Museums, Mummies and Mausoleums

The highlight of the week was traveling without littles. Mary doesn't count, she is quite independent and after boarding any plane she sets herself up and I hardly see or hear from her. The flight back from London yielded an 8 hour nap for me and I woke to find Mary watching Harry Potter after a 6 hours of sleep. 

She makes a good traveling companion, with hours of meetings she had lots of time to keep busy. She planned all of Friday... 6am we were off to see platform 9 3/4 (probably the most disappointing moment of the trip, she really thought she could somehow spend a semester at Hogwarts), then the British Museum (she could have stayed for hours and I was relieved when she finally said, "What if we stay here for another hour and a half and then go to the Tower of London?"). Which we did, thanks for the recommendation Jeremiah. Following, we had high tea at Harrods and had a few minutes to shop.

The point of the trip was to vet organisations that help Syrian refugees by getting them the empty seats in top notch English programs (they focus on really educated professionals, so that as soon as they learn English they can get good jobs). On the way to one of the meetings, which was nearby the parliament, we stopped at Westminster for some sight seeing. But, if we had instead stopped there on the way back, rather than on the way to the meeting we would have been there about the same time as the attack. As it turned out we were a mile away and out of any danger. When we returned to our apartment we got the details. We'd been where there were police cars and helicopters and road/tube closures, but neither of us had access to the info on our phones. As the event unfolded, I felt a strong sense of gratitude and a realisation that Sarah had followed a prompting that morning as she called us off the train early. 

Often, we don't recognise divine intervention until after the fact. And even then, we may be too busy to notice. Our route was the same one that the driver took, and we walked it twice (to and from Westminster to the train), we passed the guard who lost his life (saw others taking photos with him) and even took photos ourselves along the same gate. It doesn't do much good to play the "what if" game. But I do think it is important to recognise promptings. 

Being curious. Don't stop.

Breakfast at Hyde Park

Matilda.

Back to reality, kids were up early and ready to eat at 5:30. Love that I'm a morning person.