Last Days of Winter Break: Three Chapters

Chapter 1:

One evening, shortly after we returned from Paris, we went to Winter Wonderland.  We looked around a bit, and then dad and I went for the absolute scariest ride in the amusement park:  the Ski Jump!!  It was a "swing," but many times bigger, and it went many, many, many times higher!  When we were at the top of it, I felt like I was going to fall, and I saw the crowd below.  It was a very cold night, so the wind pushed against me; and my heart beat VERY fast.  Next, with mom, I went to the Fun House.  It had mirrors that made you look odd; a spinning "pipe" (like a giant barrel) that you had to run through; and things you stepped on that went up and down all the time.  In the last section, mom and I got stuck in the mirror maze.

Isabel and Ben on the Ski Jump (look very carefully at the figures on the left)!

"Hey, mom, where are we?"  "Uh, London?  Hyde Park?  Winter Wonderland?"

Chapter 2:

On the very next day, some more winter fun:  ice skating at Somerset House!  First we met dad's colleague Marta and her daughter--my friend--Cecilia (her dad, Bruno, and her sister, Isadora, also came, but didn't skate).  We ice skated and got better and better; soon I was able to skate alongside dad (he was just faster)!  It was super fun (and I only fell 5-7 times)!  After skating, we all went out to a restaurant called Byrons, where we had hamburgers.  (Dad and I are doing research to discover the best burger  in London:  hard work!)  I had a bacon burger, dad had a blue-cheese burger, and they were both very good.  Then we walked home.  It was such a fun day because I really like Cecilia, I don't get to ice skate often, and going to hamburger restaurants is always super!

"Skate" at Somerset House

Chapter 3:

That Friday, like many other Fridays, mom and I met dad at the V&A for an evening of art and fun.  First, we went to an exhibition on "Imperial Chinese Robes."  The robes were all very beautiful; they mostly belonged to the emperor and his family (the emperor had lots of funny hats).  Then dad and I wandered around, and we looked at an exhibition of "Camera-less Photography" (shadow pictures):  it was wacky!  For dinner we had a traditional Irish dish that my dad makes often in London.  It's called colcannon, and it's made with potatoes, cabbage, onions, and milk.  Yum!

Emperor's festive winter hat, 1644-1911 (from the Palace Museum, Beijing)