Off to London to visit the Queen, well at least see her palace. We had a great apartment right in the heart of the action, 200 metres from Westminster Abbey and close by Buckingham Palace. Only downside was a level 3 apartment and a hot stairwell - 4 large suitcases up the stairs (then later down) was my workout for the day! We spent our first afternoon enjoying the sights of Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and the bridge over the Thames before lunch in St James Park and playing the tourist (with a few thousand others) outside Buckingham Palace. Then we headed off to East Finchley about 20 minutes north of London for a great dinner with our dear friends Rick and Janet and their boys, who had just returned from 3 weeks touring Spain.
The next few days were a whirlwind of the sights; we set a punishing schedule for the kids and they were fabulous, enthusiastically taking in each new part of the adventure. Highlights:
Hamleys, an extraordinary kids store, 7 stories of toys - quite overwhelming really!
Tower of London, a terrific showcase of the brutal history of London but very much the beginnings of our exposure to London queues; the Crown Jewels was a monster line, but our patience was rewarded with some enormous diamonds on show and interesting history of the monarchy. Think it was lost on the boys who were more amused at the other meaning of crown jewels!
Night time trip on the London Eye; quite an achievement for Michaela given her fear of heights although she had a pretty tight grip on the bench in the middle of our pod; the views were amazing and kids were enthralled. Will was obsessed with seeing Wembley stadium and Michaela, the MI6 building..both living their respective worlds of fantasy.
Boat trip down the Thames to Greenwich, very amusing guide, that appealed greatly to Michaela's sense of humour. A particular poem that made Mac laugh referred to the Lions' heads that adorn the side walls of the Thames, to indicate water levels and floodlines. It went something like, "When the lions heads are ducked, London is…..flooded"!! The cruise down the Thames highlighted London's ever changing skyline and architecture, as they proudly retain and/or rebuild replicas of buildings from eras long-past, while erecting the tallest building in Europe, made of glass (that wasn't meant to rhyme!). Greenwich meantime was a bit lost on the kids, but a must-do, given the significance of the location as the centre of time!
Harrods, women in full muslim dress and gucci sunglasses - very easy to get lost in this place.
London Duck Tour - Our Jack Blackesq guide hosted us in a World War 2 amphibious vehicle converted into a canary yellow touring bus around Westminster before plunging into the Thames (and fortunately floating) next to MI6 to the background of the James Bond soundtrack and of course once we hit the water switched to… "We all live in a yellow submarine". The kids were hankering for a double decker bus ride so we isolated the right route to get us to Hyde Park Corner and one came along shortly. We then covered almost the same route as the Duck which gave us a chance to test the kids absorption of the facts - they did surprisingly well!!
Kensington Gardens were absolutely beautiful and a lovely warm day with the kids playing in the Princess Diana memorial walking fountain (spot the children who have come from the Southern Hemisphere winter!). It was quite a long walk from one end to the other and an occasional break on conveniently placed very comfortable shaded deck chairs. The amble was punctuated by the kids discovering a limping pigeon and elevating this to a national emergency resulting in a compliant park ranger coming to the rescue. The kids asked what he would do with it and he kindly said he would take it to the vet. I think I saw him deliver the last rites as he tossed it into the rear of his vehicle! We were lucky to see the Grenadier guards clip clopping past on their way home from Buckingham Palace.
Lion King - great seats and a wonderful play with the classic songs. Astounded at the group of 16-18 year olds that spent a good deal of the performance talking to each other and the elderly Indian lady who checked her voicemail half way through the second half lighting up the whole section of the audience. The audience lacked the appreciative grace we get used to in Melbourne and to me seemed as though they were ticking the box of a West End classic. Despite all this we loved the show and the songs featured in the following days as the kids danced around London and Paris.
We had a great dinner with our friends Graham and Jennifer Martin at a flash Japanese restaurant in Knightsbridge.
The kids became adept at navigating the Tube and travelled free of charge - hustling through the disabled gates at high speed as we traversed the network. Their confidence is growing everyday!
Paris blog to follow! A bientot mes amis!
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