London, 9 January 2014

9 January 2014 (Thursday)

Today was our last day. We asked the kids what they wanted to do and everyone opted to go out for one last walk through the city. We’re all just a little bit sad.

We walked from our flat down to Oxford Street (shopping area) then crossed over into Soho and Carnaby Street.

Cool old building.

Josie wanted to buy some lip balm. Considering that her money tends to burn holes straight through her pockets, she’s done really well on this trip. I think the only purchases she made were the Harrods pig and the handcuffs at Sherlock Holmes House. She ended up not even buying lip gloss.

Carnaby Street. We walked over here mostly because we’ve never seen it before and it was featured on an episode of The Simpsons we saw a couple days ago.

We ate lunch at a pub called Shakespeare’s Head (1735). Adam finally got a meal of fish & chips. The rest of us ate some very good English pub food — hamburgers and steak & ale pie. It seemed a fitting last meal out.

Demolished! Proof that Adam does occasionally eat fish. Unfortunately, this is the only interior photo we have of Shakespeare’s Head.

If anyone is interested, the above plaque reads:

The Shakespeare’s Head which was built in 1735, was originally owned by Thomas & John Shakespeare, who were distant relatives of the poet. In its early days, the tavern stood on the boundary line that divided the lands of the Mercers Company from the Abbot of Abingdon, and nearby was a small estate known as Six Acre Fields. During the Victorian period, the field was a site of the riding school, belonging to Major Henry Faubert, whose name is commemorated by neighbouring Faubert Place. The present day Shakespeare’s Head overlooks Carnaby Street which was once the site of an 18th century street market & is now one of the world’s most famous shopping precincts. Dominating the northern end is the Pub Inn Sign, which is a reproduction of Martin Droeshouts portrait of Shakespeare when the poet was at the pinnacle of his genius. On another part of the building is Shakespeare’s life-size bust, which appears to be gazing down at the busy street below. A close examination of the bust will show one of the poet’s hands is missing. This occurred during World War II when a bomb dropped nearby.

Life size bust of Shakespeare with missing hand that was damaged during WWII when a bomb was dropped nearby.

One last semi-impulse purchase for Isabella. Barbour was having a great sale on this cute purple jacket. It made her whole day.

We’re back in our apartment now, packing up and getting ready for an extremely early flight home tomorrow morning. We’ll eat a quiet dinner in and go to bed early. We have to be at the airport before the Underground trains start running, so we’ve arranged a taxi to pick us up at 5:30 a.m. here at the apartment. It will be the first time since we left the United States that we’ve been in a car.

We’ve spent most of our conversations today talking over our past three weeks. We’ve all had a fantastic time and agreed that this is right up there on the top of our “best vacation ever” list. We’re all a bit subdued and a little sad this evening. It will feel really good to be home tomorrow, though. A magical time was had by all, but it’s time to get back to real life. The memories of this special time will last the rest of our lives.

And, here are a few pictures from our last bird-feeding excursion yesterday evening, just to end on a slightly less mushy note. Who knew feeding leftover bread to birds would turn out to be such fun!?