Free is a Good Price

Well, we did it. We got lost 4 times on the way to the Tube station, but we made it! The crazy winds were coming through from St. Jude, but we were bundled and ready to visit the Science Museum. We didn't want to have to pay for the £10 congestion fee to drive into London, so we followed Kirk's directions and drove to the nearest Tube station to take the train into London instead. Parking at Hillingdon Tube Station was only £1.50 for the entire day and fares weren't too bad. If we bought tickets from the booth, each adult would pay £5.50 for a single-way ticket from Hillingdon to South Kensington. If we paid a £5 deposit to get an Oyster card, however, the fare dropped down to £3 each way. We chose to take the Oyster card route (similar to the Bay Area's Clipper Card) and got ready to board the Piccadilly line. What did I learn from riding the Tube? British people are very quiet...or maybe my kids are just way too loud!

 

From the South Kensington station, we took a short walk underground to the entrance of the Science Museum. Stegen and I were on the hunt for a yummy fish and chips joint, but after scouring the surrounding streets, we gave up (mainly because the kids were starving...and whining) and went to the only place where we knew we wouldn't have to gamble: McDonald's. After our 50,000 calorie lunch, we started our trek back to the museum.

The Science Museum was awesome. There was a floor dedicated to small children (woohoo!), a floor dedicated to airplanes (Dorian was stoked), and the rest of the floors were filled with interesting things for all ages. The best part? Free admission! I might complain about how expensive things are here in England, but the various parks and admission-free museums that we have access to definitely make up for the price increase on bacon.

We ended up spending the entire day (very surprisingly) traipsing around the museum. On the Tube back to Hillingdon station, we had to change trains and hop on the Metropolitan line. This train was clean and bright--definitely a few steps up from Bart!

We got to our car safely and looked up a good fish and chips place near Maidenhead. On our way there, this happened:

I'm confused...

Google Maps is awesome (especially when you're driving in a foreign country), but sometimes I think it makes things harder than it needs to be. Well, anyway, we factored in some common sense and made our way to Ross's Fish Bar. Ross doesn't actually own it, nor does he work there, but I'm not complaining--the food was amazing and the owners were so friendly. "Mum's Specials" are actually cooked by Mum herself! And her son, Jay, runs the front counter and even swapped phone numbers with Stegen!

The "kid's meal" portion of fish and chips was huge!

 I can see why Paul and Jor wanted us to try fish and chips in England--this is the real deal. Rather than eating small pieces of fish smothered in thick layers of batter, our cod was fresh, in one piece, and so perfectly battered that each mouthful was still 99% fish. On top of that, Jay gave us some curry dipping sauce for our meal--I think it's safe to say that I will never use tartar sauce again. Thanks for everything, Jay!

The day was long and the big storm, St. Jude, was brewing. We "fell back" an hour for daylight savings, so for a couple weeks, we are only 7 hours ahead of the US! On another note, my mom mentioned how little Dorian appears in the pictures on my blog. There's a reason for this--he's often being uncooperative and being man-handled by my left hand and arm, while I take pictures with my right. Just so everyone knows he is alive and well, here's a sweet photo Stegen managed to capture of him:

 

Before I go, I'd like to officially say that I love drinking my daily cuppa tea--especially PG tips. Apparently, so do other Costco customers!!

PG: Ensuring you never run out of tea...ever.