London Day Out

By Tuesday evening, our time in Somerset was drawing to a close. We packed our bags and said good-bye to Jenny, Euan and Olivia.

On Wednesday morning, we kissed Sue and Gord farewell, and Dean drove us up to London, to our hotel near Heathrow. We had a morning flight on Thursday, so it was going to be better to wake up nearby.

But, since we were all checked in by 1 p.m., and our girls are no longer toddlers, why not take them into the Big City and show them a few highlights?

First stop: the Hounslow West Underground Station. The girls were just a little bit excited for their first experience on the Tube. (Well, their first in their memory. Cora has, for the record, been to London once before, but she was a babe in arms.)

Thanks, Violet, for stealing yet another photo. It took about 40 minutes to get to our stop at Piccadilly Circus. Cora kept track of which stop we'd reached, and how many more we had to go, with the maps printed above the train car window.

And, we made it to London!

While I pose in Piccadilly Circus, Violet chases around the pigeons.

We got a bite to eat at a Tesco Express, a coffee for Mum, and walked down to Buckingham Palace. Cora, and Violet too, were very interested in seeing where the Queen lives.

On our walk, Cora wanted to know all about the statues honoring famous Brits that line part of the walk.

Since it was a Wednesday afternoon, it wasn't overly crowded.

 Nearby, we watched the soldiers drilling in front of Wellington Barracks while eating our lunch.

(Fellow fans of the BBC series Sherlock will recognize the bench we're on from Season Three, when Sherlock and Watson also watched the soldiers in the wedding episode.)

In nearby St. James Park, the girls ran around in a little playground. Buckingham Palace was just behind the girls' heads.

I found it all a bit surreal - my babies are old enough to "get" the excitement and importance of these historic sites, but still young enough to play. Magical.

A friendly constable on horseback stopped to chat with us, and let us pet her horse. She mentioned that the heavy police presence we'd noticed was because of a terror attack in Paris that day.

We fed our crumbs to the various waterfowl.

We continued around the corner and came upon Westminster Abbey.

And just beyond was the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. Both girls were happy to see the famed clocktower and hear its bell.

Back on the Tube, we headed toward another must-see on our London list.

Of course, we're talking about the Tower of London, which has stood guard on the River Thames for over a thousand years.

Nice photo, Cora!

And, a bit more ooohing and aahhing as we saw Tower Bridge, sparkling against the dark cloudy evening.

We ate dinner at a new Japanese restaurant across the street from the Tower, and then, in a steady drizzle, caught the Tube back to the hotel.

A bus picked us up outside the Tube station and dropped us off right outside the hotel - it couldn't have been easier.

Thanks, London, for an amazing day! We all look forward to visiting again soon.