UK Day 1: Flew overnight to London. Most of us didn’t sleep a wink.

Day 2: Sleepy…arrived at hotel and slept for two hours then explored Oxford Circus area, Princess Diana playground, and part of Hyde Park. We ate butternut squash and goat cheese pie with Irish mash and onion gravy. Pretty good!

We love red double-decker buses! Much more civilized than regular buses. Nate said, “We can see the top of people’s heads…a rare event!”

London’s new nickname: The Land Where People Still Read Actual Newspapers!

Also, quite a fun city. Nice neighborhoods (of course, we are staying in a nice area so that helps…) and everyone is super friendly and not in an annoying way. Way more pleasant and helpful than New Yorkers and Parisians.

 

 

Day 3: I woke up at 2:30am and was wide awake until 5am Madeleine and I shared a bed…not going to again. Sleeping beside her is like sleeping with a species that requires movement to stay alive…jellyfish? She spreads out like a starfish, kicks me, slides her hand underneath my pillow and moves it around, and likes to stay on my side of the bed.

Jet lag has hit us pretty strong today, I was a little nauseated all morning, we walked much further than I had anticipated (7 miles), and the Tate was a huge letdown…one nightmare inducing “art” piece right after another. We all know they will come back to haunt us at some point while we sleep. The building was an old power station and they used that to their advantage. In some of the creepiest exhibits they even dropped the temp 10 degrees and dimmed the lighting just enough to put you in an uncomfortable state. Rob loved taking pictures in the creepy spaces because that he likes creep photos.

Here we are doing some stretches in one of the exhibits.

 

Big Ben is shrouded in scaffolding and the muggy crowds were not great. Other than those things, it was a great day!

The Borough Marketplace was good. British strawberries aren’t quite as good as French, but still about ten times better than American crunchy non-ripe, dyed-red versions.

 

We took a rest at the hotel, got pizza to go, and then played in the and chased pigeons. Next up, more sleep!

Day 4: Feeling pretty close to normal today. Yay! Went to Buckingham Palace and saw the tops of black fuzzy hats as they paraded past us at about 1,000 ft away. Loved seeing goslings and played at the park for a bit.

The funniest thing is despite their age our kids still love to hit a good park, see the wildlife, and play on the playgrounds. I’m always shocked at this and St. James Park was lovely.

Tried haddock fish and chips. I don’t like fish but a bite of this wasn’t bad at all. Even Madeleine offered to try it for the promise of her own Fanta.

Overall? We really liked London. Didn’t love the crowds and streets of never-ending shopping, but other than that it’s a cool cat of a town.