Fire alarm and a lovely day

So last night we had just finished our family cuddle time on the couch, watching soccer followed by carrying Selim to bed when all of a sudden, the most piercing noise blasts through the flat.  Fire alarm.  It is so loud that I panic and turn around in circles, trying to figure out where it is coming from.  Clearer headed then I, Nedim runs downstairs to make sure their isn't a fire.  He comes back up, stuffs towels and his briefcase up against the alarm in the bedroom where Selim is still sleeping, unaffected.  I go and stand by the door where the other alarm is blasting, with my hand pressed against the alarm, muffling the noise.  Nedim goes back outside to see what is going on, call the apartment manager and see if anybody can figure out how to turn the blasted siren off.  After a few minutes he comes back in to say that it is coming from the second floor.  The alarm stays on, piercing my already sore ear for an hour and Nedim and I take turn standing with our hands pressed against the alarm unit.  Mercifully, Selim wakes up once, looks around, Nedim tells him not to worry, and he falls back asleep.  The drama ends at 11:00 when they figure out how to turn off the central alarm, located in the small gym.

Selim wakes up this morning as says, "I had a great sleep last night, didn't you?"  I just stare at him, amazed that he really wasn't affected by the hour long, incredibly awful alarm shrieking.  In good humor, he ate two breakfasts and was eager to go on an adventure with me.  We parted company with Nedim at the bus stop -- Selim and I on our way to Marble Arch and Nedim to go do guy things with his brother or Vinny.

We rode the bus from Baker Street to the Marble Arch stop.  We took pictures of the horse head sculpture/statue.

From there we walked through Hyde Park and on to Kensington Gardens.  Our destination was the Peter Pan statue.  A kind lady offered to take a picture of Selim and I and the statue.  She caught me at an odd moment, but at least it has the two of us.  Selim and I both enjoyed finding all the creatures at the base of the statue.  I also liked all the other fairies.

When Selim had had enough of Peter Pan, we continued walking south, towards the exit that would take us to the Science Museum.  But first we came across three swans.  The white on we nicknamed showoffy because he/she followed us and seemed to desire the camera attention.  I obliged.  Then a small dog got into the water and all three swans started hissing.  The dog was properly intimidated and got right out.

As we were exiting Kensington Gardens, we saw the Albert Memorial, another great photo op.  We walked all around, taking pictures.  Towards the end, Selim sat on the stairs and I managed a few shots of him, relaxed.

Then it was on to the Science Museum.  He had been there earlier in the week and knew just what he wanted to show me.  I saw Amelia Earhart's plane, the space suits, space capsule, the huge spinning globe and the motor boat.  We also spent time in the interactive area making patters from rubber hexagons, ripples projected floor pond complete with fish, and a booth where Selim got in and made patterns on the wall.

At the end we hit the gift shop without doing too much financial damage and left.  We got onto the street and realized that we missed a rain storm because the street had huge puddles.  We then went into the Natural History Museum.  The reason that Selim had not seen the dinosaur skeletons earlier in the week is because the guys had gone into the Victoria and Albert Museum, not the Natural History.  No wonder Selim had gotten so bored.  I think we were too tired to truly appreciate the Natural History Museum.  We had walked in a side entrance, so we missed the big grand entry way with the diplodaucus skelaton.  The queue for the dinosaur room was so long that we didn't go through it.  So we missed the T-Rex.  But I took a few pictures of the gorgeous interior and the diplodaucus.

As we walked towards Harrods, we fortified ourselves with rice cakes and peanut butter that we had brought and some broken up cookie pieces.  I enjoyed seeing the lovely exterior of the Victoria and Albert Museum.  I will go there at some point after the guys leave.

Then we went to Harrods.  We were on a mission to get some rose and violet cremes for Selim's speech therapist.  The place was packed and I went a bit overboard.  I lost my ability to discern and ended up with more chocolate and tea than I really need.  Oh well.

Luckily there is an underground station right there so we were able to ride home easily.  After a quick stop at the market for bread, juice and cereal, we came back to the flat.  We ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and grapes.  Selim is now on the couch watching cartoons and I'm in the bedroom with the laptop and European golf on the TV. 

As we were walking home, Selim said that this had been a great day.  It was.  We laughed, walked, held hands and enjoyed being together in London.  Tomorrow we might hit up Fortnum and Mason and Liberty.  But I might need to pack the suitcases so I can determine how much extra they can carry back, hurricane permitting, on Monday.