From Vancouver to the Queen

Hello again! It has been quite awhile since our last blogging session. We had a wonderful week back in Canada but of course the time flew like the wind. We can hardly believe it, but in what seems like the blink of an eye, we are already here in London!

Our time in Canada was filled with tons of "to do's" -- what a whirlwind! Luckily we were able to get some great visits in as well as doing all those business items. Our time at home was a real refresher for all of us in terms of seeing and reconnecting with all our dear friends. Thanks to all those generous beautiful people (you know who you are) for being so accommodating and helpful to us for this next leg. Kai and Pippin really enjoyed knowing that their home/country is still there and it will be there for them in the months to come. They LOVED seeing all their friends again because they have really missed them dearly.

On Tuesday we managed to fly off to London with an excellent direct flight from Vancouver. The nine hour journey felt very reasonable after the epic flight between Asia and Canada. Here we are just before our departure, leaving a stunning spring day behind in Vancouver.
We arrived to an equally beautiful spring day here in London and we were picked up by our lovely friends here in London. They live just South of London in Surrey, in a very picturesque area that feels very distinctly English. Of course arriving in Europe is a starkly different experience to arriving in Asia and the kids really did not know what to expect - neither of them have been to Europe before. Kai just had Harry Potter visions in his head and I don't think he has been disappointed. In a weird way it feels a lot like Victoria at times and then in other ways it is not like it at all. Below is Jonathan and Carol's house -- a beautiful home surrounded by amazing landscapes. They have two daughters aged 2 and 4 which has been great for Kai and Pippin -- it has helped them overcome their slight feelings of being homesick.
After a recovery day yesterday in and around the house, we ventured into London today on the train and the Tube system. Our biggest immediate challenge is coming to terms with a very different currency and a prohibitive exchange rate. That said, with careful budgeting, we will manage to keep our expenses in check and take advantage of all the cheaper free offerings of which there are many. The walking in itself allows us to take in the dynamic feeling of London and all it's bustle. The other great thing about London is that many of the big ticket museums are free thanks to the "public value" that everyone should have access to the nation's treasures. What a fantastic investment in the public, who in all fairness do collectively own the nation's treasures held in the museums and galleries. I wish that Canada and other countries would see the value in making state run museums and galleries free and accessible to all people. The best thing about it is that one can do repeat visits because one does not feel the pressure to take it all in at once. I always find that after a few hours in a museum I experience stimulus overload and need to take a break -- but there is often still so much to see!
So, our guiding philosophy today was that we would take in some of the exhibits and then maybe return later once we burnt out. We started at the British Museum which is a truly astounding collection of mostly stolen treasures from all their years of British colonial plunder around the planet. Even Kai looked around at it and made the connections asking how it was possible that such treasures from all around the globe sat here in London. Our visit to sights in Vietnam really helped his understanding because many of the amazing ancient sights there were plundered in the early part of the previous century and the "archaeologists" of the time did really bizarre things like remove all the heads off statues and then shipped them off to Museums in France. Looking at the collections today one could see similar guiding principals with enormous pieces of stunning carved rock cut in half clearly having been removed from its original position in some or other temple. Once again this has been a great education for Kai and Pippin about the ethics that guide museums and about the raging debates going on in the world, where many countries would like to see their national treasures returned. I hope the kids will make many more connections like that about the interesting relationships between the countries we have visited on this trip.

Today we focused on the Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek and Roman treasures for a few hours. We just scratched the surface! Wow...wow...wow!!! A truly stunning collection (even if they are stolen). I took a few pictures of things that caught my eye:
It was amazing to see the hieroglyphics in such detail. Having never been to Egypt, it was great to see the workmanship. We even saw the Rosetta stone. Kai found that very exciting!
There a gizillions of cabinets at the museum with tiny ancient trinkets from times gone by. Many of them were absolutely fascinating to look at especially when one read the inscriptions. This one above, really caught my eye because it was wonderfully contorted and very expressive.
This is an infamous 'Aztec' crystal skull which has a huge cult following in the world today. Kai was very keen to go find it after being urged to see it by his Omi Marie. The reason it is so famous is because it was considered impossible that the Aztecs could have carved this hard material with their primitive tools available to them at the time. This skull is supposed to be one of very few and many current day New Agers have ascribed it with mystical healing powers. According to the inscription at the museum, curators now believe it to be a fake. It was bought in the 1800's from an English collector who claimed it was authentically Aztec. Recent investigations have led curators to believe it actually originated in Europe because there is evidence on the surface of the skull of more modern tools having been involved in carving it. Despite this controversial information, Kai and Pippin really enjoyed having a good gander at the stunning crystal skull.
The rest of the afternoon involved walking around London to some very famous city sights. We made it to Covent Gardens and took in lots of interesting street acts. We all enjoyed the street vitality tremendously. Big cities can have such a buzz! Of course London is so cutting edge (and always has been) when it comes to clothes and how people look that Skye spent much too much time (in my opinion -- Skye, on the otherhand, thinks this is a bit of a stretch) worrying about her traveling getup being very uncity-like -- I can't wait to see her in Paris!
Here is Kai and Pippin at Trafalgar Square... Need I say more? How much more English can we get? Well that about covers our first day. Get ready for much more ramblings from us over here. Hope this finds you all well.

Until next time

Skye, Ronato, Kai and Pippin