Road Trip #1- London

"Madeline, Madeline, where have you been?"
"I've been to London to see the Queen!"
-from "Madeline in London"

Well, the Strykers have survived our first official road trip. Tim and Maddie had 2 1/2 weeks off of school for an Easter holiday, so we thought it would be a good idea to explore London for a few days. We drove down last Saturday (about a 4 hour drive, not including stops), and we returned on Tuesday.

We found a Holiday Inn Express to stay in in the Docklands area of London. It wasn't the nicest of areas, but the hotel was great, and we only had a 5 minute walk to the Tube station (the Tube is their subway system, also known as the Underground). We used the Underground to find our way around the city the whole time we were there. Besides being overcharged one day, we found that it was a great system... clean and reliable. The kids had a blast riding on the subways, too!


When we first go to our hotel, we settled into our hotel room for a few minutes, and then headed to London. Our first stop was Leicester Square and London's Transport Museum. This museum basically followed the history of transportation for London since the 1800s. It included information and models of the first double-decker omnibus (powered by horses) up to the present-day double-decker bus. They showed how they dug the tunnels for London's Undergound, and how much it has improved and expanded over time. We all loved it. There were a lot of interactive displays for the kids, and Ethan and I actually got to read some of the information, which is always nice.



We started off our next day, Sunday, by heading to Buckingham Palace because I had read that the Changing of the Guard was taking place at 11:30. We followed the crowds and found a spot by the road to watch the guard band and guards marching towards the palace. We watched them go into the gate, and then we couldn't see much for a while (all the while, I couldn't help but hum the "Oh-We-Oh" song from the Wizard of Oz). We could hear the band playing, but all we could see was the top of the tall, fuzzy hats going back and forth. About 45 minutes later, the band and other guards marched out, and that was that. It was pretty cool. Buckingham Palace is located adjacent to St. James Park. We took a stroll through there, and headed back to the Tube.

Our next stop was the museum of Natural History. It was HUGE!! We were able to see a few of the exhibits, including the dinosaur, ecology, bugs, and bird exhibits. It was a great museum, and the best part was that it was free!
After the museum, we were tired. We thought we would head over to Piccadilly Circus, and try to get on one of those double-decker London sightseeing tours. We took the tube over, and enjoyed a nice stroll around Piccadilly Circus. It reminded us of Times Square in NYC. We found a bus tour, but decided not to do it after finding out the price (19 pounds per adult = $38 each). We opted for some ice-cream instead.

We kept walking, and before we knew it, we had reached Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery. We spent some time at the monument at Trafalgar Square, during which the kids had a blast chasing and scaring away some poor pigeons.

We then headed into the Gallery (also free), and spent an hour in the impressionist wing, enjoying seeing works of art by Van Gogh, Monet, and the like. Maddie fell asleep in her stroller, and Tim walked around with his hands folded behind his back like he'd done this a thousand times... it made for a nice experience.

We were able to find a pub for dinner that night. Ethan was happy to try a new hand-pulled beer called "London Pride" to have with his Bangers & Mash, and I was pleased to try a very British-sounding (and very yummy) dessert called Toffee Pudding (a warm sponge cake dripping with toffee sauce, and served with vanilla ice cream).

We started off of next and final day of London by heading to Westminster. When we stepped out of the tube station, we were greeted by Big Ben. The kids loved hearing "him" chime! We walked around taking pictures of Big Ben and Parliament, and then crossed the street to Westminster Abbey. We decided to pay the admission fee (10 pounds per adult), and we did an audio tour of the Abbey. It was really incredible! Westminster Abbey was originally built in 1050, and is the place that just about every British king and queen has been crowned, including Queen Elizabeth. It is also where many royal funerals take place, including Princess Diana's. There are tombs everywhere! Kings, queens, authors (including Charles Dickens, Lewis Carrol, Jane Austin), scientists (including Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin), generals, politicians, etc. I found it hard to believe that I was observing such a sacred place, walking on tombs, seeing the coronation chair that kings and queens have sat to receive their crown. It was a really neat experience.

After the Abbey, we decided to walk over the river Thames towards the London Eye. The London Eye is basically a HUGE ferris wheel that overlooks the whole city. We had heard that there were usually long queues (long lines), and that it was expensive. Well, the expensive part was right, but the line was short. We decided to go for it!

The London Eye was an incredible experience. It really was an amazing view of the entire city, The ride took about a half hour... that should give you some feel for how big it really is.

From there, we took the tube to the London Bridge. Did anybody know that London Bridge isn't the fancy one you see in the pictures? We didn't know that either. We started to cross the bridge, saying to ourselves, "This isn't it!," only to look down the river and see the Tower Bridge. Well, at least we were able to get good pictures from there.

We decided to walk for a little while, and we headed to the most famous dome in London... St. Paul's Cathedral. We weren't about to pay more admission for anything that day, so we just sat on a bench for a while, and enjoyed the scenery. We eventually walked to the front steps, where again, my kids had a blast annoying the pigeons. I tried to remind them of Mary Poppins, how the lady sat on the steps of St. Paul's, saying "Feed the birds... toppins a bag" to get them to be nice.... it didn't work.

From St. Paul's we walked a short distance to the river, and walked across the Millenium Bridge which took us to the Tate Modern, a (free!) modern art gallery. It wasn't our favorite. I guess neither of us prefer nor understand modern art that much (especially when Maddie could replicate a lot of these pieces). I enjoyed seeing a few Jackson Pollack pieces, but that was about it.

So, that was our trip. Overall, it was wonderful. We had a very full time, and got to see a lot of the major sights. The hardest part about it all was the expense. We tried to do a lot of things that were free, like the museums and galleries, but we had to eat! Thankfully, breakfast was included with our hotel, and I brought snacks to hold us over. Next time though, PB&J for lunch everyday!