Let's See London

Let’s See London: Take 1
Although I was a bit nervous taking all the kids out on my own in a city I’d never been to,  I figured we had to start somewhere.  There is so much to see, it’s a bit hard deciding where to start.  The traditional double-decker bus tour is a good way to get an overview, however Austin wanted to do that with us, so it would have to wait until the weekend.

We decided to take the bus to Trafalgar Square and see the lions.  Due to London’s crushing traffic, we were surprised our bus trip took us a whole hour!  The little girls were tired and hungry by the time we got there.  We looked up a good pub and tried out our first proper fish & chips. 

With everyone fed, we headed to the National Gallery.  We started in the gift shop and I let the girls each pick a post card with a painting.  The plan was to go find these paintings in the museum. Now someone had to go to the bathroom, so we looked for lifts (elevators) & bathrooms. 

 

Finally, we spotted Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, Degas’ The Dancers, and Monet’s Water-Lily Pond along with Renoir’s, Cezanne’s, Seurat’s etc.  We made it to 3 out of 50 galleries when Lizzie got bored and started singing songs in her stroller and wouldn’t stop.  After trying all our clever tactics to quiet her, we decided we were done with the museum.  It was time to find our way to tea.

 

We were invited to afternoon tea at a fancy hotel.  Afternoon tea is what we think of as high tea.  It’s tea with all the little scones, clotted cream, little sandwiches, and tiny desserts.  We joined Austin and his work colleagues for tea.  We saw men & women dressed in tuxedos and ball gowns while we were there.

“I love tea!” Lizzie says on the way home.

 Let’s See London: Take 2

For our 2nd outing I took the kids to see Big Ben via train.  All were impressed. Lizzie & Avery especially love to see “the Big Ben.”  We walked along the bridge nearby and learned all about the Parliament building.  We decided to tour Westminster Abbey while we were there.  However, it had been closed for a Remembrance service and wouldn’t open for a half-hour.  Our crew wouldn’t last for that.

Our first week in London happened to be Remembrance Week, like American Veteran’s Day.  They honor those fallen all week long by wearing paper poppies.  Outside Westminster Abbey were thousands of small wood crosses with a poppy and person’s name organized into different groups. There was evidence of “remembrance” all over town and on television.

We instead hopped a train straight for the Science Museum.  We looked at a few things and decided we were all starving.  Found a nearby mini-grocery and picked out some snacks.  We boarded a train home which was sardine-packed.  Lizzie had a temper tantrum about Oreos while packed on that train. (just keeping it real, here)  No, I couldn’t get her one while holding onto the pole, carrying the stroller over my shoulder, and holding her hand while packed in against the door.

It starts getting dark here at 4pm and is completely dark by 5pm.  We’ve learned to begin our return trip home by 3pm so we can be home before 4, when rush hour starts in earnest.