London

This past Saturday we went to London….
Apparently the kids were excited because they woke up at 5:30am….so someone was a little grumpy.

We stepped off the train into complete chaos. It’s a whole different ball game travelling with children and I would consider this our first “real” time travelling with our kids. Even our journey to Cambridge was not too much of a challenge as we had someone to meet us at our destination and were able to settle into our house right away. It’s like doing anything for the first time. It can be uncomfortable and things take a little longer but I am hoping we will only get better at it and it will become more enjoyable. I have also vowed never to go to London on a Saturday EVER AGAIN! It was CRAZY busy. Busier than Vancouver, busier than Seattle, busier than New York. Wall to wall people everywhere.

As we emerged from Green Park crowds swarmed in front of Buckingham Palace. We had arrived just in time for the Changing of the Guard.

From there we went straight to a tour bus company. We thought this would be the best way to get a good overview of London and comfortable and entertaining for the kids. For the most part, we were right. We used the Big Bus Tour Company primarily because its first stop is right at Green Park Underground station which is where we got off (by educated guess). For £27 (kids under 5 were free) you got you a ticket to hop on and off at 30 stops around main London attractions and a free pass for a boat “cruise” on the River Thames and all the walking tours the company offers. On the red buses you also have a live tour guide (big deal to me: it always makes it fun and interesting). Our tour guide’s name was Benedict and I found it quite enjoyable, especially at the start of the tour when there was a crowd of girls at the back of the bus swooning over him and cheering him on.

Near Oxford Circus and the BBC buildings

The London Eye…no we didn’t go on it.

St. Paul’s Cathedral and Big Ben

The Parliament Buildings and fun with Photoshop filters

Tower of London and more fun with filters

The kids did absolutely fantastic. Jakob was THRILLED to see Big Ben as it is on the movie Cars 2 when Lightening McQueen races in London. We had also taken some books out of the Library on London so he enjoyed identifying everything we saw in the book. In fact he was quite upset with me today when I took it back.
For dinner it was Jakob’s choice and he chose Pizza. And while I am sure few of you will be travelling to London anytime soon with children (because only we are that crazy) I strongly recommend The Spaghetti House. It is family friendly, the service was excellent, the food was good, prices were reasonable and I am pretty sure there was no difference in the adult portion size and the children’s.

All in all, it was a great day but we were all thoroughly exhausted by the time we got home….except Ella who made friends with everyone in sight on the train and bus home.