London Day Six: Going Home

We talked a bit last night about our stay here and what worked well and what didn't. The apartment worked out well, as did using the trains and Tube (although I must admit that staying in the city would have saved time, but the apartment was such a good deal, we had no choice). We all enjoyed the sights we visited and being able to prepare our own breakfast and dinner is always a good thing.

The only negative I could come up with was that the trip was one day too short. If we had had one more day, we could have visited The Beatles Store, relaxed while the kids played at the Peter Pan Playground in Kensington Gardens, taken pictures of places from Jane Austen movies, and dropped by the six-story Hamleys toy store. OK, maybe that last one wasn't such a big loss.

But the thing I regret most not doing was getting a picture of our kids crossing Abbey Road, especially once we returned home and I saw the fantastic commercial for the Beatles Rockband video game. It is one of the best commercials I have ever seen, perfectly expressing with love and respect the product being advertised, and making you, at the end of those 30 seconds, want to join everyone walking across Abbey Road.  Sigh.

Things that we remarked upon in London were:

1. Prevalent use of cellphones.  People have cell phones in Germany, of course, but you don't see so many people constantly talking on them in public.  Our first day in London, riding to the apartment on the tube, we noticed right away how many people had their cell phones pasted to their ears, just gabbing away.  One woman was even holding two conversations with two different phones at once.  We didn't notice this in any of the large European cities we have visited.  It reminded us of home.

2.  Manners.  We couldn't help but make note of the frequent use of "Please,"  "Thank you," and "Excuse Me."  I stood back and let a young lady pass me as we exited the grocery store, she thanked me, and once out on the sidewalk, she made a point of turning around and saying, "I just wanted to say thank you again for letting me go before you.  That was very nice of you."  That made James and me howl with laughter, after she had continued on her way.

And it was brought to people's attention if their manners were lacking.  At one tube stop, a woman who had been lost in her thoughts, suddenly nudged a man out of the way to exit the car with a "I need to get off!" The man, with an incredulous look on his face responded, "Excuse me!"  In Germany, giving people a strong nudge while exiting a train car is no need for an "Excuse me," though I think one is always appreciated.

3.  TV.  Every night, there was a recap from that week's British version of Dancing with the Stars.  After dinner, I would put on the telly to see if there was anything interesting to watch, and it was always yet another hour dissecting the competitors on Strictly Come Dancing.  One night it was the hairstyles, the next the costumes, the next it was the relationships between the pros and the stars.  Just for that week's show, not the whole season, mind you.  And you thought the U.S. was too obsessed with Dancing with the Stars!

This morning, Grandma and Grandpa were up before dawn to join a group that was to tour a bit of the English countryside.  We packed and made our way to Heathrow where we caught the first plane we tried back to Frankfurt.  We were back home just after lunch, relieved that it all went so smoothly.