February Winter-Break UK Trip – Part 2 of 2
[Photos taken on 18-20 February 2018, posted on 20 September 2018. The room off our foyer is now usable, and Finnur’s finished building the wall in the backyard!]
A very long time ago, I almost bought tickets to see Matilda the Musical when it was still in pre-sale, and not yet a huge hit that was impossible to get tickets to. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t get the tickets, but now that it’s been running for close to a decade (!!!), demand had gone down enough that I managed to score great tickets on short notice.
For our UK Sunday then, I took the big kids up to London to first visit my brother Pétur and his family, where we happened to stumble upon my brother Nökkvi who was there for a short visit. Afterwards we made our way to London proper for a showing of Matilda and we had a great time! (A few months later I learnt that the musical is coming to Iceland this winter!!!) While we were gallivanting around London, the rest of our crew went on a train ride of their own.
On the Monday we finally made it to the toboggan run, and then Tuesday it was time to fly back to Iceland, leaving Finnur behind for the remainder of the week to work with real live colleagues. (44 images total)
Sunday 18 February 2018
Anna and Bjarki that afternoon by the Matilda the Musical theater.
At the train station earlier that morning.
A view from the train.
Anna with King’s Cross station behind her. And yes, we stopped at the Harry Potter store there.
We found a nice bakery/cafe on the ground floor of the train station.
Our sweet haul. Ssssh!
Walking the last little bit to our destination after the second train ride.
The cousins playing in the back yard.
The adults present, about to have lunch at McDonald’s.
We had to leave way too early, to make our show.
Bjarki getting tickled!
The brothers had been practicing posing for photos. Nökkvi gave me a sample.
A close up of the kiddos in front of the Cambridge theater.
Whoa! Such a cool stage!
Pretty awesome seats!
Outside the theater when all was sung and done.
We got sucked in by a nearby chocolate shop..!
It was a Roald Dahl chocolate shop!!
Yes, we ran down the stairs to the underground rather than wait for the elevators. It was insane! Happily we did make it back in one piece after an adventurous day.
Finnur sent me a few snap throughout their day. This one was pretty hilarious!
Such a cheerful child sometimes!
Finally something interesting!
A lollipop saves the day!
Monday 19 February 2018
We finally made it to the toboggan run site on a school day. Sadly, it was drizzling with rain.
We walked past the carpeted ski slope. There were skiers on there!
We were a little unlucky in that there appeared to be a daycare class visiting so we had to wait quite a bit, although the staff tried to alternate between the daycare kids and us.
Can you spot Anna?
Anna was not very interested in this activity, so she played umbrella-stand.
Anna’s one and only ride concludes (wait for animation to load!)
A closer view of the ski carpet as we walked back to the car.
Bjjarki showing his upside-down-on-the-stairs skill!
Gunnar granddad took Anna and myself on a short shopping excursion (yup, yet another luggage bag) and Anna found a Totoro dress she liked!
Emma playing with her birthday present in the living room with Shirley.
I dragged two kids out for a bit. As it was raining a bit, nobody was out!
Homework completed!
Tuesday 20 February 2018
Waving goodbye to Shirley as granddad Gunnar was about to drive me and the kids to the airport. Finnur had gone to work in London earlier that morning.
A Gatwick goodbye. Emma was not very happy about this.
On the outside escalator at Gatwick.
Browsing while waiting for boarding to commence.
Those kids are so big now!
Our easyjet plane.
The view shortly after takeoff.
The view shortly before landing in Iceland.
When I turned on our electric car at the airport I realized I’d forgotten to turn off the “warm-yourself at 7:30” function, which is set to run even if the car is not connected to power. Thus we had to make a quick stop at a nearby fast-charger. It worked out pretty well because it’s located right next to a grocery store so we used the wait time to buy milk and other necessities. Other than that the trip home was uneventful!
