode the London Eye, the enormous ferris wheel on the Thames, because I wanted to try it without Weyland. (He had initially expressed fear of riding the huge machine but has since ridden it with confidence; the experience is very slow and not scary at all.) I wanted to then take them to the London Dungeon for some good scary fun, but the line was terrible. Apparently the fire alarm had gone off twice that afternoon. My boys initially resisted going into the aquarium next door but enjoyed it once inside. Too bad the fire alarm went off again (it is all part of the same huge building) before we’d even made it through the first exhibit! We consoled ourselves by riding the London Eye a second time. I LOVE having annual memberships that let you just walk on in — no way would I have bought us tickets for two rides!
Over Easter Weekend I had no question what we’d be doing: Hampton Court Palace had the professional acting group staging the arrival of Charles II with his wife Catherine of Braganza for their honeymoon. Friday we spent the entire day watching the tensions between his new wife and his hugely pregnant mistress Barbara Villiers unfold amid the general hubbub of the court in the year 1685. The scene was complex, with events going on all over the palace, without a solid schedule. There were scientists discussing the latest theories, egotistical actors practicing a truly awful play, a trio of instrumental musicians, singers, gentlemen ready to fight a duel to the death over a lady, high ranking nobles, family members of the king such as his mother and brother, and of course a number of cheerful little Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. Because we did not always know where and when to go for the next “scene” there were moments of boredom, but the boys came prepared with a sketchbook. Some of the actors noticed their drawings and drew the attention of the actor playing Sir Peter Lely, the court painter. This attention further fueled their desire to draw, and they began portraits of some of the ladies of the court. When these ladies had to move to another part of the palace for a scheduled scene, we followed along, getting to “sneak” through some back ways and past some guards as we went.
That day was so much fun, we returned Sunday for a second day at the palace, and this time convinced one of our new friends (with kids) to come along. Not only did the boys continue drawing whenever possible, but Garrett and I performed a song for the queen. One of the most fun people to draw had to have been one of the actors. He was so vain about it, and almost completely stopped his part in the rehearsal scene just to strike dashing poses for the boys. Weyland even got into the spirit. He filled a page with colorful lines and then shyly crept up to the queen, queen mum, and their attendant for them to oooh and aaaahh over him and his artwork.