London, 17 – 21/10/2013
Phew! It’s been a busy few days.
Landed at Gatwick Airport on the 17th and drove to our hotel in Docklands. Quick showers then drove into the West End for dinner and to see Les Miserables at the Queens Theatre, Shaftsbury Avenue. We had told the children the Victor Hugo story so they could follow the show. We thoroughly enjoyed it.
Charlotte, Emily and Oliver near Tower Bridge, the Tower of London is on the far bank of the Thames.
Friday 18th: Caught the train to Westminster to see Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. We went to the House of Commons and watched a debate on reforms to the House of Lords (gripping stuff!). Then it was off to the Jubilee Cafe for lunch. Just as we were entering we heard the Division Bell, Oliver thought it was the fire alarm (we all did actually but he was the only one to admit it).
The children at the foot of Nelson’s Column.
After lunch we rode on a double-decker bus (very excited children) to Trafalgar Square. We visited the National Gallery which was brilliant, there are so many famous artists exhibited – Emily was particularly interested in the paintings by Rembrandt, Oliver was fascinated by the battle scenes, and the painting by Cornelis van Haarlem of the two followers of Cadmus being devoured by a dragon. Lovely!
How does he do that?
OK we’ve done the culture, now for the important stuff – Hamleys! According to Oliver, Hamleys is the best toy shop in the world. Ever! “There was so much to see and not enough time!”
Drama at the Tower of London
On Saturday 19th we went to the Tower of London. It was very busy but we managed to see the Crown Jewels (“awesome!”) and the Bloody Tower (“gruesome!”).
Little girl in mid 17th century costime
But perhaps more interesting were the re-enactments by people wearing 17th century Royalist costumes.
Time travellers
Oliver and I had a nice chat to one of the soldiers who told us about some of the battle and showed us how his musket rifle worked – he even lit some gunpowder in the palm of his hand (we’re glad he had a glove on!).
Ollie wants the gun
We left after a few hours and walked across Tower Bridge to a marquee which was the centrepiece of a Ukrainian expo. Lots of music, dancing and… stock whip cracking! Ems and Ollie were so excited to have a go again, they hadn’t had a chance since El Questro in the Kimberley.
We had Afternoon Tea in the Hays Galleria Arcade then took the underground back to the hotel (we were bushed!).
Natural History Museum
On Sunday the 20th we went to the Natural History Museum (fantastic!) and Buckingham Palace (not so good… it was raining and the Queen had forgotten to inform the guards that we were expected for Tea). Hey ho, never mind. We strolled back across St James Park to the Ritz for Tea. OK it wasn’t the Ritz, it was the cafe across the road from the Ritz.
Did a little bit of shopping then returned to the hotel for dinner.