I'll be the first to admit that as the week went on, I took fewer and fewer pictures. I spent more time just enjoying the scenery and hanging with the boys. But, I still managed to snap a few!
Tuesday was a doubleheader at the theater, but we still managed to get to Buckingham Palace that morning. Blaine wanted to see the changing of the guards - and the official ceremony is only done a few times per week during the winter. While we arrived about 1 1/2 hours before the ceremony, we were still surrounded by throngs of people. We managed to find a spot where we could at least watch the parade and see the guards as they marched in and out. We spent the morning laughing at Caleb as he tried to photobomb Japanese and Chinese tourists who were taking selfies. I found myself aggressively elbowing a contingent of Chinese girls who were trying to squeeze Grayson out of his spot for the parade. And, we all laughed with a group of German tourists that we had given up a few hours of our life to watch this spectacle.
We grabbed lunch at Jamie Oliver's Diner (Which I will recommend you NEVER do! The food was horrible and the restaurant is completely rundown!) and then we were off to the Lion King.
The Lion King, well, in a word, SPECTACULAR! Costumes - fantastic! Singing - amazing! Grayson spent the next 2 days sing Hakuna Matata! It was great! I do believe that both kids chose this as their very favorite show!
Armed with slushies they're ready for the Lion King!
Before our next show we did a little shopping in Covent Garden and then grabbed a delicious dinner at Wahaca - a fabulous Mexican restaurant! (It totally made up for the below average lunch!)
Our second show of the day was "A Christmas Carol" starring Jim Broadbent. I know, you're trying to place the face and name...well, I just recently rewatched "Bridget Jones' Diary" and he plays Bridget's dad. All week I had been praying that there would not be an understudy - and there wasn't!
This was a great performance in all respects, but I especially loved the tongue-in-cheek humor and the simplicity of the whole show. Just 7 actors and4 simple wooden sets. Absolutely nothing fancy as we had seen at the other shows. We explained to the kids that this was "old school" theater and while it didn't have all the razzle dazzle of other shows, it was just plain fun! Lots of humor injected into this show and the kids loved the little puppet that played Tiny Tim and laughed each time that Scrooge yelled, "Cratchett!"
And that concluded Tuesday!
Wednesday morning was our East End Food Tour. We had been staying in London's West End, so I was excited to explore the East End - and what better way to do it than with a food tour. We grabbed some coffee and we were out of the hotel by 9 so that we could make our way via the Tube.
Hannah was a our guide. And, we our tour had a total of 12 people - including 2 other boys - which made it great for our kids. It didn't hurt that Hannah was like the kid magnet, too! The kids just seemed to stay with her the entire time!
Our tour started with a double stop at The English Restaurant. Here we had bacon sandwiches and bread pudding. Yup, pretty much the perfect breakfast!
Then we were off to The House of Androuet where we sampled English Cheddar and Stilton. Yummy!
As we made our way to each restaurant, Hannah explained a little bit of the history of the East End and pointed out some of the landmarks. It's a place rich in history and has seen significant ethnic and cultural changes - really making it the area it is today.
Fish and chips were up next. We stopped at the famous "Poppies Fish and Chips" which I had read about prior to coming to London. And, without any prompting, they had prepared Grayson a special fish and chips cooked in vegetable oil (not peanut oil due to his allergy)! Needless to say, he cleaned his plate - or most of his plate! The mushy peas were left behind!
A pub was the next stop! This is where we met "Lenny the Pub Cat" (you can follow him on Twitter) and had a few beverages. Some hard cider and a traditional English stout. The kids were treated to a non-alcoholic drink comprised of orange juice and lemonade and soda water which was based on an English children's song. But, they were most happy to spend time with the cat.
Curry is the number one takeaway food in London and so we were off to Brick Lane, also knows as Curry Mile for a little taste. While my kids are not curry fans, they gobbled down some naan quite handily and Blaine and I enjoyed sampling the three different curries served.
The East End is also home to tons of hipsters and loads of street art. We saw several tours that were just exploring the street art throughout the area. We saw art by Banksy and Shepard Fairey, along with a ton of stuff by lesser known people. The kids loved the graffiti - and saw several guys working on their projects as we walked.
Beigel Bake was next where we ate bagels with salt beef and hot English mustard on a soft bagel. Yummy! The place was packed and the portions were generous.
Enjoying his bagel!
Caleb decided to play photographer!
And then we hit our final spot for some English tea and a salted caramel tart. It was the perfect ending to the 4 hour tour.
I can't say enough good things about this tour. We all enjoyed it! The food was delicious and it brought us to an area of London we probably would not have explored on our own!
After such a great tour, we had to make a quick run back to Androuet to buy cheese! Lots of great Stilton and Cheddar (along with some French goat cheese) were vacuum packed for us to bring back to Poland. (Little did I know until we walked through security at Warsaw that you can't bring cheese back! Oh, well...we just kept walking and our cheese is now safely put away in our frig!)
After the tour we continued our sightseeing!
Just a fun panoramic shot!
And then it was up in the London Eye! Fast track tickets are the way to go! The queue was minimal with these tickets and we were up for our 30 minute rotation in no time!
We talked with a group of Michigan students doing a two week intensive marketing course in London. We were able to share our mutual dislike of Ohio State!
After the Eye, it was time for the kids' last request - The Hard Rock London. Now, I'll admit I'm a Hard Rock fan, but when you're told there's a 90 minute - 2 hour wait, well, I'm less of a fan. But, the kids wanted to wait it out - so we did! I have to say the London Hard Rock probably had the best Hard Rock food we've had...and of course, we had to purchase our bottle opener as we've been collecting those on our travels!
Happy kids who said it was worth the wait!
I was happy to get back to the hotel around 10 that evening as that seemed early! Since our arrival we had left the hotel by 9 a.m. most morning and returned between 10:30 - 11 most evenings.
Thursday was our last day in London! And this was an easy breezy day! We slept in. Blaine and I grabbed coffee and hit a local grocery store to pick up a few things we can't get in Poland (Nature Valley Granola Bars, Rice Krispy Treats, a couple of boxes of cereal, English muffins, cinnamon raisin bagels). We had decided that we would have a relaxing New Year's Eve at the hotel with pizza and movies - so we picked up cupcakes from Lola's while we were out, too.
We went and had lunch before our final show - Elf The Musical. What a fun show! While it varied slightly from the movie - it kept most of the great lines! And the kids and I could not stop ourselves from saying them aloud! We had a couple of old biddies behind us who did nothing but criticize the show, but I loved it! And, I loved that the entire cast sang Auld Lang Syne at the end of the curtain call. Awesome!
And that really concludes London for us! We had a great NYE at the hotel just relaxing! We grabbed the Tube to Heathrow the next morning and besides the very drunk father-son duo on the Tube, the ride was totally uneventful!
I told Blaine that if Cargill ever wants to transfer us to London - no need to call me! I'm in!
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