The Kids' Top Ten Lists

During our last days in London I asked the kids to write down their own "top ten" list of our trip.  Each list could be its own post but there was a fair amount of overlap, so I will combine them here.

1. Everybody included the London Eye as a favorite.  It is such a large landmark, they got used to spotting it while we were out. We thought of skipping a ride on this large ferris wheel, but one day while sight seeing, Austin & I surprised them with tickets to ride on it.  They were all so excited!

Your tickets are for a specific day and time, so we watched the weather forecast before choosing to get tickets - it would not be as fun during rain or fog. The glass pod/capsule holds maybe twenty people and takes 30 minutes to go around the circle.

The capsules are white metal and glass but there is one orange one. If you watch where the orange one is, you can mark time with it - thirty minutes around to the same spot.  Our capsule was next to the orange one.

2. Food - these are girls after my own heart!  They all included some kind of food on their lists. Some of my favorite sightseeing occurs during mealtimes. 

Fish and Chips

Lizzie - Randoms "gummies" We found these were nice to have on hand in a pinch.

Avery - fish and chips, bakery donuts, fresh bagels, hot chocolate

Abbie - "Drinks, fish and chips, cheese, crackers, cookies, everything! Grocery stores were cool!"

 Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Katie - included food as 4 different items on her list of 10! She loved fish and chips, Haagen Daz, Thornton's Toffee, and Pizza Express (kid's menu)

Pizza Express kid's toffee fudge sundae and bambinoccino

Katie and Abbie both had:
3. Regent's Street

 

All Lit up for the Holidays

 

They were excited about Lush

4. Harrod's

5. West End Shows

 

Katie & I went to Les Miserables. Abbie & Austin went to The Railway Children



Other items only on KATIE's list:
Phrases (Mind the Gap, Why not try..., wonky wheels, trolley park, cooking directions etc.)
Transportation - The Tube, double-decker buses, London cabs

Only on ABBIE's list:
Big Ben
Shops/Stores
TV Shows - they were there long enough to find favorites, "Copy Cats" & "Britain's Best Dish"
Afternoon Tea
Museums


Avery's List:
1. Our Park
2. Hamley's - (giant toy store)
3. Natural History Museum
4. Big Ben/Parliament
5. Collecting Train Tickets - (used train tickets)
6. "Down Days"
7. Fresh Bagels/Hot Chocolate

 Our typical backpack lunch included bagels or plait rolls

8. Scarves - (bought at Portobello Market)
9. The Crown Jewels
10. Tower Bridge

11. New Bedding - (she got new sheets on her bed when the cleaners came)

Lizzie's List:
1. Big Ben
2. "The Button" (on the bus - that one that we had to keep her from constantly pressing!)
3. Randoms or "gummies"
4. Chocolate

London Summer Olympics 2012

In front of the Olympic Stadium

The Olympics are coming to London next summer and there are many preparations underway throughout the city (weekend Tube improvements and LDS church remodeling were two we encountered.) The area of town where the Olympic venues have been built is bustling with construction crews working towards deadlines.  The buildings are up. Most of the construction is on  the areas surrounding buildings.  The interior of the buildings are probably underway too.

 

 Olympic Stadium (left), 350 ft. viewing tower called the Orbit (right)

 

The low white building on the left is the velodrome, or bicycle track.

The large building on the right is the Aquatics Center, roofline to suggest a dolphin.

In between are the basketball arena and the Olympic Village apartments.

Part of London's plan in having these games is to revitalize an area of town that has been run down for many, many years. After the games many of the buildings will be refitted into housing, some will be low-income.  The stadium is modular and will be downsized after the games.  This area will have a huge shopping district and property values have already made a big turn around.   

 

 Countdown to the Olympics on Trafalgar Square

Medals for the 2012 Games on display at the British Museum

front (left), back (right)

We were excited to see that the copper used in the medals comes from Utah.

Katie's Day - Portobello Road

Katie picked Portobello Road Market for "her" day.  She looked forward to the market atmosphere.  The following is her take on the day:

For my day, I slept in until ten am! Then we went to Portobello Market. This market is known for antiques.  One end of Portobello Road was a 10 minute walk from our flat.  We decided to take a bus to the far end of Portobello Road and walk through the market and then home.  It was really crowded.

 

Along the way, we found a crepe place and got a yummy lemon and sugar crepe. They make them really big here.

 

The crepe stand - see how big

A cute storefront that mom liked.

 

There were a lot of musicians along the road

Then, on the way home, we picked up lunch at a nearby bakery with really good sandwiches, donuts, and lemon tarts.  We went home and enjoyed our lunch.

Monday = Down Day

It turned out that Mondays were our Down Days.  A day to hang out at home, catch up on laundry, play at the park, walk to the grocery store etc.  After days of trains, buses, museums, and LOTS of walking, the kids always looked forward to staying home for a change.

Our local launderette

We had a small clothes washer in our flat, but I walked to the local Laundrette to use their dryers.  The owner single-handedly runs this shop every day from 8-7.  He washed, pressed, or sat at the sewing machine all day long.  A very good person - I was very impressed at his hard work, dedication, and kindness.  I washed several loads of clothes at home and then took them all at once to dry.  Hot, fast dryers!  Stroller is helpful for transporting clothes.

"our" grocery store

a big deal because we visited this site more than any other - every other day

We were so lucky to be a short walk from a major grocery store (by London standards.)  Grocery shopping was a big hit on everyone's list!  On each visit the kids got to choose unusual foods to try out.  We loved reading the packaging and signs and figuring everything out. I guess we can all relate to food! We always had to be careful not to buy more than we could carry home.  Strollers come in very handy again!

 

 surprised when I pulled the British pork sausages out of the package

 

 Katie experimenting with a scone mix

 the final result with jam and clotted cream- not bad

We had a beautiful park and playground just a 5 minute walk away! Play grounds here are very different from the US.  It seemed to us they have larger play equipment to entertain older kids.  There is a section for small kids too.  Lots of things spin around.  Fewer swings than we might have.  In general, more dangerous than we'd find in the US.  The kids all loved it!

We walked through this park area or the adjacent playing playing fields 

to get to the playground section

Katie and Abbie could barely reach this one.

Both people hold on, run, and spin each other around.

 

spinning in the little kid's section

 

We called this the Flying Saucer.

It swings and spins around at the same time and goes quite high when it gets going.

 

spinning

Avery's Day - Playground & Natural History Museum

Avery picked everything we did today.  She chose a slow morning including watching "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse," followed by a trip to our awesome neighborhood park.

She picked lunch at home with grilled cheese sandwiches.

Then it was off to the Natural History Museum.  This building is just as cool as all the exhibits!  We tried to hit a few exhibits we missed the first time.  They sure love this museum and hope to stop by one more time before we leave London.

Avery figures out how to guide us around

 

A huge Mineral Hall.  The girls loved studying each case of rocks.  Such a variety!

In the Mineral Hall, found a meteorite from Meteor Crater in AZ!

Monkeys carved into the building

 The white statue at the far end is Charles Darwin

 

 It was dark by the time we went home.  There is a carousel & ice rink set up at Christmas.