BATE Saturday

We were joined by Sadie's new friend Polly ...the polar bear...she is studying polar bears at school and seems to know everything about them . We picked Polly up in London last week.  It was good to get back to our BATE routine and see our old friends at the Picallili deli in Knaresborough

 

HALF TERM REST

The kids are all on half-term break this week enjoying some time at home for a bit of rest.  They spent the day yesterday at the local military base with the family of one of Dawson's friend who work out there - where they enjoyed some bowling and lunch. 

The school year is different here than in the US.

1 year is made up of 3 terms.

Term 1 (Start September - run through mid- December) 
Term 2 (Start January run through end of March)
Term 3 (Start mid April run through 1st part of July)

Each term is about 12 weeks and every 6 weeks in a term they get a week break.   They typically get a 3-4 week break between terms. We are warming to the system and find the breaks seem to come around at the right time.

 

HOLLAND WINDS

A view from the car on the way back to the airport in Holland this week.  Windmills are literally scattered throughout the countryside just like you would expect to see.

 

LONDON DAY 2

Day 2 we woke up and enjoyed a good breakfast at the hotel and made our way to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard.  We then made our way to the Tower of London and spent a bulk of the day touring around it.  We ended up walking across the Tower Bridge (the bridge we all think is London Bridge but really isn't) and then made our way back to the hotel.  After a quick swim we took a ride on the London Eye at night which was spectacular.  We were ready to head in, but decided to go back to the theater district and ended up finding a place where fans were waiting for the stars to leave the BAFTA awards so we waited about an hour to see some stars leave. (Chloe's highlight of the night)  We didn't get to see Oprah, Prince William, or Brad Pitt but saw Leonardo DeCaprio and some others.  We then found our way to a FIVE GUYS (had no idea there was one in England) and enjoyed a late night snack before turning in!

                                                                      Maggie Gyllenhall

                                                                     Stanley Tucci

                                                                    Lily Allen

                                                                    Ruth Wilson

                                                            Emma Thompson

 

LONDON DAY 3

We finished our last day with a trip to Harrods department store where we enjoyed a walk around and a couple of small purchases - but there was plenty of things to be purchased there . How about a toy Land Rover for your child to drive for $60,000.  Yikes.  We were looking for a place to find a snack and found our way to the Victoria & Albert Museum where we had a quick look around and a snack.  Back to the hotel to get to the train station and find our way back home. Great trip - looking forward to our next time in London - a great city!