blisstravelers » London, Brighton and Connie finds a new family

London, Brighton and Connie finds a new family

Posted on December 2, 2009 by Dawn

beefeater I’m not into big cities, even amazing ones like London. They overwhelm me, such hustle and bustle but we just HAD to see Big Ben because thats where Peter Pan and Wendy flew – right? While we’re here lets go to the Tower of London and see the Crown Jewels exhibit. The children enjoyed the castle and Tower Bridge but by the time we got to Big Ben they were pooped. big ben

We were staying at a campground in London that had signs saying dont leave your shoes outside as the foxes will take them away and we saw one of the foxes. There were also chestnuts everywhere and someone at the campground told us how to roast them so we did – on our barbeque. The kids and I agree it’s an acquired taste. But fun anyway and they kept singing the Christmas song with ‘chestnuts’ in it.

At the Tower of London we learned that King Edward I actually traveled by caravan with his entire entourage of over 1000 which included his wives. Some of the reasons were obvious - to shake hands and kiss babies, after all it was a political position. Also possibly for security reasons. But I didnt think that he and his entourage would consume so much food that no one city could sustain them. Interesting. And nice to know that we’re following in royal footsteps by caravanning around England.

Our friend Sarah and her family invited us to Brighton and we were on our way. The night we were there we were invited to a 6 year old girls birthday party with bonfire and fireworks – the children had a great time.

The campground in Brighton had so many bunnies – we would go walking at night and see dozens of them. Next to us at the campground was a 45 foot motorhome with Florida license plates! So we made more friends.

Our friend Sarah told us about some homeschooling groups and one of the groups met two blocks from the campground so we visited with British homeschoolers and Shane played soccer with them. It was interesting to see that we share the same joys and challenges.

We went to the Royal Pavillion which is so very oppulent and the architecture seems out of place but is so beautiful.

We also visited the Brighton pier and beach. Can you really call it a beach when there is no sand? Can you build a sandcastle with stones? We were fascinated with this beach.

Connie found a new family – mom and dad are race car drivers and they have 3 young children. Connie will be towing racecars and being a traveling home while they are at racing events. It was hard to say goodbye to Connie and even harder to pack up all our ’stuff’ in two days and arrange the rest of our trip – but we cant wait to warm up and dry out in southern Spain.

Our last days in England we spent in a wonderful bed and breakfast and we all agreed that baked beans, mushrooms and roasted tomatoes for breakfast is a bit strange:)

Brighton Pier