Tuesday, January 18, 2011

London after Christmas 2010

Since we opted to stay in England for our 'last' Christmas in England and because Kevin cannot stand to sit still for any length of time, we decided to spend 3 nights in London during the Christmas break. The weather was warmer than it had been before Christmas and all of the snow was clear, which was a really good thing considering how much walking you do in London. We stayed at a Hilton next to the Wimbley Stadium. We had a family room but that only included a double bed (smaller than a queen but bigger than a full bed) and a single bed. The first night I tried to sleep on the double bed with the two girls... nope didn't work, I ended up sleeping on the floor. The next two nights I made Kevin sleep on the double bed with the girls; now don't go feeling sorry for him because it has already been proven that he can sleep through an earth quake so sharing the bed with two wiggly girls was no problem for him.

We went with the girls to two shows: 'Go, Go, Go' (think Wiggles combined with High School Musical) and a pantomime of 'Snow White.' Both were pretty good, but we forgot to take any pictures.

One day we went to the History Museum. Now I am not a museum person, but the museums here in London are pretty cool. However, it is safe to say that Kevin enjoys them way more than me and the girls.


Sophie with 'Aslan'

Next day we rushed to Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guard. Now 18+ years ago when Kevin & I first visited London we thought this was one of the coolest things in the world. This time, it was pretty lame. We waited outside the palace, in the growing & quite rude crowd, for a 5 minute walk by ~ no line ups, no formations, nothing. We saw a better Changing of the Guard a few years back at Windsor Castle. Oh well, at least the girls can say they saw the event at both locations....
The Mounted Guard
The Band

We went to the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. Excellent family event, but very expensive - approximately £5 per person for a ride (£5 is around $7.50), so we let the girls pick two rides each and had a family ride on the Ferris Wheel.
Sophie is not too fond of Ferris Wheel's, but lucky for her we had brought Pink Baby along. It isn't quite as big as the London Eye, but it gave us a good view of what all was available for us in the park.
Next we visited the Talking Tree
Sophie enjoyed the swings (used to be my favorite until I started getting motion sickness from the round & round & round movement)
Brittney and I rode the roller coaster ~ way fun!
And for their final ride, Brittney and Sophie enjoyed the Haunted House. As they were entering, I told Brittney to watch after Sophie not scare her... that was a mistake because Brittney hadn't thought of it til I put the thought in her head; you should have seen the evil look that came over her face. But I am proud to report, she was a good girl & looked after her younger sister :-) (that's enough to make a mom proud)

After a two hour wait, we entered the London Aquarium for a fabulous experience. There is just something very calming about watching fish & being around water... Kevin & I found ourselves enjoying the peacefulness of it (sounds like we are getting old).


This is as close as I care to come to a shark. They were huge!
Sophie wanted this picture because it looks like 'Dum Dum' from Night at the Museum
stingray waving hello to us

The 'last' walk back to the tube for our 'good nights sleep' in our family room; it wasn't as late as it looks in the photos but we were well & truly tired after walking for miles & miles the last 3 days...
London Eye & House of Parliament with a few rain drops added
Brittney is either holding Parliament or squashing it ~ either way not a comforting thought
This is the same Pedestrian Walkway that is destroyed in the Harry Potter film

We visited Hamley's Toy Store, ate some great food, and made some wonderful memories. You know, sometimes I am very ashamed of us for not spending more time in London while living so close, but oh well, life is too short to fret over that...

2 comments:

Corrina Dea said...

Amazing pics of London...I love going there...one of my favorite places in the World!!!! Looks like you had a great time.

Scott and Jeanne said...

I absolutely loved the photo of the bridge and Big Ben. WOW! Look forward to more of your blogs! Maybe someday I will catch up my blog on the US side of things. It's a bit harder when the exotic is taken out though... Miss you guys!