We arrived in 2 short hours to London via the Southwest of Europe: RyanAir. Jamie did a case study on RyanAir while working on his Masters, I recall the day he came home and told me all about the terrible customer service but cheap, cheap tickets. I also recall thinking, and probably saying "We will never, ever fly RyanAir!!!"
Never say never, right??
Even RyanAir exceeded my expectations, there was no "standing room only" as I had imagined, both engines worked, the flight attendants were really nice... What was all the fuss about??
First London experiences: riding the Gatwick Express from the airport to the middle of London and then we piled all four of us and all of our luggage into their adorable black taxis and headed to our flat. It was late, so dinner was a must; a terribly expensive night out for burgers, about $65, but Mmmmmm, burgers!! and a huge variety of burgers, such a heavenly treat.
We had 4 more full days in London, so we tried to see and do as much as possible.
Our first day, Saturday April 16 - We took advantage of the easy mass transit, mostly the double decker buses, but also the Underground (subway system). We visited the Tower of London,
enjoyed the Crown Jewels more than one would think - they were actually quite unbelievable! Then we began our "Rick Steves" recommended "The City" walk: we checked out St. Paul's Cathedral in The City (downtown), worked our way toward Westminster and Central London stopping at a favorite restaurant of Charles Dickens': Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Tavern
which was rebuilt in 1667 after The Great Fire, but it has existed as Tavern since 1538. And of course, we indulged in a British favorite: Fish & Chips.
We stopped in for some tea in Twinings, a super cute, super narrow tea shop dating back to 1706. We had to experience Leicester Square and Covent Garden Market, landed ourselves in Soho where we stumbled upon more beautiful gardens - so many gorgeous, colorful flowers throughout London!!!
Like all trips, we had a bribe or two for Riann and Lincoln, and on this first full day in London, we walked down Regent Street and let them explore Hamley's toy store. Of all things they could have chosen, Riann picked a doll and Lincoln picked out a helicopter. They were happy, and that was all that mattered!
The new toys bought us a little more time, so we walked to Piccadilly Circus. Unfortunately there was a lot of construction going on and it wasn't really all that impressive to us.
After a quick rest at our flat, we boarded another double decker and headed to the Marble Arch, we saw the Horse Head where Riann and Linc took their turns standing in the nostril of the massive structure.
Day two, we took a ride on over to Paddington Station and took a train to Bath.
Bath was really pretty, very quaint, really cool and not very touristy, we loved it and we were so glad we decided to do a side day trip there! I would definitely recommend going to check out the Roman Baths, the Pump Room for a snack and tea, and The Royal Crescent. We also walked along the River Avon, saw a game of Cricket in full swing, and even peaked into the Bath Rugby stadium. Somehow the main memory Jamie holds of Bath is of a conversation he overheard in the park in front of the Royal Crescent: A man talking to his friend (?) (and you have to read it in your best British accent)
"Yea, that sandwich... It looks a bit mangey, but it tastes bloody good."
Something I did not expect to find in the London area: over crowded trains INTO London in the mid-afternoon. The train we boarded back to Paddington Station had no seats left, I'm not sure how they allowed us to board. So until the first stop, Jamie and I each kept one of the kids as close to us as possible. At the second stop, a woman removed her bags from the luggage rack that we were standing right next to. Instead of having any more near-misses of the kids getting bonked in their heads, we let them ride as luggage in the rack. A few minutes after finding their new "seats", one of the train stewards moved us up from luggage to First Class. Nice!
Day three, April 18th, we had to check off the major sights of London: Big Ben and Parliament, then Westminster Abbey. I will be a dork and gloat here: I was first in line at the Abbey!! The coolest part of waiting in line was speaking with an employee who was telling me about all the setting up for the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate which was taking place the following week. The Abbey had BBC workers walking in and out with tons of equipment, the Abbey employee was telling me they had been setting up for WEEKS already. The Abbey was also closed Thursday and Friday for the Queen to do an inspection for the nuptials... I was definitely starstruck!
Westminster Abbey is beyond impressive, it is so beautiful inside and out!
More sights to be seen!! We wandered over to the Wellington Barracks where we saw the changing of the guard - recommended by friends of ours, but also by RIck Steves for families with younger children. We were up front along the fence with a perfect view, meanwhile the massive crowds were over by Buckingham Palace, everyone trying desperately to catch a glimpse of the men in uniform. The Barracks holds a practice before the changing of the guard officially takes place, the Drum Majors played songs like "What a Wonderful World". These guards that leave Wellington Barracks are the guards that relieve the guards already at Buckingham Palace. It was really cool, and it totally entertained Riann and Lincoln!
After all that entertaining, we walked through beautiful St James Park, grabbed a bite to eat which we ate on the stairs of The National Gallery, then, thanks again to Rick Steves, made a sprint version of touring the Museum to see the tops in works of art. Riann and Linc aren't exactly museum-type kids just yet...
Day four, April 19th - We got out the door first thing and got ourselves to adorable, pristine Notting Hill... SO cute!!!
We were early, so early that the Portobello Market was hardly open, few vendors were set up and the only item I picked up was a dress that was "Made in Italy"... Well, I live in Italy and was visiting England, I can always find Made in Italy at home!!
A visit to The Natural History Museum proved to be an awesome adventure for Riann and Linc as much as for Jamie and me. Dinosaurs, the Marine Life Room, rocks and gems, birds, etc... We spent several hours there, but as we were getting ready to leave we noticed the line to get in to the start of the dinosaur exhibit - it was ridiculously long and we, the early birds that we are, had walked right in earlier that morning!
We ventured through Hyde Park arriving at Kensington Garden and Kensington Palace... impressive, even under refurbishment!! The gardens were amazing, gorgeous, and perfectly picturesque!
But the main reason we arrived at Kensington Palace: high noon tea at The Orangery!!! It was overpriced and a little fancy for jeans and a t-shirt but so worth the experience! Riann and I each had tea with a variety of "crumpettes", it was a fun made memory.
Lincoln had fallen asleep but woke up just in time to enjoy a few little crumpettes as well.
We walked over to the Princess Diana of Wales Memorial Playground - a wonderful, creative, fun-filled playground but we picked the wrong day to go, it was beyond packed, only later did we find out schools were out for a 2 or 3 week vacation. I would still recommend people to go check it out, just hope for a less crowded day.
And that leaves me with our last day in London...
We packed up and headed via another big red double-decker that took us to Harrods department store. Oh my, oh my!!! If I had a million or two dollars, I mean pounds, the damage I could do!! We had lunch at a little sandwich shop across the street from Harrods, then went back in to browse a few more, non-affordable but beautiful things in the store.
We hailed another black cab and arrived back at Victoria Station, where our London adventure started, to catch our train back to Gatwick and head on home. Lincoln was sad about leaving.
London exceeded all of my expectations! London is awesome, it is a perfectly huge, fun, vibrant, friendly city. It was truly a dream for me to book the tickets, do the planning, and finally, FINALLY get to London.
Now, if we can find a way to move there for a few years...
