Sunday in London

There are few nicer ways to spend one's Sunday than with a bit of a drive out to Stratford. As you probably know from days gone past Stratford on Avon is the birthplace of The Bard, our friend William Shakespeare. We started out early on a chartered bus and drove nearly two hours out into the countryside. Not all of the kids paid to go on his trip, so Jody took three with her for trips around London. 

All of us had been up really late the night before, so a long bus ride was quite welcome for that morning. Within ten minutes of setting off, our bus was silent with all students sound asleep. I snuck Ina thirty minute nap and woke refreshed and ready to go. I caught up on my blogging but best of all, I was able to finally see that beautiful green countryside that I heard about for so many years. Fields of cows and sheep, absolutely gorgeous along the way. 

Once we arrived in Stratford, we picked up our tour guide Joyce, and she gave us a quick overview of the town. We drove to the outskirts of the town and out to Anne Hathaway's home. It was tiny but absolutely beautiful. The gardens were amazing, and I am certainly putting this on my list of places to return to where I will spend hours roaming. I know that 14 year olds really don't care about beds of hollyhocks and so many other gorgeous plants, but I loved it.  The kids probably appreciated more the discussions of the living conditions, especially the fact that the families had canopies over their beds to prevent creepy crawlies from falling out of the thatched roof onto them in the night. 

We drove back into the town where we parked the bus and made a plan for the day. We met in front of he Shakespeare birthplace where Joyce gave us another quick talk. We then sent kids out to grab some lunch and to meet us back in two hours where we would tour the birthplace. Some kids made a quick dash to Starbucks or Subway while others knew they wanted something a bit more traditional. Several kids joined me in Presto Pasty which turned out to be one of my fave meals on the trip. A pasty is a small pastry filled with a variety of yummy goodies . . . meat/potatoes, cheese/meat, mushrooms/onions. Basically it is easy fast food. But, I also picked up a delicious cheese scone. I'm defy going to have to find a recipe for these when I get home.  I've made scones for years but these were amazing. 

I roamed through the gift shop of the Royal Shakespeare  Company and then made my way back to our meeting point with the kids.  We got a quick overview meeting and then a full tour of the home where Shakespeare would have been born. I continuo be amazed that so many of these buildings are still standing! How is this possible!  Again, the gardens were fabulous. I found myself enthralled Ina conversation with one of the gardeners who said he had collaborated with a woman who had been writing a book about the gardens in Stratford. I can only imagine what it would be like to be able to work in gardens like that on a regular basis.

So I have babbled on enough about he flowers. When I came through much behind the others, I was thrilled to find the Hand kids seated in a courtyard completely enthralled by a trio of actors performing random scenes. I have heard my whole life that Shakespeare was always meant to be performed and not just read, and these few moments solidified that for me. I wish every parent could have seen his/her child hearing/living/breathing those words written so many years ago. These images will stand for me as one of the most beautiful and memorable from our trip. 

Our ride back into London was much livelier than our ride earlier in the morning. Charlotte designed a test for the kids and divided them into teams. She asked basic questions that we heard throughout the week, and I was amazed at how much of it so many of the kids remembered. The quiz was topped off with each team writing a sonnet about their trip. Ours was much more like a limerick, but it was fun and the kids really seemed quite involved.  

Dinner this night was our curry night. I always wonder how many kids are going to try the meal, but these kids dove right in! Few picky eaters here. Many plates were scraped clean, and I think they would have taken seconds had they been offered. 

Monday in London

Monday was scheduled to be our Globe Theatre Day. After a big day at Stratford just the day before, we ought we would start out a little later and hit the Globe in time for our noon appointment. It is no fun to be in one's room when you are in London, so we asked to fill an hour with something quick near the Globe. That just happened to be the Tate Modern Art Galłery. We made our way down to the Thames using the tube. We walked across the Millenium Bridge with St. Phillips in the background. The Millenium Bridge takes you directly to Tate Modern and we had nearly two hours for the kids to roam the collection. Their assignment was to take pictures of several pieces they thought should be in the permanent collection at Hand Middle School. Again, they found us at our meeting spot precisely on time with a million stories to tell of what they had scene. Only one alarm went off while they were there when one girl got a little too interested in one piece of art. 

The Globe Theatre is two doors down so we went quickly over there for our appointment. That was when I broke off from the group to cross London in order to retrieve a bag that had been left at dinner the night before. London is a tremendous city with very busy people. But, I must admit that I always felt safe, and people were incredibly polite to us at all times. Ms Davidson accompanied the kids to the Globe, and Charlotte pointed me in the right direction for retrieving the bag. I approached this journey with trepidation because the city is so huge, but I knew that with phone and gps in hand, I could do it. I left the Tate, walked across Millenium Bridge and to the opposite side of St. Paul's. I found the Underground station and took the Circle line. I followed this for 6-7 stops and got off at Queensway. Orienting myself once I came out of the station was the most difficult. But, I figured the direction to go and before I knew it, I was walking through the beautiful neighborhood you see on Notting Hil and quickly found the restaurant. 

When I met the kids back at The Globe, Ms Davidson raved about what they had been doing . . , 

A little over an hour later I was back with my Hand crew with the missing bag (and money) in tow. It was off to Borrough Market for lunch. Borrough Market is amazing open market where many of London's cultures come together to sell their foods. We only had about 30 minutes but kids came back to us with amazing meals that they would have great difficulty finding back in SC. As promised earlier, Monday afternoon was reserved for roaming Covent Gardens. Your kids love to shop, and we held off the shopping until our last day of the trip. We gave them two hours, and like clockwork they rejoined us at our meeting spot. 

Wagamama was the site of our final meal and was definitely a good one. They specialize in Asian noodles, and the kids loved it. With chopsticks in hand, they went to town on their noodles. I think many of them were disappointed that they could not easily carry their leftovers with them as we were heading to the theatre for a performance of Wicked.

Since this was our last meal with Charlotte, we gave her some fun little things for her to remember her Hand Middle School crew. She got a variety of SC items along with some Hand pencils and stickers. It was fun to hear the kids step up and explain to her the importance of the Palmetto tree and the crescent. She was also excited to get a sweet thank you note written on a London postcard by each child on the trip. And, of course, we generously tipped her as a way of thanking her for doing so much to help us get to know London better. 

Another Tube ride to get closer to the theatre and a crowded walk for several blocks, and there we were at Wicked. We arrived just in time to get to our fabulous seats. When Hand came to London in 2013, we also saw Wicked but this production was significantly better, and all of the kids seemed to really enjoy it. 

Saturday in London

So, remember that bit about getting those kids to bed at a decent hour, apparently some of them had competitions to stay awake the latest. A poor decision on such a trip which makes for a surly teen. Saturday had a bit of a later start time as we had brekkie at 7:45 but didn't have to leave the hotel until 9:30.

Saturday started with a theater workshop. We took a fairly long bus ride down to the city center and then to a church where we met with a pair who led the kids through a fabulous workshop. There were movement games and then singing in pairs with music from Wicked which we will be seeing on Monday evening. I was a little concerned that our kids might be shy because not all of them are into theatre. But they were fabulous! They sang and participated like champs. I was so proud, and I think they had fun.  Many of us will be wanting to sing along on Monday night with What Is This Feeling?

On to Covent Garden for a quick lunch. Kids were enamored with Covent Garden, fabulous shopping district with high end shops and lots of street performers. We gave them an hour to grab a bite and meet back with us. Like clockwork, they came directly back to the meeting spot on time. 

When I informed them that we would be leaving Covent Garden and going to Tower of London for the remaining bit of the afternoon, there were lots of sad faces. But why? We want to shop! Yes, I know you want to shop but you can do that at home. They were semi-surly teens for a bit but plodded on obediently to the Tower. 

On the walk over, I did make arrangements with our leader to let us come back on Monday so they were appeased a bit. 

When you arrive at the Tower, one of the things that they tell you is that unaccompanied or unruly kids will be evicted from the Tower by one of the _______ Yeoman. I sort of liked that, but I thought it would be more menacing if they had threatened with locking them in one of the cells or sending through the torture chambers. I discussed this with the kids and let them know how they were expected to behave and off we went. Hand kids are so awesome and they never let you down. No one was evicted or placed in dungeons.  

During our visit we knew we couldn't see it all so we made quick work of the map and chose a few highlights . . . Specifically the Crown Jewels. It was a rather long line to see the jewels so we hit Google  and found out a few fascinating facts about what we were to see. How large do you think a 530 carat diamond is? Why was the crown re-designed in 1937? Truly those crowns are so tremendous that they must be a real bother to wear. When we finally reached the jewels, we were all in awe. A moving sidewalk carries you past the actual crowns so that people don't gawk for too long. We also got to see the royal banquet ware including a gold punch bowl that would hold 144 bottles of wine! 

Our dinner was scheduled for 5:30 and we had a bit of a trek across the city to a fish restaurant for fish and chips. This was a fabulous meal in a great little restaurant. We each had a huge piece of fish complete with large fries (or chips). Ice cream was our dessert. I am sorry that I didn't write down the name of this restaurant as it was fabulous! It was much better than the place where we ate on our previous trip. 

A few students elected to go on the Harry Potter walking tour with Ms. Davidson while the rest returned to the hotel with me. I was rather nervous bringing them all back to the hotel so early without a real plan, but it was 8:00 by this time, and most of them were a bit bleary-eyed, so I hoped that they would settle down. No such luck. They hung out in the lobby and the rec room until after 10, but we saw that everyone was tucked into their rooms at 11:00 with strict instructions to turn out lights and go to bed. 

Friday in London

I feel like I have a lot fewer pictures from today than I have from other days, but we did a lot more learning and riding today than looking at different things.  We started out with a bus tour with a guide around London. Keith the tour guide was fabulous. He took us down into the business district and into an area where tourists normally wouldn't be traveling. We got great shots of the amazing architecture of the city and learned all about the incredibly modern buildings called The Walkie Talkie, the Gerkin, and the Armadillo with the Tower of London nestled among them. The buildings were amazing, and it is hard to believe that someone could be so creative as to think of these designs.

Once we got our fill of the modern architecture, we traveled down to Buckingham for the Changing of the Guard.  This truly is an overrated spectacle.  But, the horses are beautiful and the tradition is impressive. Keith managed to move our group regularly to get the best views.  It's hard work getting oneself in prime viewing position for some of these events. In the future, since we come in early June, we will work to see the Trooping of the Colors for the Queen's birthday. Much more impressive. 

We made our way through the crowds and back to our bus for a ride out to Windsor Castle. It takes about an hour to get through traffic and out into the country, a day's march, we learned.  Windsor was beautiful, and the dining room and the armor rooms were most impressive. We walked throug fairly quickly, but I think many adults would have loved to have spent a full day there.    

We had a tough lesson about being on time as a girl from the other group did not get back to the bus on time. Hence, the bus driver left her!  Thank goodness her mother was there so she could stay to find her and work things out. Keith had to remind all of us when being in a group like this, everyone must work together for a group. We were nearly 30 minutes late leaving Windsor which meant we were caught in rush hour traffic on a Friday which caused us to miss our dinner reservation.  

Our dinner was from a middle eastern restaurant with humus, pita and falafel. Since we were late, they packed it up for us in take away and we ate in a nearby park. That was actually quite nice as it was much cooler in the park than it was in the restaurant. 

The Phantom of the Opera was our final stop, and everyone seemed to love it. Our tour guide from earlier in the day was impressed that we had these tickets as he says it is incredibly difficult to get seats. If there were any empty spots, I certainly didn't see them. We all decided the production was amazing. The music, the singing, the dancing, the special effects! All unbelievable. However, there were a few times when we turned to one another and said, "uhhh, what just happ . . . ?"

It was definitely a full day and a late night. We got back to the hotel around 11:00. We rushed everyone off to bed and told them lights out and crossed our fingers.

Welcome to London!

Our flight from Atlanta to London was less than ideal, to say the least. It was a small plane, a dirty plane, and an uncomfortable plane. And, there were crying babies. We were amazed at one young mother who was accompanying six very small children including one tiny baby. 

We slept very little and the food was terrible, but everyone woke with a good attitude which is incredibly important in such situations. We met Charlotte, our tour director, and our other group at Heathrow. The other group is from Oglethorpe, Ga, and we all seem to travel quite well together. Their kids stick to themselves, and our kids stick with us, and there is surprisingly little interaction between the two. 

It took us a long ride, more than an hour, to get from Heathrow to our hotel, The Hult Tower. We unloaded and put our bags into storage and quickly made our way down to the Underground Station for our first London Tube experience. We got on at Aldgate East and rode seven stops to Embankment. We made our way to the street level and found ourselves near a street with lots of little restaurants. We grabbed a lunch to go and ate a picnic in a shady park. Some groups got to see a giant chess set. Our group found a one-legged pigeon which was later named a flamingeon as the new species we discovered on the trip.

 Kids were so nervous at this point!

 Lunch in the park. 

 After lunch, we crossed the Thames for our London Eye exper

After the London Eye, we took off across the city and headed towards dinner. On the way, we walked through Trafalgar Square which, personally, is one of my favorite places on Earth. McKenzie turned to me and said, "I can't believe this. I'm so alive." We felt that we were at the center of the universe with the energy around us. We saw some of everything. So many parts of the world all in one space. The kids scattered (with their buddies, of course) to meet us again in 15 minutes at the base of the George Washington monument. 

Our dinner was scheduled at Bistro 1 and they weren't quite ready for us. We took a walk through China Town and right back to the restaurant. We had chicken and mash which was basically a fried chicken cutlet over a bed of mashed potatoes. Our dessert was a delicious banalfi which was a banana and chocolate pie. Each kid was so exhausted that they didn't really care what they ate, but they held their heads up through the meal. 

We hit the tube for a ride back to our hotel, and we got settled in for the night. 

London Bound!

When I started this blog, I titled it "Taking a Chance" because that is what I have been doing the past few years. I'm starting to take chances so that I can get more out of life. Live more, do more, make more memories. So, when Jody suggested I lead a trip to London, I knew I was taking a chance. And, not only am I taking a chance, but there are also fourteen sets of parents taking chances by allowing me to take their kids on this trip. So, parents, please know that I will do everything possible to make this a great trip for your son or daughter, but I will also do everything possible to keep your kids safe.

We met at the Columbia Airport this afternoon at 1:30. Medina Boggs dropped Jody and me off at the airport, and the kids' parents brought them all individually to meet us. It was really sad to think that Medina nor our other TFF Katie Call wouldn't be able to join us. Everything is more fun with both of them along. Everyone arrived on time, and kids got their first travel lessons as they learned to check in at the kiosk, weigh their bags, and go through security. Some parents hung around until the wheels of the plane left the ground. Some gave a quick hug and kiss and sent the kids on their way, and some broke into tears watching their kids walk off onto this very grown up adventure.

We had a bit of time to wait at the Delta gate so kids started pairing up with their buddies and connecting online. Lessons were given about never leaving bags unattended and watching out for your buddies. Kids never ever travel alone, and we must always watch out for those we care about. Once on the plane, I had some eye-opening experiences. Some kids did not know how to buckle their seat belts, and four of the kids near me had never flown before. Xieamadia turned to me and said, I thought planes would have a lot more room!" Ha! Not in today's world where every inch counts. Hands were held during take off, and I saw a tear or two shed, but we made it into the sky. Anxiety has lessened, and every one of these kids just grew up a bit. This should be an amazing trip. And, definitely a chance worth taking.

Six Degrees of Anne Shealy

As you have probably determined by now, I had a fabulous time on this super short trip to Paris. But, one of the reasons that this trip was so fun was that the people who traveled with us were so fun.  I jokingly wrote to one of my TFFs (Teacher Friends Forever) that I didn't need her anymore because I now had new friends.

But, it took me about ten minutes with these people to realize that I was going to have a great time with them.  You know, it takes a certain type of crazy person to take kids on trips.  It is probably some sort of gene mutation or character flaw, but we are a little bit nutty and idiosyncratic and impulsive and adventurous - and I believe being adventurous is the first key.

The first person I met was Krystal Weeks who teaches at Calhoun County High School and lives out in Lone Star.  She opened her mouth to introduce herself to me and I felt right at home with her.  It's so good to hear a Calhoun County accent when you are heading 4000 miles from home. You know that person who had many of the same teachers you had and still calls the Bi-Lo in St. Matthews the Piggly Wiggly because it will always be the Piggly Wiggly.

Krystal Weeks Thames and Anne

Anne with Señora Sylvia Shealy

Sylvia Shealy is hilarious and so incredibly young at heart.  When she told me she had grown children, I was shocked.  How could this young soul be a grandmother?  She taught me to not take myself too seriously and to enjoy everything.  I loved how she would talk about her daughters-in-law and continue to say how much she loved them every single time she mentioned them.  She told me that she had once taught kindergarten in Lexington 1 with a partner teacher Cheryl, I knew immediately it had to be Ken Banks' wife, Cheryl.  She couldn't believe I knew Cheryl and Ken.  Well, actually I know Ken much better than I know Cheryl, but if you know Ken, you have to understand that Cheryl must be amazing.  Sylvia assured me that Cheryl was the greatest kindergarten teacher to walk the earth and I felt certain that she was speaking the truth. She also told me about Ken's adventures of being Camper Man and visiting their kindergarten class. 

So, these are the women that I'm flying to Paris with and we have our own Cheryl there in our group, Cheryl Cheatham. Once I realized that she worked at Dent Middle School, then I knew she had to know the single-gender guru of South Carolina, David C.  Everyone knows him.  We laughed at his contagious energy.  It took us until the last night of the trip to realize that we were also common friends with MaryAnn Sansonetti, the tech guru over in Richland 2.  I knew that there was something about Cheryl that reminded me of my Hand friends.  As soon as we got back to the airport, she pulled out her book and started reading.  And when I got my friend request from her on Goodreads, I knew she was one of my peeps. But, somehow in all of this madness, I never got a picture with her?  Whassup wit dat?  I don't know how that happened.  She probably realized I was a crazy stalker woman and needed to be kept on a leash.

After our long day that never ended for our first day, we were all ready to go to bed, but no one knew who they were rooming with.  Leonora Cabute and I were assigned to room together.  She and I had not gotten to know each other yet, but it would not take long.  When we got to our room and commiserated about the lack of AC, we figured out we had an incredibly important person in common, my sister-in-law Charlene!  She and Charlene had met each other through common teaching courses, and she had even traveled to David and Charlene's house to get veggies from their garden.  What a small world. She teaches at Edisto High School and had returned from Hong Kong just in time to catch her flight to Paris! Her husband packed her suitcase for her trip to Paris.  Can you imagine?  I hate to think what would happen if Mike had to do this for me.

Anne & Leonora Cabute

My trip was going great!  The people I am traveling with are fabulous, and I am loving every minute of it.  On the second morning at breakfast, I started talking with Kaitlin Zach who works with EF tours.  She has just graduated from Tufts University in Boston, and we were discussing how one gets involved in educational travel.  I mentioned that my friend Janie Copeland's daughter had attended Tufts.  She dropped her fork, and said EVIE COPELAND?  You are kidding me.  She and Evie had been roommates for years at Tufts and now Evie was going to be her maid of honor in her upcoming wedding.  I miss Janie so much and it's so nice to make a connection to her.

Kaitlin Zach & Anne

Our trip was coming to an end.  There had been no disasters or issues.  None of us had been lost, and on Sunday morning we headed to the airport on shuttles.  My SC peeps and I waited forever for our flight to leave Charles de Gaulle as someone forgot to file the paperwork so that the plane could be boarded - minor detail, people.  We arrived in Atlanta and fortunately had plenty of time to make our connection to Columbia.  As our flight attendant welcomed us aboard, she announced that our pilot today was Carter Love.  Hmmmm . . . how many years have I known Carter Love?  Uhhh . .. .since about third grade?  Oh well, the world is much smaller than we all realize.