London day 2

The alarm wakes me 2 hrs later. I drag myself from the depths of a dream, my bones are heavy and I feel myself falling down into a deep sleep but somehow find the strength to jump in a cold shower. It’s too easy to keep sleeping, I rouse the other zombies. We head back out into the bright London sunshine to cure our jet lag. 

Its 5pm so we head down a block to the Thames and walk over the Southwark bridge to nosy around the Globe Theatre, then back across river on the famous Millennium Bridge which opened in 2000 only to close quickly due to a design flaw which caused the structure to wobble and sway under the weight of pedestrians. It reopened 2 years and millions of pounds later in 2002. We head up a wide pedestrian street with terraced steps, passed the monument of the 1666 fire, to St Paul’s Cathedral. We gaze around then decide to hop a tube to Hyde Park to check out the playground. 

We see the carousel ahead but follow google maps to find the playground, this has us do a huge loop of the playground only to end up back at the carousel where we find the entrance. Its gated with a security guy in a booth and positively huge, teeming with families so the girls can't find a spot to play on the pirate ship. We head deeper, along paths and around trees to find other areas to play. After half an hour the girls are a bit hot and bothered and not loving the crowd so we head to the gate for a whirl on the carousel. On our way several police officers arrive and a worried man is describing his child. Hardly surprising someone is lost in this oversized playground, there’s all manner of nook and cranny, plus a hundred bushes to hide in so your parents can’t tell you its time to leave.

The girls line up and are first for the next session, they pick a horse each and April holds on for dear life as the the carousel spins at a dizzying speed, carny music blaring. Police cars arrive and uniforms can be spotted combing the area for the little boy. It’s a busy place and a good reminder for the girls to stick close. As we turn to leave the park, an officer strides past and calls to the carousel attendant that the boy has been found, which is a relief.

We head to Ceru, in nearby South Kensington for dinner, we’ve just stumbled across it and lucky for me most of the menu can be made GF. We select several dishes and share between the four of us. This is a great way for the girls to eat good food as most restaurants have fried food for the kids. The lamb shoulder is delicious and looks pretty with its red gems of pomegranate dotted on top.

After an okay sleep we all slowly rise and get some admin done then we’re out the door to do a walking tour I’ve found. We skip a few stops to start on the bridge and I read from my phone as we make our way from point to point. We learn a lot and I would highly recommend a Frommers walking tour of London. We find the original site of the Globe Theatre and learn about the history of the southern side of the Thames which wasn’t originally part of London it was part of Surrey. We learn about the building of the bridges and how the bridge used to freeze over due to the wide footings of the original London Bridge. I could bore you with the details but I’ll restrain myself.

We’re approaching Tower Bridge when we find the railings filled with people looking out over the bridge, it seems something is happening. We follow the gaze of hundreds of people and out behind the huge warship moored along the bank appears a tall ship looking very much like an ancient pirate ship. The ship is the Gotheborg ( www.gotheborg.se ) here for several days from Sweden. The alarm sounds from the bridge, the traffic stops and the lower drawbridge slowly lifts. The tall ship nears the bridge and from this angle it looks like the towering masts will be a close fit under the upper span (check the photo on their page on the link and you'll see what I mean). That’s when we notice people way up standing on the yards with little flags. Once you’ve spotted one its easy to see the many others. It passes through with plenty of space and quickly the bridge is lowering and as we head up the stairs we hear the alarm sound once more, the lights go green and the traffic moves off across the bridge once more. April reminds us that on a Peppa Pig episode the Queen jumps the raising bridge, maybe she wasn't overly impressed with the tall ship.

We arrive at London Tower 5 minutes before our timed entry and as its early in the day and not yet busy we head straight for the Crown Jewels and pass by the huge ropes which later in the heat of the day we'll see filled with tourists waiting there turn, but now its empty. The girls admire the jewels and we each point out our favourite crown and we find the jewels made for King Charles II in 1661 after Oliver Cromwell destroyed the first lot, we know this and lots more history from listening to Homeschool History podcasts, they're great for young and old ( though I did do a quick fact check with someone who remembers all the details, thanks Alila).

As we head back around to the armoury we see the throne, yes Game of Throners, the one made from swords and there perched on it is Daenerys Targaryen. Or at least so it seems from this distance. I later learn that its a superfan and we are witnessing the photoshoot for the prequel being released shortly. Up in the tower we admire the armour for both man and beast, a museum of weaponry and other interesting things. Alila enjoys recognising some names from her research and the kids have fun with the interactive displays at the top, one had us working out the order in which to put on armour, if you got it wrong the virtual King growled at you.

Alila is off leading us through the next areas including the cells where they held the prisoners. We catch a short drama with the actors bellowing so loudly I find it hard to understand and one has a stuffed hand shape on a stick which is meant to be his head, odd. I've missed the point apparently but the gist is a beheading and the head supposedly buried under the tower. We walk the ramparts and skim through some displays on exotic animals gifted to the kings. It’s hot, we’re hungry, its gotten very busy so head past the loo (always use a loo when you see a decent one) to the exit. 

Its a lumpy path along the river and we head uphill to the tube to head across town. Ben has found a pub that does gluten free food but upon arrival we find that was several years ago and is no longer the case so I watch enviously as plates of food come out and disappear. One tube stop back to South Kensington we are on route to the Science Museum, I duck into Roll Baby to grab a Vietnamese rice paper roll. The Museums are busy as it summer holidays, but we’ve booked a timed ticket so there’s no delays. However we find that several of the displays, namely the interactive fun kids stuff, you need a ticket for and when we go to purchase these we find it's at least a 45 min wait. I look at my kids and I'm not sure they’ll be awake in 45 min so we wander the History of Time where Ben stretches his brain to understand how a watch can measure longitude. Then we admire the plane engines and aircraft including a cross section of an A380 with its two levels. We find a display about humans and spend way to long playing the interactive consoles there. One had us trying to remember the suspects faces with details such as distance between the eyes and nose shape, it was actually pretty tricky.

We head home exhausted and we realise its so late in the day that if we sleep we won’t be waking up till 2am so we decide everyone must stay awake, all those times I’ve tried to get the kids to sleep and then here I am growling at them if they put there head down. I ask Alila to pack her bag for the morning but minutes later I notice there’s been no movement and Alila is sprawled on the floor almost asleep. Ben arrives back with dinner, ten minutes later there's pizza crusts and two girls curled on the pullout sofa, sun streaming in but there sound asleep. I manage to eat my green curry and stay up ten more minutes then I too am a sleeping lump of late afternoon jet lag. 

Ps Here's a little rhyme from a guide we bumped into who was impressed with Alila's history knowledge, its about the wives of King Henry VIII and it goes: Divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived. Grim.

It's 4am and we’re Romeward bound.

If you need to go you need to go - the original long drop.

A better photo would show the two level of seating about this one.

See if you can spot the people standing on the yard, the horizontal part of the mast.