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. 

Visiting the Tower of London

Day 2...Tower of London

Day 2

 Good Friday 

" Took the underground to collect our London Visitors Passes.

Then back on the tube to Tower of London. “

Well that was the plan. Sounds so simple really. We were running early for the advertised 10 am opening of the London Visitors Centre so decided to get off 1 tube stop earlier at Green Park and have a wander through the Park. We enjoyed the stroll and got to enjoy Buckingham Palace and her surrounds. The kids found the squirrels to be somewhat more exciting than the palace it seems , especially since , for the first time, they are each armed with cameras. Wow those squirrels can move.  We now have a great collection of around 400 blurry squirrel shots if anyone is interested in a viewing session LOL

We arrived at the visitors centre to find it had been open already for one hour and the queue to collect our passes  stretched from the top floor along the length of the building then down the stairs and almost to the street. Ouch!  In the end we got our passes and headed to the Tower only to be thwarted by the old and unreliable London Underground. We quite literally walked in circles. Got on at one stop , had to get off at the next stop due to line stoppages, followed the signs on foot and ended up right back where we started! In the end we cut our losses and jump in a cab.

The tower was very crowded and with our passes we managed to skip ahead of the ticket line. Woo Hoo…..The boys loved getting to watch an exhibition of medieval firepower  (a traction trebuchet) at work  (see as mother to 3 boys I know my medieval war machines by name!!)   before we joined a yeoman Warder for a tour of the grounds and an insight into its 900 year history. There was a special exhibit  in the White tower of Henry IIIV armour. A celebration of the fact that this year marks 500 years since Henry took the throne.  We visited the chapel (closed to the public by the way unless accompanied by a warder) and also finally late in the day the crown jewels. Light drizzling rain fell during the day on and off and the number of tourists was quite overwhelming. We caught a combination of overcrowded buses (lot of not so nice pushing and shoving) and tube train back to Earls Court where we got the kids subway before helping them into bed. Back to the guidebook to plan tomorrow. A less than perfect day! But hey, look for the good. Tomorrow is another day.