Saturday was another good day. Earlier in the morning we drove to Stonehenge. The place was really busy with hundreds of people walking around the stones. It was a bit of a disappointment. I expected a lot more of commercialization of the site. At least, I expected a playground, a restaurant, and a picnic spot. There were none. Essentially, Stonehenge is a bunch of stones standing in the middle of a field. Not worth nearly three hour drive from London.


On the way back we decided to make a slight detour and go to Windsor. That place is great. I loved it. The palace is huge and beautiful, but the town around is even better with lots of little cafes and restaurants and little shops. It is definitely a place I would like to come back. Walking around the Windsor Castle I could not help feeling a bit resentful. Places like this should be owned by the state and not by the royal family. What did they do to deserve it? This Castle is a testament of all the looting the British Empire did around the world. The next time we would skip the Castle, as it is not a value for money, and just hang around the town. In the evening we dropped in to see a friend and got into a drinking party. Since we weren't interested in drinking or watching football, we have left just after dinner even before some guests have arrived. Both kids behaves surprisingly well the whole day.

Sunday has begun like a good day. After having Russian pancakes (blini) for breakfast, my husband took Big Munchkin for a swim early in the morning. After that we went to town where we were supposed to meet some friends for dim sum. Of course after very late night drinking party the day before they were late by an hour and a half. My biggest problem with most of our friends in London centers around their complete luck of understanding of issues associated with having kids. I can't be angry with them as I understand that they don't do it on purpose. They are not being purposefully inconsiderate. They really just don't understand. They really can't understand until they have their own kids. Nevertheless, I find it very upsetting. We plan all our outings around Big and Little Munchkins mealtimes and nap times. Routine is important as any serious changes result is crying and crankiness. The guys whom we were supposed to meet for lunch were by over an hour late. Big Munchkin went to sleep in her stroller before having lunch, she did not sleep long enough and was incredibly winy and cranky till evening. Little Munchnkin got his milk late and did not go for his nap on time. My husband ended up feeding him at the restaurant and missing most of his own meal. For the rest of the time at the restorant Little Munchkin was screaming his head off.

There is a very good Chinese restaurant, Imperial China, in London with a changing table, with lots of parking space for a stroller, a high chair, and big tables. Jade Garden is very crammed, but that is the place our friends chose for lunch. When we arrived we found that our friends got a table on the second floor, within a smoking zone, and with half number of seats than the number of people. What were they thinking?! It was loud, hot, and crammed. We had to carry our double stroller on to the second floor where there was no place to park it properly. Big Munchkin was wining the whole time and the Little Munchkin was crying. Needless to say, we did not have a good time. After the restaurant we decided to split and to try to salvage the leftover of the day, but it was too late. With change of the routine both Munchkins were not happy and they shared their mood freely. On the positive note, since neither of them had much sleep during the day, they went to sleep pretty early, giving me a change to clean up and write this update.