A "Legendary" Day

Remember that scene in "I Am Legend" when the people are all panicking because they are trying to get off of Manhattan Island during the outbreak of zombie-people? Well, I was reminded of that today when the kids, my friend Natalie, and I went to get our H1N1 immunizations at the Walter Baker Sports Centre in Barrhaven.

We arrived at 12:45 - an hour and 45 minutes before the clinic even opened and after an hour in line were handed a numbered bracelet and asked to come back at 4:30. There were already over 1000 people in line ahead of us. They were quite professional and efficient about the process; making sure the line was moving well and didn't get bogged down by all of the strollers trying to manoeuvre around one another. This was by-far the highlight of the day. There were waiting areas available for people wanted to stay to wait, but they were not going to get in any sooner. Natalie lives just down the street so we went back to her house to give the kids some play time before returning to the centre around 3:45.

It was a zoo. Kids crying, people crowded into a corridor with little ventilation, breathing each others' warm moist air. *shudder*. Fortunately we avoided the corridor for about half of our wait time. The other half we tried to go down the the less crowded end where we could open an outside door. I had moments of panic when I saw the crowds and kids coughing and could imagine my wee ones breathing in the germs. But I was encouraged to see some very responsible parents teaching their kids to cough into their elbow, or don masks. I just tried to keep more than 1m away from anyone showing signs of illness.

As the afternoon wore on the officials seemed to come up with a more efficient way of batching the people. Instead of calling numbers in blocks of 200, they started to call them in blocks of 50. This at least made us feel better since the line moved more quickly and numbers were called more frequently.

We got vaccinated at 6:15pm.

It was an epic day - but I have learned how to brave the immunization clinics by picking up a few tips based on today.

1) Go early in the morning to get your ticket. The kids don't have to be there, just an adult who can say how many bracelets you need for your family. Be prepared to wait a hour or so.

2) Bring your spouse/a friend. It was great to have Natalie there. She was able to take Isaiah to see the pool or the hockey rink or to run down an empty hallway - away from the crowds. I was so proud - he didn't have a single meltdown despite all of the waiting. I was able to listen for numbers and keep Lucy covered up in her stroller.

3) Bring a stroller. Yes, they're big and cumbersome but you will do a lot of waiting and it is really nice to have a place to put your kid.

4) Go back to the clinic about an hour after they say to come back. If your number group has been called they will let you go to the front of the line so you don't have to worry about waiting until the end if you miss.

5) Do your paperwork while you wait in line - when you get to the screening nurse at the head of the line you get to skip the screening desk and go right to the immunization line. It was a welcome surprise.

6) Bring food - they did have a couple of refreshment carts going around but the food and drink was a bit pricey

7) If you have a cough, wear a mask. I really appreciated the people wearing them because they were sick. That being said, the paranoid mom in front me me wearing the mask, with her nanny in a mask and her 2 year-old in a mask, both kids under blankets in separate strollers made me feel alarmed and anxious. I understand caution - but fear mongering isn't healthy - especially in a confined space with a lot of people.

8) If you have a question -ask. The city officials there were very courteous and helpful, even when people were crowding around them or would get frustrated and angry.

I hope things have calmed down in a month when I have to take the kids back for their second dose. In the meantime - Good luck to you all. Let me know if you find any of these tips helpful on your vaccination day!

The Vaccination Question - by Raywat Deonandan

That Vaccination Question Again

(Writing this on my mobile phone in the Porter Airlines lounge in Toronto, so please forgive the typos.)

In any given year I receive a handful of emails from random strangers wondering whether they should get vaccinated against certain diseases. With the current H1N1 pandemic, the emails now come weekly.

In the elevator of my spanking new condo last week, I was privy to a conversation between two 30-something construction guys, both of whom had decided to eschew the flu vaccine.

The thrust of their argument was, "I never used to get sick. Last year was the first time I got the flu shot, and I got sick." So, according to this reasoning, it's the flu shot that made them sick.

I kept my mouth shut, but I hope the spuriousness of this logic is clear to most people. Spurious logic was best described in The Simpsons, when Lisa told Homer, "It's like me claiming that holding this rock protects me from polar bear attacks because when I hold it, no polar bears attack me."

"Lisa, I'll give you 20 bucks for that rock!"

The spuriousness here is the association between getting the flu shot and becoming ill. The fellow probably got sick from the common cold and mistook it for the flu. Whatever the reason, there is no mechanism by which one can get the flu from the flu vaccine: the vaccine does not contain live or whole viruses.

The question of risk always arises. The human animal, it seems, is incapable of feeling its way through risk and probability. Decisions are made emotionally rather than logically.

After 9/11, for example, people were afraid of the "risk" of flying, so turned to the "safety" of driving. Driving is actually much more dangerous than flying, so I suspect that the excess deaths due to traffic accidents increased in the post-9/11 period. (I'm writing a paper on this now, so stay tuned.)

The risks of the flu vaccine in general, and the H1N1 vaccine in particular, are, in my opinion, inflated by the media. A small number of people with egg allergies will have serious reactions. Most people with egg allergies know who they are. About 1 in a million may suffer Guillain-Barre syndrome, which is serious indeed. A hefty number will experience soreness and maybe 24 hours worth of flu-like symptoms just after the injection. The overwhelming majority of recipients will experience no effects whatsoever.

Do keep in mind that no vaccine is ever 100% effective. Remarkably, the H1N1 vaccine is proving to be about 90% effective, which is actually better than the regular seasonal vaccine. This means that some people will get the flu despite being vaccinated, and may mistakenly think the vaccine gave them the illness.

The H1N1 vaccine comes with something called an adjuvant, which is just something that boosts the immune response. As far as I can tell, it's just vitamin E, polysorbate (a typical food emulsifier) and even some shark liver oil. Some people have freaked out about the latter, but there's no evidence that it's bad for you.

Perhaps the biggest nonsense surrounding the flu vaccine, and vaccines in general, is their supposed link to autism. I do not see any convincing evidence for this. The one study that drew a connection was poorly done, and has since been debunked many times over. This is the way that real science works. I've talked about this before here, here, here and here.

One commenter put the risk question this way: yes, I suppose the flu vaccine carries some risk. But in terms of severity of that risk and extent of that risk, actually getting the flu is much worse. Conclusion: get the bloody shot.

Keep in mind that every year in Canada, literally thousands of people die from the regular flu. Worldwide, thousands more have died from H1N1. So far in Canada, almost a hundred people have died from H1N1, and hundreds more are seriously ill. I have students who have taken leaves of absence due to serious complications from H1N1.

But how many have died from the vaccine? How many typically die from the vaccine? The number is trivial, if it exists at all. Almost all people who get influenza vaccine have no serious problems from it. Nonsense like this and this don't help anyone.

Let's keep the risk of H1N1 in perspective. Depending on who you are, there's a chance you will not be exposed to the virus. If you are exposed, there's a good chance you won't get the disease. If you get the disease, it is very unlikely you'll get seriously ill. Most likely you'll end up in bed for a few days, miserable but recovering. So not getting the vaccine probably won't be too bad for you.... Mostly due to something called "herd immunity".

Herd immunity is when your unvaccinated ass is protected by everyone else's more responsible behaviour. The logic is that you are less likely to be exposed to the disease because all your friends took the time to get the vaccine. Dumbasses who regularly crow about they don't need to get vaccinated because of their "strong immune systems", evidenced by the fact that they rarely get ill, need to understand herd immunity. Their illness free status may have little to do with their innate superhuman status and more to do with the fact that the rest of society has chosen to be disease resistant.

A small percentage of people who get H1N1 will actually get seriously sick and possibly die. Children are particularly at risk because it seems that we old folks have some sort of partial immunity after having weathered so many flu seasons.

But really, why would you want to be home sick for a week? Why would you want to even risk being home sick for a week? Why not save yourself that little bit of Hell with a simple jab in the arm? More importantly, why risk the lives of the children in your life? If you don't want them to be vaccinated, at least get vaccinated yourself so you don't infect them!

This speaks to a wider societal concern that I hope to write about in the future: society's growing anti-intellectualism and anti-science stance. We flock by the millions to unproven therapies, like reiki or whatever unscientific nonsense Suzanne Summers is selling on TV. But many of us refuse to believe that humans walked on the Moon, despite it having been broadcast on live TV and within living memory. The singular triumph of our technological civilization is denied by a generation tragically divorced from this hard-won heritage of reason's victory over the darkness of brutish ignorance.

Vaccines are the victim of their own success. Their triumph was too easy, too profound to be valued by our generation inured to things "too good to be true". People don't think they need the rubella vaccine, for example, because they've never seen anyone with Rubella. You know why you don't see Rubella? Because people take the Rubella vaccine.

There are those who vocally denounce modern vaccinations as useless and dangerous science propaganda. I'd like to take them in a time machine to Canada 150 years ago, when every neighbourhood had people dead from Measles, Rubella, Smallpox and, yes, the flu. Screw the time machine, how about any number of communities in the global South?

We in Canada are a spoiled lot. We have free, socialized medicine. How incredible is that? We had months of forewarning about the H1N1 pandemic. Our medical infrastructure responsibly kicked into high gear, acquiring for us a sufficient stockpile of high tech vaccination against the pandemic --in mere months! That vaccination is being rolled out all across the country today, absolutely free of charge.

Think about that for a second. In the history of humanity, this is such a rare boon. Pandemics of all stripes have decimated societies and civilizations. Our modern civilization found a solution and implemented it, free of charge and in record time. it's available to us today. What would have shut down society 100 years ago is but an inconvenient trip to the flu clinic today.

And yet there are significant numbers of people today who will not only eschew this boon but will vocally denounce those who accept it and those who provided it.

With every crisis, humanity continues to prove to me that it's too stupid to deserve survival.

I will reiterate that everyone has a choice whether or not to seek vaccination. Your choice is your choice. But, as in all things, you are responsible for the consequences of your choice. I don't need to spell out those consequences, or potential consequences, for you.

The technique of modern vaccination is a veritable gift from science. Like all things, it comes with some risks and with variable effectiveness. But how wonderful is it to have the option? How blessed are we? Never forget that or take it for granted.

And as for those who make the simply retarded argument that the flu vaccine is a ploy by big pharama to make money, I beg you --nay, I implore you-- to stick to your guns when you contract H1N1 and are admitted into the hospital's ICU. Please, refuse to accept those antibiotics, antivirals and steroids that will be needed to save your life since, as you probably know, they too are created by "big pharma to make money".

End of sermon.


Update:

Some have pointed out to me that there is no data about the vaccine's safety in infants or pregnant women. This, to my knowledge, is true. The overwhelming medical opinion appears to be that there is no convincing reason to suspect that it is not safe for these groups. However, I would certainly understand if a pregnant woman, or a parent of a child with a developing brain, was hesitant about exposing the infant/fetus to a potential mutagen. If those individuals choose to not become vaccinated (in the case of the pregnant woman) or to not vaccinate their infant, then I hope they would at least advocate for all adults in the vicinity to get vaccinated. I fail to see a strong argument for a non-pregnant adult to eschew vaccination.


Related:

From today's Globe and Mail:

"Refusing to get vaccinated is selfish" by Juliet Guichon and Ian Mitchell.

"Canadians have a free choice. But they also have responsibilities: not to act as agents of flu dissemination, and to minimize their burden on the health-care system. To perform these obligations, they need to act positively, developing two kinds of literacy.... [scientific literacy and statistical literacy]." -Editorial

Three Days in London and the Trip Home

Our first day in London almost began with disaster as at 8:55am we realized the breakfast ended at 9.  As we raced downstairs, the breakfast guy was quite abrupt with us and offered us toast and cereal and coffee.  We apologized, ate hurriedly and left.  The rest of the day was quite fine.  We took the tube to Picadilly Circus (which we thought was a market, but was actually a square a bit like Times Square in New York).  Since there wasn't much to see, we began to walk toward Hyde Park.  Along the way we happened upon Watermarks bookstore (the largest in the world) and spent some time browsing the titles.  We also found a flyer for a Wallace and Gromit exhibit nearby.  We checked it out, but the drawings were all around £150 to buy.  We also came across a little market in a church yard.  We ate lunch in Hyde's Park and took a tour of the Wellington Arch.  We also went through Apsley House, the Manor House of the Duke of Wellington.  It was pretty neat to see all of the paraphernalia given as gifts to the Duke by various Kings, Tzars, Dukes and other friends.  The Duke was made famous in the battle of Waterloo where his soldiers defeated Napoleon.  There is a giant statue of Napoleon at the base of the spiral staircase.  Apparently, Napoleon rejected it , saying it was too athletic - done in the Greco-Roman style.

From here we walked over the Buckingham Palace, the Parliament Buildings and Westminster Abbey.  The abbey was closed for the day but we took pictures of the rest.  On our way to the Parliament Buildings we stopped in at the Winston Churchill and War Times Rooms Museum.  This place was great.  It was the actual headquarters for him and his administrators and generals during the second World War.  Nearly everything was left just as it was after the war was over, and if it was altered - it was recreated for the exhibit.  It was interesting to learn about Churchill, his life, and the war effort in England.  It was a different feeling, being in a city that had been indiscriminately bombed and feared invasion at any moment by the Nazis.  Hearing snippets of his speeches to Parliament and the people was pretty fantastic too.

After Parliament we took a walk down by the Thames, passed the London Eye.  We grabbed a quick bite at the docks and some tea and began the walk home.  As we wandered, we ended up in Trafalgar Square.  This was a beautiful square that has the National Gallery, Nelson's Memorial, fountains and other statues and sculptures. 

We caught the Tube not far from here and after we had got some snacks (and some to spare - since Keith was still recovering from the hunt in Paris) we headed home.

 

Our second day in London was a Saturday - market day - so we headed to Camden Market.  It was awesome.  Huge and sprawling this market area was our highlight in London.  There was so much to look at and so many people, strange smells, cramped stalls that it really was sensation overload.  After a bit of shopping we were looking for a bank machine (or cash point) and we came across a hemp store.  Isaiah has fallen asleep so we must have spent over an hour in this store, trying things on and debating with ourselves.  It was cheap and the clothes were well-made and sweatshop free.  We pretty much bought new wardrobes here - but it was so fun!  We actually had to buy a new backpack to carry it home.  We even bough Isaiah a little hemp shirt and pants (not that he knew or cared).

We ate lunch at a Chinese restaurant and found shelter as it had started to rain a bit.  As we moved on and picked up a few more things it became apparent that I was not going to find any place to change Isaiah's smelly diaper and we both could use a break from carrying the bags - so we opted to stop at home for a few minutes.  Isaiah loved this since he got out of his stroller for a few minutes, some food and got a fresh nappy.  We loved it because we got to unload our burdens and rest our feet.

We took the tube down to London Bridge and walked across to the London Tower.  We had planned on seeing it, but the ticket lady told us that we only had an hour and twenty minutes left to see it and they recommended two to three hours.  These tickets were pretty expensive and we really wanted to see the whole tower, so we opted to eat some fish and chips and wait until the following day for the Tower.  After our dinner we walked over the St. Paul's Cathedral, took some family photos in the drizzle, walked passed the Tate Modern Museum, the Millenium Bridge, Blackfriers bridge, and another statue of Queen Victoria  before we went home.

The next morning was Sunday, and although Westminster was closed to visitors, it was open to worshippers so we attended Matins.  Much of the service was sung by the choir but there was a brief sermon that was great, as you would expect.  Unfortunately, Isaiah was very tired but not at all willing to sleep during the service and although Keith and I switched off walking and holding him, it was Keith who got stuck outside with Izer, trying to keep him from eating centuries-old dirt in the courtyard and missed much of the service.  He was pretty disappointed.  Although we couldn't take pictures, we did see the memorials of Shakespeare, Jane Austin, the Bronte sisters, Charles Dickens, Handel, Shelley, Keats, and many others.

From here we caught the tour boat at Westminster Pier and headed down river to the Tower.  The captain of the boat gave us an informative if un-official guided tour of the sights from the river.  He was clever and funny and made it a great ride.

At the tower we got our lunch as Subway (yes Mom, I ate veggies from time to time) and entered the Tower of London.  We picked up bits and pieces from the guided tours given by the Beefeaters going by and spent a couple of hours going in and out of the buildings, learning about who had lived there, where and how they tortured prisoners, who had been beheaded (how many strokes it took), and so forth. We caught a drama being acted out about the Duke of Monmouth.  It was really well done - although grotesque at times (the axeman describing why it took 5 strokes and still he had to use his butcher's knife to finish the job). 

I think my favourite part was learning where Lady Jane Gray had been kept, and Anne Boleyn as well.  The engravings in Beauchamp tower were amazing to see as well.  Here, prisoners had carved their names, crests, art, poetry, stories into the walls of their cells.  It was haunting.  So was the Chapel Royal.  Here, the bodies of Anne Boleyn, Jane Gray, Catherine Howard and over 2000 others were found under the floor in 1876.  In front of Chapel Royal was Scaffold Green.  Here, the private executions were performed.  The others were done on Tower Hill a little ways from the Tower itself.  There was a little garden and plaque commemorating the spot. 

People killed on Tower Hill had their heads taken to London Bridge and rammed on a spike as a public display of what happens to traitors. Their bodies were carried back to Chapel Royal and buried beneath the church. People beheaded inside the tower on Scaffold green were buried, body and head, in the chapel.  The place really was filled with sad and tragic deaths.  I was surprised to learn that Mary Queen of Scots was never kept in the Tower, but remained as far from London as possible.  She was tried and executed at Fotheringhay Castle.

We finished here just before the warning bell sounded the closing of the gates.  The Beefeaters live and work in the Tower, which we thought was pretty neat.

We ate fish and chips for dinner again and then walked to All Hallows Church (the oldest church in England).  We also walked passed the memorial on Tower Green on our way to catch the Tube home.  We had quite a bit of miracle packing to do before bed to get everything to Canada.  I am pleased to say that we were successful!  We had to leave some diapers and wipes behind but that's about it!

The following morning our cabbie was right on time and we arrived at Paddington in plenty of time to catch the Heathrow Connect back to the airport.  The only sticky business was getting our oyster cards cashed in (these were what we used to pay for the subways - you got your unused money back).  Once we had succeeded with that at Heathrow we quickly checked-in and were freed from our many bags. 

The flight was interesting since it was an afternoon flight.  Isaiah slept a fair bit, but was a bit wild the rest of the time!  Fortunately there were a tonne of babies on board so he wasn't the only fussy one.  It was a relief to know we didn't have to sleep on the plane as we did on the way there. 

Praise the Lord, all of our luggage made it back to Canada we well.  Meredith was waiting for us when we finally made it through customs and out into the Canadian air.  We got most of our unpacking done when we got home last night and I started the laundry - ugh.  Isaiah went to bed at 5:30 - which was about 10:30 to him.  Keith and I followed at 8:00.  I'm glad we didn't try to flip back to our time zone by staying up late last night because I got up with Isaiah today at 4am.  I actually felt quite refreshed J

 

And so ends our epic adventure in Europe.  Here are a few final remarks: Firstly, we almost never had sheets on our bed.  Just a bottom sheet and a comforter.  We thought that was weird.  Second, I never saw another woman breasfeeding her baby. No once.  I also thought this was odd.  Third, we had two cloudy/rainy days in England.  And finally, UK toilets are weird. 

 

En Paris!

We arrived at Paris Nord train station around 10:30am (with the time change).  Our cab driver dropped us off in front of the Tuilleries Gardens near the Louvre.  We passed by our hotel on the way so that was one less thing to try to find later.  We found a shop where we could buy our hop-on-hop-off bus tickets as well as the Paris Museum and Monument Pass.  It took some time to find the right bus stop for our tour bus, but we got to walk passed some of the Louvre buildings and took some pictures.  Once on the bus, our first stop was Notre Dame Cathedral.  This was a massive and impressive building.  It was also very busy.  I was getting grumpy because I needed some food, so we bought a baguette sandwich to share and went into the park behind the Cathedral to eat.  Isaiah ate too.  Then we took some family pictures with the Cathedral in the back ground.  This involved Keith getting up and down from the ground a lot.  Unfortunately, the ground was fine powdery sand that clung to everything it touched - so Keith might look a bit dirty in those ones.  Paris was a bit weird, in that all of it's lovely green spaces were fenced off.  No picnics to be had here.  After we ate, we took a brief tour of the inside of the church.  We didn't want to wait in line to go up the bell tower, but it would have been pretty cool to stair a gargoyle in the face.

Our next stop was the Arch of Triumph. This was commissioned by Napoleon back in the 1800's and was also massive and impressive.  The engravings and carvings were beautiful and the lookout at the top was well worth the 46 stairs (after the elevator). From here we bussed over to the Eiffel Tower.  Paris has a great deal of massive and impressive structures.  The Eiffel tower baffled me a little, because I had no idea why it was built.  The lines were huge here, and we felt like we had had a good enough view of the city from the Arch so after we had taken our pictures we went back to our hotel to check-in.  By this time we were hot and sweaty and needed a rest.  We were staying at Hotel du Louvre - which was a rather ritzy place just across from the Louvre.  It was a treat to ourselves to stay here.  They couldn't find our reservation because of a miscommunication with Eurostar (the company we booked this part of our trip through) - but after a few tense moments it was all sorted out (and we didn't have to pay again, which was a blessing). 

We took a bit of time to get freshened up and then headed out to get some McDonalds.  Some of you might think it's a shame to eat McDonalds when you're in Paris, but when you see the prices of food and know that this is only a small part of a big trip - you will likely come to the same conclusion we did.  Anyways, while we were eating it started to pour outside - but fortunately stopped just as we were walking over to the Louvre.

The beauty of travelling with children comes when you are approaching the end of a very long line, and then some man in a vest waves you over to another door where you are ushered directly in and provided with an elevator.  It really is fantastic.  The Louvre was a bit difficult to navigate since it is so huge, but we managed to find almost all of the paintings and sculptures we wished to see.  We saw the Mona Lisa (behind bullet proof glass and a crowd of people), and a few by David, we saw the headless statue in the stairwell.  This one used to be on the prow of a ship in Greece or something - she was gorgeous. 

We spend quite a bit of time wandering through the rooms, looking at the work that had gone into these paintings and sculptures.  The great thing about the Louvre, was that it was the loudest gallery I had ever been inside.  Most galleries are very quiet and hushed, but the volume of people alone, made this impossible.  It was a great relief to me however, since Isaiah absolutely loves big rooms with vaulted ceilings.  His voice echoes and he is almost never quiet when he's in one.

After the gift shops we began our most epic quest of the whole Paris trip - finding snacks.  We hadn't eaten much during the day so Keith was really looking forward to finding a drink and some chips or a chocolate bar.  It didn't help that we had a fully stocked minibar back in our room with tasty but fiercely overpriced goodies tempting us from inside.  We walked for a couple of blocks and almost everything was closed.  There was not a convenience store in sight.  Just when we had given up all hope - we came across a Superette.  Keith breathed a sigh of relief.  We had found our snacks and went back to our hotel room.  As we watched Scrubs from our king sized bed, eating our snacks, we let the luxury sink in.

The following morning we grabbed a quick breakfast at McDonalds and headed over to the Louvre to finish off our tour.  This time we focussed on the sculptures and saw the Venus de Milo and another one of Psyche and Eros.  We both loved this one.  Although made of marble, it was so delicate and simply amazing to look at.  From here, we raced back to our hotel in time for check-out.

Le Musee d'Orsay was our next stop.  It was a short walk away from the Louvre and focussed on 19^th century art.  The paintings housed here were truly impressive.  They had rooms of Monet, Renoir and Degas.  The highlight - or piece de resistance - was the Van Gogh room.  They had just brilliant works by him.  Keith took a video of it.  The gift shop was fantastic too - because they had prints of our favourites available to buy.

We hopped back on the bus to the Opera House and ate lunch at McDonalds at LaFayette.  LaFayette was a store we had no business being in.  I didn't see a dress under $1500.  McDonalds was the same though - and we ate next to some nice people from New Zealand.  Not being high-end fashion shoppers - we soon moved on from this district and began the walk to the train station.  It was a fun walk because the farther we went, the more "real" Paris seemed to get.  We started to see supermarkets and bargain shopping.  I found dresses for £20 (and bought one just outside of the train station).  When we arrived at the station, we took a quick look around for where we had to go and then did a bit more exploring outside.  We found a crepe stand and Keith had a lemon juice and sugar crepe and I had a banana and nutella one.  Yum.

The ride home was uneventful but pleasant as we talked over the journey and all that we had seen.  We arrived home after 11pm and were happy to learn that we had been given a room on the first floor and that our luggage had already been put in our room.  It was a lovely flop into bed.

Oxford to Paris

The following morning we packed up the car and all of the stuff inside the car that had been accumulating over the last two weeks, and went for a last walk down the Thames near the university.  It was so peaceful and smelled so good.  Along the river the boathouses for all of the different colleges were scattered.  There was even one solo rower on the river.  His coach was riding her bicycle along the path and videotaping him as he went along.  This was the perfect way to end our time in this town steeped in history and tradition.

The rest of the day was spent in travel. First, we dropped off the car at Heathrow.  This, for Keith, was the part he was most stressed about but it went really smoothly.  No accidents, no wrong turns.  Following this we took a shuttle back to the terminals and then bought our train tickets that would take us back into London.  Heathrow Connect was a great way to get to Paddington Station without having to take a very very expensive cab ride or try to cram onto a regular train or subway car with a tonne of bags and a baby.  At our destination station, we did some browsing in their many shops.  I re-learned that Paddington bear was found at Paddington station in the story and that's how he got his name.   From here we took a cab to our hotel. 

Our cabbie was great.  He told us about "the Knowledge" that all London cab drivers have to pass before they are permitted to be a licensed driver.  According to Wikipedia, "it is the world's most demanding training course for taxicab-drivers; and applicants will usually need at least 12 'Appearances' (attempts at the final test), after preparation averaging 34 months, to pass the examination".

Anyways, it took some time (because it was the start of rush hour and they were repairing a water main on one of the major roads) but we arrived safe an sound at hour hotel.  They said they didn't know we had a baby so they put us on the top floor.  In England, the top floor doesn't mean the second, or even the third floor, but the fourth.  It was arduous bringing all of our luggage up that far, only to have to bring it down the following morning at 5am. 

After we got settled, we headed out to attend to a few matters of business.  Firstly, we had to catch a train to Paris at 6 the next morning, so we had to find an alarm clock.  Secondly, because we were leaving most of our luggage in a corridor at the hotel while we were in Paris, we wanted to buy a new bag that would keep a few of the smaller bags inside. 

It was fun to get to know our neighbourhood as it were.  St. Pancras (were our train was leaving from) was just down the road and right beside it was King's Cross station.  Obviously I went inside to look at the station and I even tried to find the barrier between Platforms 9 and 10 but I was without luck.  However, after a lot of walking we were able to find both of our desired items - and for relatively good prices too.

Since we were getting up so early the following morning, we had an early night.  It felt so good to crawl into bed after such a big day.  When the alarm went off at 5am it only took a few minutes for us to be ready and out the door.  The station was only a five minute walk away and since we had scoped out where we had to go the previous day it was a pretty stress-free morning.  Well, except that I insisted that I get a coffee before we went through check-in, only to discover it was a full security check-in where they don't allow any open drinks.  There goes my coffee.  When we were cleared, Keith bought us some snacks before we boarded the train.   It was such a blessing to leave our luggage at the hotel.  We only had two back packs, my purse and the stroller.  It was glorious - and we were on our way to Paris!

Oxford

We were so keen to get moving today that we were downtown about an hour and a half before most places were even open.  Since we had already scoped out the places we wanted to visit today, it made the day go very smoothly.  9am on a weekday is a wonderful time to see Oxford.  There is almost no one about so it's much easier to take pictures of buildings without people in them.  And it smells amazing.  We wandered over cobbled walks until we came to a few open shops.  Once we had purchased some Oxford paraphernalia we headed over to Christ Church for our first tour.  This was a neat campus for me to visit since a few scenes from Harry Potter were filmed here like the Great Hall and the Great Staircase.  Well, actually, the great hall was based on the Great Hall at Christ Church, except Hogwarts needed four tables and here there were only three.  Not to mention the room is too small (but still huge and impressive) to work.  The film crew came in and videoed the hall from every angle and then the set crew built a duplicate (with some modifications) in an airplane hangar or something like that. The other reason they couldn't film there is because it would have been far too disruptive to student life since the room is so well used.  The staircase was the very same though.    Christ church cathedral was impressive as well, as were the grounds.  We talked to one of the stewards at the church for some time about the history and what was happening to the preachers during the Reformation.  Apparently, many of the priests stayed on at their churches when Henry VIII split from the Catholic church.  They also remained when Edward VI enforced his hyper-Protestantism and then switched back over to their Catholic services when Mary was on the throne, only to switch back over for the reign of Elizabeth I.  The steward was saying that some fled to the Continent during this time of religious upheaval, but many stayed on with their parishioners to perform the ceremonies and rights and services.  I thought that was pretty cool.

After the tour we spent some time in the Botanical Gardens.  It was such a gorgeous day and we tried hard to take some family pictures with the spire from Magdalen College Cathedral in the background.  They had all sorts of plants growing both outside and in green houses.  It was a lot of fun for us - but I think Isaiah got the most enjoyment out of our time there.  He got to crawl around on the grass, scorning his stroller.

We were pretty hungry by the time we finished with the gardens so we sat on a patch of grass and ate our tasty lunch of baguette sandwiches and ate dark millionaire shortbread.  I will attempt to make this when I get home.

Our last big "to do" was the Bodleian Library.  We weren't able to see any of the new library since it is exam time, but we were able to see a bit of the old library.  Unfortunately, and much to Keith's chagrin, we weren't able to see any books.  The Gutenberg Bible was housed just above us - but we weren't allowed! 

A Lack of Updates!

I had hoped I would update more frequently now that we have an internet connection here in London.  Unfortunately, our days are so full that there is little time to write or reflect on what we've seen and done.  We will be back in Canada on Monday so I will do my best to complete the updates in between loads of laundry and post them for you all!

Thanks for reading so far!
Darcie