London, England with Kids - Day 4
Day 4 Itinerary in London, England with three children visiting Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, the Thames, The London Eye, Buckingham Palace, and Trafalgar Square as an American family.
Falling asleep at 3:00 am is not a wise thing to do whilst on vacation. It only increases your jet-lag-ed-ness (and yes, I do believe I just made that word up). The kiddos woke up a bit later than everyone else, but not too much later thanks to someone beating on our door and requesting to come in and "see" if everything was okay inside the apartment. My husband was pissed to say the least. I was absolutely gobsmacked that they would do that. My husband sent them away, but I made him go get the man and have him come back while we were still in the apartment. I didn't think anyone needed to be in and about the apartment while we were there let alone while we were not there. He walked into the children's rooms, even though I told him they were sleeping and opened the blinds. I don't know what the heck he was looking for. It was simply absurd! He said he would return later in the day to place some signs up, it was just so very strange and invasive. We were staying at the Regents Park Residence Apartments and I really would not recommend this location ever due to this invasive-ness. Someone actually came in another time as well, left their drink and I really think they were trying to log onto our computer.
Everyone was still trying very hard to adjust to the time zone change and sleep is what was needed. We got up and out and the day was actually a bit nicer, weather wise. We stopped off for a bit of breakfast / lunch at Pret A Manger and ate in the center of the area where we were staying.
Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Thames, and The London Eye
We hopped on the tube and headed for Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Thames, and The London Eye. We walked the area by the London Eye and enjoyed waffles and chocolate-covered strawberries and marshmallows and took loads of photos. We were hanging around this area for a bit in order to hear Big Ben's sonorous toll since it only does so once an hour. We were there for over an hour and heard the House of Parliament's bells which rings every 15 minutes.
Street Vendors in London
The kiddos loved the street vendors. They were pretty entertaining and free always is nice in London. I had no desire to take a round trip in the London Eye 443 feet in the air and my husband was the only one who wanted to venture up there, but he didn't want to go by himself.
Westminster Abbey
Sincesome of England's best known building happen to be clustered in this one particular corner in London, we next headed down the street to Westminster. Westminster Abbey is perched on the north bank of the Thames and bounded by Hyde Park to the west and Regent Street to the east. Simply just stand in the Parliament Square to see the twin pillars of the Westminster Abbey. It is breathtakingly beautiful. This is where kings and queens were crowned. This glorious building sums up all the pageantry of English history! The only part of Westminster Abbey the children were interested in was seeing Elizabeth I tomb, so we decided to forego a visit inside and keep going on for the day.
Churchill War Rooms
Across the street from the square you will be near the Churchill War Rooms, which we did not go explore as the kiddos were not the least bit interested. They were overjoyed to see a statue of Abraham Lincoln though! We decided to then head to the Queen's home and the sun started to shine on us. Buckingham Palace was not open for any tours while we were there, but it was a nice look and see for the kiddos. We sat around outdoors for a bit and soaked up the sun at the Victoria Memorial.
Buckingham Palace
After the children had rested for a bit, we headed through Green Park, walked under the Wellington Arch and walked through to Hyde Park. We were not prepared for how large the park was and had taken the advise of a friend to locate the Princess Diana Memorial Playground, but we were unable to find it. The children were exhausted from all the walking as we literally had walked the whole of Hyde Park that afternoon. I was so proud of them for their little legs and not complaining!
We quickly took a peek in Harrod's and I really {really} wanted to go shopping, but my family was having no part of it at all. We hopped back on the tube and headed back to Trafalgar Square to get some photos of the children sitting atop the HUGE lion. Then search for some dinner.
Trafalgar Square
I climbed up the ledge to assist my children in clambering up this massive lion and handed my husband my camera and simply said, "it's all set for you - it is on auto - just point and click". I was so disappointed in his photo taking attempts! He is simply awful. I was having a heart attack for my daughters up on this lion, fearing that my little one was going to slide off and smash her skull in the square, just not a good moment.
My daughter had collected a couple of sticks while walking through Green Park earlier in the day and had been carrying them about the rest of the day. I made her set them down at the bottom of the ledge so she could climb up on the lion for photos. As soon as we jumped down from the ledge, she noticed that her sticks and rocks were missing. She freaked out. She blamed my son that he had thrown her stick away and she simply could not be consoled. She and I then walked the whole of Trafalgar Square scouring the ground for her rocks and stick (only one was missing). I was heartbroken for her, but we could not locate this damn stick. My son came running up to her and saved the night. He found the stick. We surmised that some other child must had pilfered it and walked off with it and tossed it aside when they were done. I can say that stick made it all the way back to the states with my daughter! OY!
No one in my family could agree on one single restaurant, everyone wanted something different for dinner. We made a decision and went for a quick dinner and then back to the apartment as the little one was showing signs of the flu returning after such a great day for her. Oh my, she was up all night again, I gave her some more of the medicine that we had been advised to give her, but she still had a rough patch that night.