Day 3-London

Day 3

Early start St Pauls Cathedral- got the tube sussed along with the relevant closures and manage to negotiate around without incident- much less busy today in terms of tourists- yippee!!!

Next to the HMS Belfast , a frigate turned into a maritime museum. We spent quite some time wandering the "bowels" of this frigate which is permanently docked across from the Tower of London. The kids loved going down into the engine room but fancied themselves more as the Captain of the boat (ship???? ok, so I am NOT savvy with the correct terminology here, sorry). Apparently this frigate carried not only the captain of this boat but the Admiral of the Fleet during war time so there are two separate bridges- one for this boat and the other so as the fleet could be managed without interfering with the running of this vessel. All very interesting. 

Then on to the Britain at War Museum, gas masks, Winston Churchill and bomb shelters, rations etc. It was a great insight for the kids and sitting inside a mock backyard "blitz" shelter listening to the various sounds of different bombers and bombs exploding was quite frightening.  The kids played dress ups with various military uniforms and tried on a variety of gas masks. As you leave you have to "climb" out through  a section of the neighbourhood the morning after a bomb raid that is all ruined.

What can I say, but with 3 little boys, the wartime history is kind of a must. Next time we might round it out by doing the  Churchill museum and cabinet rooms. 

Maddie and I did Chiselhurst caves  a few years back during a visit to London and it has a fabulous recreation of the facility set up during the blitz to house thousands and thousands of Londoners every night during the blitz.  the tour is by kerosene lamp light and very informative.

Lunch at the Cornish Pasty shop at the tube then back to Green Park and wander through to the Royal Mews. Guided tour, was great, learnt all about the various carriages and even walked through the stables. We saw some of the horses although alot of them were with Lizzie at Windsor! The kids insisted we take photos of the stall nameplate which read "Jasper". That Queen has impeccable taste in names huh?

We make way back via Hyde Park corner to our apartment and have Chinese dinner  then make sure bags are packed and ready for our big tour start tomorrow. Need to get up at 4.45 am and leave for Trafalgar bus depot at 5.45 am

Note to self private car booking is better than taxi at costs and saved 2 whole hours by joining at the tour centre and not getting a hotel pickup.

Very sore feet but all in all a good day.  the kids were disappointed that we didn't get to the Museum of Natural History this visit. Last year we did it twice and it is a definite favourite and must for kids of all ages.