Lonely Caterpillar
 

London 2016 Part 2

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On our second Day in London, we had breakfast in our Travelodge hotel.

I felt breakfast was great value for money, with a choice of hot breakfast, cereals, fruit, pastries and yogurt. Megan was especially happy as she could have her all time favourite breakfast, beans on toast!! The tea and coffee was good and there was a good selection of juice for the kids. The staff again where very friendly and helpful.

We headed off after breakfast to the Natural History Museum which involved getting one DLR and one Tube, it took us around half n hour. We headed out of the tube and the museum was right in front of us, (its a bit of a walk inside the station to the exit). As I was using my walking stick we where told to head straight inside and skip the queue. I assume if you show some form of disability evidence that you can do the same. However baring in mind it was August and peak summer holiday time the queue was not terribly long and was the same length when we left around three hours later. When we visited the Museum three years ago you could hire a little explorers pack and go and find specific animals and follow clues to find facts, however they no longer do these. We headed to the parts of the museum that we had not seen on our last trip due to them being refurbished. Megan loved reading the facts about volcanos and Elijah loved the Dinosaur section. Ben and the kids also headed to the earthquake room which lets you experience what an earth quake feels like. Megan thought it was great fun but Elijah got quite scared.

 

Although we thoroughly enjoyed the museum, some parts do feel quite tired and it was extremely busy and there are an awful lot of gift shops popping up everywhere in the museum instead of just the one of the way out. There where also a few more cafes and it felt like a hard sell for a donation on the way in, where as without being pushed I am always more than happy to give a donation on the way out. I understand that because entry is free that they need to make money from somewhere but it felt a little bit too commercial and pushy.

After we finished at the museum we headed over towards charring cross where we grabbed a quick McDonalds which is Elijahs favourate and then headed on to Covent Garden to watch some street performers. Both the kids loved this we settled down to watch with some cookies from Primrose Bakery and really enjoyed joining in with the fun and laughter. We then headed on to find some more dream jars and had a great time, again walking further than the kids realised but they where totally engrossed in finding the Jars.

Once we finished our Dream Jar trail, we headed to the Disney Store in Oxford street where Megan spent the rest of her holiday money, and then some!! We also met a cast member from the Disney Page I am a member of on Facebook, which is always fun to find another Disney fan. www.facebook.com/groups/Thedisneyvillage

 

For Dinner we went to La Tasca just off Oxford street where the food, as always was amazing and the staff where efficient and friendly. We also got 20% off using the La Tasca card. What pleased me most about this was that Eli tried paella, he hated it but he tried it!!

By this stage we where totally exhausted so we headed back to the hotel, stopping off at Bens cookies for some snacks for the hotel. We got back to the Hotel around 8 with everyone aprat from me fast asleep by 10 after all the walking.

The next day we had lots planned, we had breakfast and checked out of the hotel. We then headed to charring cross where we used the luggage store which is £12.50 per bag for the day. We also made use of this in June as many of the budget hotels in London to not have facilities to store your bag.

At Charring Cross we met Bens mum Caroline, the kids haven’t seen her yet his year due to work and family commitments and this was a truly perfect reunion.

We headed on a slow walk to the Imperial War Museum. It is just over a mile to walk but on the way the kids got to see Big Ben and the London Eye from the bridge. It did feel like quite a walk but the closest tube station is currently closed for refurbishment. Thankfully it was sunny and enjoyable.

The Imperial war museum did not disappoint from the second you walk in it is almost overwhelming with a spitfire hanging from the ceiling. The staff where very friendly at the door and there are lockers to store your bags and coats etc which we found very handy. We headed to the café for a quick coffee and juice before heading to the first floor to learn all about the first world war. Megan loved reading all the facts and Elijah loved there there where lots of interactive parts to the exhibits and also videos to watch. Ben was engrossed from the beginning and we all took our time walking around taking in the horrors that so many had to face and all the interesting facts on the equipment and uniforms used and even learning about the tensions that lead to war in the first place. Towards the end of this floor there is an area where you can try on the uniforms and then walk through a trench which helped to make it all very real.

We then headed to have lunch. This is by far the best restaurant I have ever seen in a museum, they cook the food fresh in front of you and the portions are very generous, we all had a great feed and even the kids ate up every last bite. After that we headed to the WW2 exhibit and my favourite part was the family a war section where there is a case study of an actual family where you are able to read about the impact of war on each of the family and see where they lived and what happened to each of them. It made it all much more personal.

After that, we headed to the section with all the vehicles and Ben headed to the holocaust section, you need to be 14 to go to this section so we kept the kids in another section and when Ben came away from it an hour later he was extremely upset but glad he went.

We then took a walk back towards charring cross, stopping for a go on a merry go round near the London Eye. We had a bit of time before we needed to get our train so we stopped off at Five Guys for some of their amazing milkshakes.

Then we headed for the Gatwick express. Caroline told the kids she was enjoying her time with them so much that she would get the train with us. Then once we got to the airport Caroline sat the kids down and told them she had something to tell them, she was coming back with us!!!! The kids where so happy and excited!! The Holiday wasn’t over at all there was lots of fun to be had once we got home!!! which you can watch on my You Tube channel here … https://youtu.be/KdZWTOCMg9o