The Brutons Go to England: Two Museums

We went to a museum in London that I have never visited before. We hopped on the train around 11:00 and made our south on Friday the 24th of January, intent on visiting the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden. As per usual, Little Brute decided that sleeping on the train is for babies (and he is not one, he says), so we arrived at Covent Garden just in time for him to get really whiney and for my stomach to start growling.

In love with this photo of my boys on the train, waiting for me to join them.

We wandered in and out of the shops looking for something hot and quick to eat and finally settled on a Jacket Potato stand. Perfect choice, if I do say so myself. The potatoes were hot and delicious with great toppings. It definitely hit the spot for both Derek and I, while Little Brute contented himself with a crack or two before being strapped into the tummy pack for a nap.

our Jacket Potatoes and me and Little Brute in Covent Garden!

I also LOVE this photo of my Little Brute!

The museum is just inside the boundaries of Covent Garden, in the building that was once the London Flower Market (think the opening scene of My Fair Lady. It's that place!). We paid £27 for all three of us to get in, which made my stomach lurch a bit--paying for a museum in London is very rare for us, so this had better be good.

We were not disappointed.

The museum has one of the most impressive collections of old trains, tube cars, omnibuses, and buses in the world. It lays out the history of transport in London from the 17th century onward, including the first underground system in the world: the London Tube, built in 1863. Little Brute slept through the first half, which gave Derek and I time to read everything we wanted without having to chase our toddling boy around. We learned about how the tube was dug, the transformation from omnibus to the current icon, the red double-decker, and the conditions on trains in the early 20th century. Let's just say I'm awfully glad we don't have steam powered everything anymore, not to mention air conditioning!

Once Little Brute woke up, it was explore, explore, explore! He crawled from bus to bus, helped Daddy drive a Tube train using a nifty simulator, sat in his very own seat on "The Tube," and then settled down for his own lunch of pasta with tomato sauce and courgettes (all blended up, of course). We had a brilliant time--it's a museum I would love to take family to. And, actually, we only paid for Derek and I to enter--anyone 17 and under is free! And, as a bonus, our tickets are good for unlimited entry for the next year.

Exploring with Daddy--these two are great pals!

Seriously--the vintage buses were Little Brute's favorite!

We were feeling rather "museum-y", so we decided to take a bit of walk and go visit the mother of all museums: The British Museum.

I'm not ashamed, but rather surprised, to say that I teared up when we entered the Great Court. I remember taking Derek there for the first time a few summers ago, and how excited I was for him to see the Rosetta Stone, the friezes from the Parthenon of Ancient Greece, the Lewis Chess Set, the head from Easter Island. But walking into the Great Court with my son just--wow. It was a rush of emotions, of all the things Derek and I get to teach him about. All the books we will read, all the stories we will tell him, all the places we will take him. I know he won't remember anything about this trip, which makes me sad.

But it was one of those moments, one of the thousands of moments, I've had in my life where I recognize just how lucky I am. Millions of people go their whole lives wishing to see the things I have seen. I've stood on the steps of St. Paul's, examined the carvings of prisoners in the Tower of London, looked at the original manuscripts of Winnie the Pooh, the Magna Carta, and inspected the hieroglyphics etched onto the Rosetta Stone. And now, here I am, holding my baby and pointing out the Jackals and Falcons carved by the Egyptians thousands of years ago.

My baby took some of his first tentative steps in the British Museum. He crawled to me across the floors of one of the greatest museums in the world. We sat and had a dinner in the Museum Cafe, just a stone's throw from one of the magnificent heads from Easter Island. He threw his sippy cup on the floor, he dropped puffs in one of the galleries.

I recognize that this adventure is something we will never forget. My little boy will have postcards, photographs, and souvenirs from some of the great cities of the world (several from the greatest: London). I'ts just a day trip for us to go and see these things, these magnificent monuments to the brilliance of man, the great potential of God's crowning creation.

Yes, we Brutons go adventuring, as Derek would say. And man--what adventures!