london thursday

Breakfast at the hotel.
I went to Sunrise School. Very hippy montessori type of school. We sang some songs about being yourself and the world all being one family. Some songs they sing are in other languages. We went from singing into meditation. One boy had to be sent out because he was being disruptive. After meditation the woman told this story about a friend of hers who got into a car crash but they though of their happy place and a happy time of their life. The friend ended up being OK. The children were all coming up with practical solutions to what the friend could have done (braked, sped up etc.) the woman got annoyed at them and said they were missing the point of the story. She then read them about Jason and the Golden fleece. After that was snack time and time outside. There are 5-11 year olds all mixed together in one class with one teacher in this school. The all learn french and the national curriculum (that everyone we talked to absolutely hates!), The kids seemed pretty wild and rambunctious in contrast to the alleged tone of the school. All the children were very friendly and eager to talk with us. The school was fairly run down and had a very lived in homey look.
After that school visit I went over to walk around Notting Hill and Hyde Park. The park is gorgeous. Lots of huge gorgeous swans. We saw these three girls all dressed up racing on their scooters and arguing about whether one of them started too soon.
We had an amasing tea the Orangery at Kensington Palace. Really flavorful tea with milk and sugar. They brought us cucumber sandwiches, raisin scones with homemade butter and jam, and a vanilla cake with lemon frosting. We were making fun of one person because they claimed not to be a picky eater but they didn't like cucumber, raisins or the lemon frosting.
After tea we voyaged to Paddington Station to take a picture with the statue of Paddington Bear. Some girls were sitting in the way so we had to politely ask them to move. We went on to Kings Cross Station to see Platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter. They have a cart half stuck into the wall. We all took pics of us pushing it.
We had dinner at a Thai restaurant on Trafalger Square. It wasn't that good. They brought us an omlet, pork curry, chicken and asparagus in a spicy sauce, rice, and orange slices.
Elizabeth and I went looking in a souvenier shop after that and then walked back to the hotel.