London: Part 3

Our adventure in London continues.

On Thursday our outing was to the Tower of London.  We spent a while waiting in the Baker Street station because the line we needed, the Circle Line, was having issues.  Fortunately, we were not in a big hurry and I kind of like that particular station.

Classic bossy big sister moment.  I'm sure Ashlynn was telling Carter that what he was doing wasn't safe (in her eyes) and why.

We ate lunch near the Tower (this has been a pattern in our trip: late start, arrive at location in time for lunch, explore in the afternoon).  I was proud of the kids for eating "real" sandwiches with ingredients like avocado, brie and cranberries.

 To the Tower!

 Arrow loops

 On our Beefeater tour

Eric's shot:

 The bridge from the tower

 Old and new

 In White Tower (Ashlynn was very excited to visit one of William the Conquerer's castles)

 The loo  (The kids thought it was a terrible idea for a toilet)

 Wonder how many AR points that book would be worth!

 

Enjoying one of the best modern castle features: FANS!  It was a HOT day!

Before our trip, we saw a show about traveling in London with your kids and Carter saw the boys climb the spiral stairs at the Tower of London, so he was super excited to do it too!

 A tempting gift shop purchase

 Treasures from the gift shop!

 Not our best selfie

 The bridge from the tower wall

After we had done a good job at the Tower of London, the kids went back to the house with the grandparents, and Eric and I went out on our own.  We headed over to Parliament and managed to catch the end of the day's session for the House of Commons.  It was quite a process getting into the building (I will spare you a description, but security was tight!).

Here's what the room looks like empty (photo not mine):

When we were in the room (looking down from the upper gallery) there were maybe 10 people down on this floor area.  We saw debate/ discussion on autism support programs and mental health considerations for people in jail.  It was kind of interesting, although it was a little disappointing that there were so few MPs around.  Why do they speak when there are so few people there to listen?

The building really is beautiful.

The view at the exit

We grabbed drinks at the Red Lion, which is on Whitehall, followed by dinner on our own.

My dad arrived from Zimbabwe on Friday.  Our outing of the day was a boat cruise to Greenwich, which, I believe, was a first time activity for everyone in our group of seven.

 It was hot and sunny, and it did not take long for some of our group to go to the lower deck for the cruise (my parents and I stay up on top for the whole ride).

A cruise down the Themes is not as picturesque as the Seine, but it still has a lot to offer.  Sorry, but I can't recall the order of some of these sites, so they might not be quite right.

 In Greenwich

 Lunch in Greenwich market

Eric and our dads got the "soup of the day"

 Eating ice cream on a hot day while walking: a tricky thing for kids (and adults)

 We walked up the hill in Greenwich Park to the Observatory.  It was going to close within about 45 minutes of our arrival, so we opted for the poor man's photo spot of us standing on the Prime Meridian.

The observatory

 GMT (Notice the clock is a 24 hour clock)

 The view from the observatory

 We walked down the hill to the National Maritime Museum.  We were disappointed that we had to zip through it, since we arrived so late in the day, but we liked what we saw.

 Cutty Sark

 At that point in the afternoon, the kids and the grandparents took the DLR and the Tube back to our "house". Eric and I took the boat and a bus to get to a London Walks walking tour that Eric's been wanting to do, a pub walk (not a pub crawl).

 We hit major traffic while on the bus and barely made it to the meeting point for the walk, but we made it!

 There was quite a lot of London history shared along the way, which was really cool.

 Our first pub was the "pub with a view", the Founders Arms.  Oh my gosh, there are soooo many (mostly young) people who stand around with a glass of beer or wine and talking.  The warm weather helped bring out even more people ... but it was amazing how there were 30-200 people out in front of every pub we passed (and there are a lot of pubs in London).

 We walked past many neat sites

 The second pub was known for its beer, The Market Porter, at Borough Market

 We shared a sausage sandwich from the place next door, The Post Banger Boys, which is one of those beat up looking places that has great food.

 Along the way

Bridget Jones's place in the movie

The final pub, The George, is a former coach house.  It was where people would leave their coaches when they traveled from the south side of the river into the City of London, back when you could only cross the Themes by a very narrow way on the London Bridge or by those little row boats.

 Yep, more cool but exhausting days!