When we told her of our European adventure and lengthy stay in London, was asked her to come visit and were so happy she accepted!
She could only come for a few days, so the plan was to experience as many things as we could!
For the first day, I took the tube out to Heathrow and met her at the airport. As it turns out, the trip on the train out was twice as long as it took my sister to de-plane, get her bags, and clear customs. She had ample time to enjoy Heathrow and was very happy to get back on the train with me.
Joey, Sammy, and Lanna were thrilled to have their Aunt Megan here and when we first came in the door it was tumultuous shouting over each other as the past few months were relayed to her in a few seconds. Lanna happily clutched Megan's leg, holding on while the torrent of joyful yelling continued.
When things died down we had a late breakfast and prepared for the afternoon.
The plan was to keep Megan moving until nightfall so she could adjust as quickly as possible. Like a shark, she couldn't stop moving or she would fall asleep (but unlike a shark, this would not kill her).
So we collected all the essentials for a stroll downtown towards Covent Garden.
We walked to Waterloo Bridge to enjoy its views of Big Ben (since Alisa and I believe anyone who comes to see us needs to walk with us to see Big Ben on their first day).
After this we headed over to a museum I had been waiting to see:
http://londonfilmmuseum.com/home/
I am a Bond fan dating back to I can't remember.
In fact, shortly after our arrival to London I went to see Spectre (the 24th James Bond film, released November 6) after the kids were asleep.
Without spoiling anything, Spectre has several scenes shot here in London. During the day, the kids and I had actually walked and explored the area where the final climactic scene occurred. Having the action happen right where we walked earlier that day made happier than Russell Wilson after Super Bowl XLVIII.
Megan, too, was excited to see this museum.
Joey and Sammy had heard there would be lots of fancy Aston Martins and they couldn't get to the museum fast enough.
For any Bond fan, you should definitely check this out.
Walking in, they had Little Nellie from You Only Live Twice hanging from the ceiling.
Here's Q's darling in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGXZ96d47no
Although the museum was small, the bottom floor was packed with amazing parts of Bond history.
We got off the elevator and walked right to the little snub plane (a BD-5J, the smallest aircraft known to man) from the dynamic opening scene in Octopussy.
The museum created a great experience with the cars/vehicles right there and a screen in the background looping the Bond movie clip featuring that vehicle.
Such as this clip from Octopussy (be warned, it's long and starts off with some racy scenes):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ8CHpyu8Uk
The boys were mesmerized by the plane and we had to alert them to many of the Aston Martins ahead to get them moving.
A few feet beyond them sat the Aston Martin and Jaguar from Die Another Day (one of the films which went way over the top with absurdity of the cars and pushing the Daniel Craig iteration to be more realistic and gritty).
And here it is in action with the entertaining but ridiculous car gadgets:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NWihcuU_MI
We saw the wrecked Aston Martin from Casino Royale after its epic crash and flip.
The clip showing the incredible crash can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aj_zzthr0oc
This Aston Martin rolled 8 times during this crash. Because The Guinness Book of World Records has a record for everything (even the most milkshake ejected through someone's nose), this crash is now a Guinness World Record.
We saw the AMC Hornet X (the only time an AMC was a Bond car) in The Man with the Golden Gun, the car that did the famous corkscrew stunt.
Lanna was particularly impressed.
And here's the stunt:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzCIbhLUUA0
As a special feature, they had four cars from Spectre, including the Aston Martin DB10, specially made for the film. I'm not sure what was going on when the picture was taken but something made Sammy a little jumpy.
Under the stairs, near the bathroom Goldfinger's Rolls Royce was tucked away.
Near the gift shop was a beautiful 1971 Ford Mustang (although not as beautiful as a 1966 Ford Mustang) which performed an iconic two wheel stunt in Diamonds Are Forever.
The Diamonds Are Forever clip linked here is pretty long (starting with James Bond driving an early ATV which the museum also had). The stunt itself is at the 3:30 mark if you want to jump to it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnLAI-MV5ik
In another alcove, we found Joey and Sammy's favorite car in the museum!
Unfortunately, to get to their favorite car, they had to walk past one of the more iconic James Bond vehicles - the crocodile sub from Octopussy. Sammy was less than enthusiastic.
Fortunately he survived and then saw his "most favorite car EVER!"
It was a white Lotus Esprit, famous for transforming into a submarine in The Spy Who Loved Me (which was also done by Finn McMissile in Cars 2, which had deeply impressed the boys that another car could do it too). The fear of the crocodile vanished and it made Megan and I so happy to see the joy in Sammy's face next to the Lotus.
Joey loved it too.
And here's the clip of it in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_A_y004mPI
Since the boys and Lanna were mesmerized by the car and loved seeing the movie clip, they sat down and stayed there for quite a while.
While they sat watching the Lotus, I went back to admire the Aston Martin DB5, the first real Bond Car. It made a comeback in Skyfall and also plays a role in Spectre.
I love this car and loved seeing in person.
After we had seen absolutely everything (and there were several more cars that didn't get , only then did we all reluctantly leave, knowing there were many more things scheduled for the next few days while Aunt Megan was in town.
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