Both Veronica and I have been fortunate to spend considerable amounts of time in London during periods of our lives when it can be argued is the best time to be there. Far too high a percentage of our incomes were spent on having a good time and we both have amazing memories associated with it. There’s no way we can recreate those, nor would we want to now, but there were a couple of places where it would almost be sacrilege to not go and revisit with the kids.
One thing we didn’t necessarily want to revisit, but didn’t really have a choice, was London’s transport system. Although, that said, we didn’t experience any delays and by and large it was a reasonably positive experience except for the NZ$56 daily cost, of course (although kids did get to travel free with us).
Ready to get on the train with coffee and daily paper
The number of weirdos on the tube seems to have dissipated since we were here last. In fact, apart from some drugged up bloke on the tube with his pants around his knees, there were no other “interesting” commuters. Except the poor girl who we witnessed depositing her Friday night drinks/food on the doors of the tube just before exiting. In fairness to her, she did try to catch it in her hands, but that technique never really works. Our kids got to experience late Friday evening mayhem not necessarily by design but rather due to us spending a far too enjoyable evening out in Wandsworth Common with newly acquired friends we’d met in Aqaba earlier in our trip and us losing track of time somewhat. The way the wine was disappearing that night it wouldn’t have taken too many more before it was one of us trying to catch things in our hands at stupid o’clock.
What follows is a collection of shots, mostly taken in the drizzle of the sights that we whizzed through over day and half of looking through London’s central sights.
Buckingham Palace
The 25 metre tall Victoria Memorial
The Shard standing behind a war memorial
London Tower
Uncle Mark and the girls outside London Tower
Tower Bridge in the background
The Dickens Inn at Saint Katharine Docks
One thing London understands is the need for indoor activities due to its less than ideal weather. Hence, we ended up spending a fair amount of time inside the Natural History Museum and Science Museum, both of which were entirely free.
Natural History Museum
Dinosaur exhibit inside the Natural History Museum
Space man inside the Science Museum
The weather fared better on our second last day in London, when we trekked back into central London to have another look. This time we started at Piccadilly Circus, wandered down to Pall Mall and thence Trafalgar Square.
Trafalgar Square
Unfortunately Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and the Parliament Buildings had scaffolding up, so there weren’t any good photos to be had. A quick photo in front of the London Eye was then followed up by walking back up through St James Park to finish our London sightseeing back at Buckingham Palace again.
Squinting in the sun (for a change) in front of the London Eye
Buckingham Palace take 2
London done, next up we got to experience the amazing Harry Potter Studio Tour.