What an awesome week in England’s Capitol……

Having had half of my family from London, I can’t remember how many times I have been here. Spending most of my teenage summer holidays with my grandparents in Shepherd’s Bush I kind of feel a close connection with England’s famous capital, known as “London, England” to my American family.

My Father was born here and my Grandma opened her home as well as her heart to anyone that came to visit. Her and the family survived the bombings of WWII and never had a bad word to say about anyone.

I was therefore very excited to show the family around the city and had tried to jam pack our itinerary in, having no idea when we would back.

Yet again, the sun was shinning on us and after having just left a 40 degree C Paris, having a 27 degree C London was a blessing. We had booked our accommodation almost 12 months in advance and my goodness what a deal we got. For about 85 GBP a night we got a family room and a great breakfast for all of us included. We tried booking one extra night and it was nearly 300 GB pounds just for that night.

Well first up was the one thing that Lara had been waiting for the entire trip since leaving New Zealand, Harry Potter at Kings Cross Station and a chance to push the trolley through the wall at platform 9 3/4. The boys were so excited they wanted in on the action too.

The line was not long and the little attraction was free, of course the Harry Potter gift shop next to it was teaming with fans and doing a roaring trade. Lara still had one more thing to enjoy that had the HP label on it, the new two part play, a Christmas gift from her Nana Sindy.

Our hotel was convenient to the Tower of London and with the sun shining we took off to explore.

Taking the tube was easy, a seven day pass was inexpensive and the boys were free. We were at Parliament within the hour and off exploring the area around including St James’s park, Parliament, Big Ben, No 10, and of course Buckingham Palace.

Luck was upon us yet again as we walked back down Pall Mall towards the River Thames it was changing of the guard so we took a rest and watched the well performed routine that is now almost 360 years old.

We took in the guards of Downing Street and watched tourist trying to make the horseman’s guards laugh without any luck, we walked our way down to Parliament to see Big Ben, unfortunately one of the world’s most famous clocks was under restoration and covered in scaffolding, we saw Parliament, Traitors gate exit (the gate used to exit Parliament by boat and row prisoners of treason from Parliament down river to the Tower for a quick “off with their heads”). In those days you were a witch if you floated in water so if you were ever accused of anything you were really in the poo.

To end the day, we took our boat trip from parliament down to Tower Bridge to catch most of the big sights. Like Paris, it is an awesome way to see the city and very relaxing with commentary along the way.

The next day started with a short walk to our favorite coffee shop, we have been to a few around the world now and sat down sipping the famous brand with some pretty spectacular views, this one was right up there.

The next day was another walking and sightseeing tour day and with the weather being so hot we knew somewhere along the way there would be water to play in, the kids were not disappointed.

Right by the station seemed to be a hang out area for the locals, the boys equipped with just their underwear had a blast.

I wanted to show the girls what I considered to be the centre of London, Picadilly Square, take a walk up Regents Street and let the boys pop into Hamley’s, the world famous toy store, so off we went.

I was the Dad of the century with all three kids, they loved Hamley’s Toy store and even Lara couldn’t believe where she was, a whole floor of the store DEDICATED to Harry Potter.

We circled back to the tube and got the Kensington line to the natural history museum station. I had not been here for years and had memories of the great British movie “someone stole our dinosaur”. Such a beautiful building built in 1873 and houses some of the worlds best history.

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Of course the kids were only interested in the dinosaurs, until we entered the exhibition. With life size dinos roaring at you and shaking their heads, the boys thought they were real and our visit was cut short through fright.

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With a quick stop at the Science museum we trained and weaved our way back to one of my favorite spots in London, Covent Garden. With the sun’s heat dying down and the street entertainers in full force the boys loved watching them and thought paying these guys to perform was an awesome experience.

The next day the girls had an appointment with London’s theatre district and the Harry Potter play – The Cursed Child. It is a two part play, first one at about lunchtime for 3 hours with the second part at 7pm on the same day.

Thanks to Nan Sindy’s Christmas present and booking about a year in advance we were able to get seats for one of the days we were there, but even with so much time in advance we could not get two seats together. Did Lara care – not a chance. Kristi went along as the supporting parent and I was going to take the evening shift, but she had such a good time that who was I to deny her the rest of the play? Lara was in heaven.

Meanwhile the boys and I explored more of London in the theatre district, Leicester Square and Piccadilly, we had a blast.

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We finished up in one of the thousands of London’s awesome pubs for some fine pub food and kids meals and to watch USA take their second title in a row in the final of the women’s World Cup finals, well done girls and well deserved.

Just like in Freiburg, Germany, this weekend in London was Gay Pride, so we checked out the route of the parade and headed off for a spot to watch the many floats, laughter and music. We ended up at the end line of the route which was in Whitehall and gave us a great front row spot.

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The effort and fun put into the floats was awesome, everyone was having so much fun and were so great with the boys. They got flags, candies and plenty of musical entertainment and smiles. At least in London, unlike Germany the ladies kept their tops on!! : )

Even Lara was caught in the act – Hahah. We loved the displays, pride and freedom of the day.

We spent the last few days in London walking around in the beautiful weather enjoying whatever we came across. We found another water feature just by the London Eye. It was close to a bar where last time Kristi and I were here we had a drink and Kristi got hit on by London’s finest “blokes” while I went to the Gents. Of course she denies it, funny how we remember these moments, lucky for me she wasn’t taken by a cockney, haha.

We finished our last morning with a walk in beautiful Hyde Park, visiting Princess Diana’s playground where the boys were happy and on walking back we saw a guy feeding parrots, in Hyde Park!!

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He was very kind to us and allowed Kristi to hold out her hand and let the parrot land on her arm for a small prize. Apparently these birds, not native here, have people wondering how they got here. According to the man who seemed to be a copy of the pigeon woman from Mary Poppins told us it was Jimmy Hendrix releasing a male and female as part of a rock stunt, I was not convinced.

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Finally – after 9 months on the move around Asia & Europe and after 3 months traveling the U.S.A. we were homeward bound for our final 3 months in the U.S.A.

This was our final picture in London and man this brings back a flood of memories.

I told Kristi the other night on a date night that after she convinced me to quit two corporate jobs and take the kids traveling that I was so glad she tried and so glad I said, “OK let’s do it”. Other than marrying the love of my life the trip has changed my life in so many ways for the absolute better. The experience of this travel is the single most exciting and best thing I ever have done in my life.

So much so I owe this set of blogs a reflection post………coming soon.

For the gallery of London, click here