Greenwich and a lil' bit of London by night

As I have mentioned already, during our last trip to London we haven't seen much. But that was the point. We weren't set on sightseeing that much. Sure, we had to see something, as we wouldn't have been us. But the whole point of the getaway was enjoying ourselves, browsing through bookstores, just walking, walking and walking a little more around London.

This time we decided to move a little further away from the centre and see the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. The last time I visited the place was back in 1995, when I was a little girl in a big city. At first I wanted to attach a picture or two from back then. Buuuut... well, maybe it's not that good an idea after all ;)

Anyway, we decided to goand see the Royal Observatory since Krzys has never been there before. And he wanted to see it, too. When we were driving through Spain in 2016, we crossed the prime meridian (twice, actually. First time was in France on our way to Spain, but I can't remember it being marked in any particular way. I remember the one in Spain, though). That was when we first started talking and Krzys said he'd like to visit Greenwich. This time we had a chance to do it, and so we did. The weather was nice, it was sunny, it wasn't raining either (unlike the previous day when we visited the Tower). First we went to see the Cutty Sark . Then we climbed up the hill to the observatory.

Apart from us, there were a few people there, but it wasn't crowded. I have to say that the place changed a lot over the past 20 years. I remember the 24 hours clock at the entrance. It still looks the same. But the place where I took the famous "I'm on the hemispheres at once" picture is now hidden in the bushes and fenced. We could see it. But you can't get there now. You can still take the picture, no worries about that. Just in a little different place. It looks good, too ;)

We walked through the exhibitions, learned quite a lot. I loved the rooms, what they looked like, loved the old equipment. The gardens around were also nice and since the weather was working in our favour, we could enjoy a few minutes outside as well. Not at all time lost.

On our way back to the centre, we stepped into a few bookstores and visited a orning market where we had some delicious Scottish breakfast. We got back to London spent some time walking around the Picadilly Circus, met with a friend that we haven't seen almost since our studies in Finland (well, we met in Poland soon after we got back from Finland, but that was it, so it was great to see each other again) and since I was still feeling quite ok (which wasn't given), we decided to stay in the centre and see London by night. Ok, by London I mean the London Eye, the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. And by "by night" I mean after dark. So 7-8 p.m. was also fine by me ;) We didn't have a chance to see it after dark the previous time we visited London since we were there with young kids. And I love the view a lot.

We enjoyed those few days in London a lot. I don't think it's even possible for me to visit London and say "hey, it was lame. I didn't enjoy it at all". We're already planning our next visits there. As yesterday we decided that me and Arti are going to go there this year (Spring maybe?), he really wants to visit Harry Potter related places (studios included). And since Krzys would love to visit the studios too, he will go there with Paula once she reads the books (and if she doesn't like them as much as we do, he can still wait for Marti to grow a little older ;)).

It's London, baby!

Phew, with all the #Eurotrip2016 posts already written (mind you, it took 2,5 years), I have no idea where to start now. Whether I should start with what we were doing in the meantime, or maybe with our latest #Eurotrip2018... So many ideas! Since writing a series takes me so much time, though (I hope this time it is going to take much shorter), I think starting with single post stories is safer. So, let's start with...

London! Because... well... It's London, baby! It's always a good choice, I love this city and could always get back there.

We last visited London when I was still in my first trimester with our youngest. It was no easy time for me. Even though we were not planning to see much in London then, since we had most of the sightseeing already behind us (it wasn't our, not to mention mine, first visit to London), we still managed to see quite a lot. Especially that we usually had until 2-3 p.m. for sightseeing, as later my nausea usually hit us hard.

Our main goal for London back in March '17 was... bookstores. We love books. Old and new. We hit every bookstore we could find, be it with new or used books. A multi storey one or a tiny bookstore that we could hardly get in. We brought home quite a few books, both new and used ones, but that was our point. We were delighted to do it.

Probably ever since he visited London for the first time in 2007, Krzys wanted to visit the Tower of London. He has a thing for castles and defensive constructions (or whatever we want to call those) and I could see it in his eyes that he really wanted to go there. Our visit back in 2007 was totally on a budget, so we didn't have money for it. The second time we visited London together was with a 5 year old and an almost one year old. Not a company for such a type of sightseeing. We rather spent quite some time in the parks, on playgrounds and.. on workshops in Science Museum. But this time... it was a perfect time to finally see it.

I visited the Tower in 1995. A long time ago. And it was...so different! Especially the Crown Jewels. I remember climbing down the stairs, with the crown jewels on our left and right. Now, they are much better exposed and so much better described. Other exhibitions were also well presented and interesting to see.

I will not describe the history of the place, what it was used for, why the ravens are there and what the exhibitions present. The information is easily available online, described in so many places, on so many pages that it doesn't seem sensible to describe it once again. I'd rather devote my time and ienergy to other activities. Maybe to another post even? ;)

The view of the Tower Bridge from the Tower walls is stunning. The day was rainy and grey, but it was still amazing. After all, it's London anyway.

We spent around 3 hours in the Tower. Later, we went for a walk along the Thames River. Enjoying the views, spending  lovely day outside.

I wanted to walk the Millennium Bridge. Walk the narrow streets of the City. Go to King's Cross. And we did all that, of course. You don't say no to a pregnant woman ;) We sat by the river next to the Millennium Bridge. With a view of the City and St. Paul's Cathedral. Having lunch with such a view can never get boring, can it? ;)

I only missed one thing,actually. When we were walking the Millennium Bridge, there was no black cloud or smoke moving over it, it didn't start swirling, there were no deatheaters anywhere around...

Luckily, there's always King's Cross for some Harry Potter experience. The cart stuck in the wall on the way to platform 9 and 3/4. And the Harry Potter shop next to it. Although I have to say that I remember the cart being in a different place. Before there was a shop, of course. But I might be wrong. Aaand back in the days when we first saw it, there was no line to taking a picture with the cart, even though it was end of August. And now, in March, if we wanted to take a picture with it, we would have had to wait for like 30 min, more or less. Things change (and staircases change, remember? ;)).

Finally, the Rock

Ok, let's start doing what I planned. That means, let's finish sharing our Eurotrip2016 stories. We have already been to Neuf-Brisach, Clermont-Ferrand and La Roque-Gageac in France, as well as in Bilbao, Gaztelugatxe, Castillo de Butron, La Coruna, Santiago de Compostela and Cape Finisterre in Spain, and Fatima, Obidos, Cabo da Roca and Peniche in Portugal. It's time to move to yet another place.

The following day it was time to pack our belongings and leave Peniche. Which is so close to Obidos (in case you haven't noticed, we really loved that little medieval town). Kids spent the morning with me on the playground on the campsite, while my husband packed the tent. Ok, first we helped (a little). No, seriously, we helped. Until he made us go. Cause we knew kids had to run around a little (or a lot) to be able to spend some time sitting in the car.

The goal was simple. Get to the southern parts of Portugal and spend the afternoon at Pego do Inferno. I really wanted to visit that place as it was recommended to me by a few Portuguese people. And whom better to ask, right? I checked all the directions back when we were still home. Marked it even on the litte map we used throughout the trip (but it was a general one. A printout of google map that showed whole of Spain, Portugal and southern parts of France, so no details there. I made it to mark the places that we might want to visit throughout the trip and that was its main purpose. To show where they lie).

No, we didn't get to Pego do Inferno. I got confused where it was, where we should turn, which exit from the highway to take. After some time and a lot of confusion, we decided to just let go and head back to Spain. Ok, back to Spain, but to its other part. This time we entered the southern part of Spain. It was a long day spent in the car.

We spent the evening swimming in the pool and playing at the playground, before the following day we made it to our trip goal destination.

I woke up early, excited like a little kid. I couldn't wait for the rest of the crew to wash themselves, get dressed and eat breakfast. I wanted to go, to have as much time *there* as possible.

We made it. We got into the car and hit the road. The road was strange, bumpy, not the easiest, and towards the end... jammed. We left the car in one of the underground carparks and decided to cross the border on foot. There was no line, noone really looked at our documents, but the borderguards were there. Nevermind, I don't care. We made it. We were in Gibraltar.

Yes, getting to Gibraltar was the goal of our roadtrip. It's a long drive from northern Poland and we didn't know how our kids would react to so many days on the road.

Luckily, they were very brave and patient and let mama's dream come true.

When we crossed the border, we hopped on the bus to get closer to the centre. Although Gibraltar is small and maybe you can't really get lost there, when it's hot and yu have two kids (plus a grown man, but in such a situation, you can count him as a kid, too) with you, you just don't want to spend too much time wandering around.

We went to the tourist centre, where we got all the information we needed plus a map with the routes we wanted marked on it. We were ready to get to the Rock.

We didn't buy the tickets for the cable car in advance. Yet again, we didn't know when and if we were going to get to Gibraltar. That's why we had to wait in two lines. First one - to get the tickets. And then the second one - to get on the cable car. Both were slow, so it took a lot of time, so if you have a chance, try to buy your tickets in advance. You can save yourself an hour or so.

Finally, we got to the top. The moment we got there, we were greeted by... yes, the monkeys. No, not the band (The Monkees that is). But real badasses. K. was carrying Paula since it felt better to hold her up on the crowded cable car. So that she could enjoy the views out the windows instead of other people's asses. Anyway, he was holding her up in his arms and one of the monkeys jumped on his back. Face to face with our kid. K. shook the monkey off (a nearby wall helped a little, sorry not sorry. No harm done, though, in case you were wondering). It just sat there, looking angry at him. I mean, it all just took seconds, Paula didn't even get scared. But I was petrified. It was long enough for me to imagine all the consequences of the monkey's attack on the kid. Oh, and on my husband as well. But first on the kid. Mama's priorities. Sorry, Hun.

Besides, it wasn't K.'s first fight with a monkey. In case you can't remember, he had his first combat back in 2015 during our trip to the Tiger Cave Temple in Thailand. So he had some experience... Animal magnetism?

No other monkey got anywhere too close to us. At least not one that was awake. We could see them jumping on baby strollers, though (luckily, no kid inside). Oh, those nasty beasts. But enough with the monkeys.

From the Rock, we took a look at Spain and at Africa. We walked around a little, took a few pictures, sneaked into some ruins (of military buildings?) and once we felt that we saw everything we wanted, we took the cable car back to the town. There was a short moment when we discussed hitting the trail, but it didn't stick for too long. Maybe some other time.

We got back to the town, walked the narrow streets, grabbed something to eat and got back to Spain, to our car, to the campsite.

But whenever I hear "Happy" by Pharrell Williams, I'm immediately back to Gibraltar.