Exploring the Main London Sights and Unexpected/Purposelful Encounters with Friends

The first two days re-visiting a city like London with your kids makes it feel like the first time again. We're so fortunate to be able to share this with them and to be the ones that get to witness their first-ever reactions. What is even better though, is when this is coupled with the accidental-on-purpose meet-up with friends.

Day 1

So there's my friend M. She's given me permission to share pics of her and her awesome family. M and I go back to when we were 15 years old, so really only a few years ago, har har. We've been living on opposite sides of the country for years now. However, the few times we're with M and her husband, the dry humour and dad jokes flow freely. I'm not saying we're the funny ones, she and her husband are. Witty adult humour aside, each couple also has two kids, which are about the same age, and they get along! Really well! In our brief visitations, our families click easily like pieces from a LEGO set. Maybe M has a different opinion but I've turned off commenting on these posts so she can't contradict me.

Anyway, a couple of months ago, M and I were texting and found out we were going to be in London with our witty families around the same time and would overlap by one day - their last day and our first one. Plans were made, London Passes were purchased and we pulled off the once-in-a-lifetime accidental London meet-up. We spent 9 hours and 18,000 steps together doing multiple activities and seeing several sights. Here they are:

The Uber Boat

It's what it sounds like, but I'd like to think the Uber Boat fancy because it goes along the Thames river and you can't do that in Canada. We took it from Westminster to Greenwich to visit the Prime Meridian and the Cutty Sark. The Prime Meridian is an imaginary but very consequential line since it's where time "begins" at 0 degrees longitude. We were super original, just like all the hundreds of thousands of tourists before us and straddled the line, meaning we were TIME TRAVELLING like Starfleet cadets but without the wormhole. Amazing. Our 4 cool kids were good sports and squat-posed in the way I demanded for the sake of a decent picture. This was just the beginning of my artistic photographic demands, and they complied. As for the Cutty Sark, oops, we missed it. Kids had food requirements because they're growing, and we didn't think to see when admission to the Cutty Sark closed. That's ok, the food, beer and cider were good, go with the flow.

Walking Around

It's what it sounds like, but I'd like to think it's fancy because we're walking in London. We walked by Westminster Abbey and took some photos of the Tower of London.

The London Eye

As M's kid said, we went at the golden hour. This was on purpose so we could see the sunset over London from the Eye, and it was worth it. At this time of year, that meant booking an Eye time of 7:30 pm. The light was perfect, the mood was relaxed and the view was, of course, stunning. After the London Eye, our families had a late evening bite to eat and then we said our goodbyes. It was a perfect way to start our 2 month adventure.

Day 2

We slept in. It was absolutely impossible to wake up at normal person time. The alarm apparently went off at 9:30 am, but it was irrelevant because we didn't get up until 11:00 am, good grief. Jetlag: 1, Us: 0. Instead of stressing too much we got ready quickly and jumped on the Tube while minding that gap. Here's what we did:

The Tower of London

S was so excited to see the Tower of London, particularly because it's the place where Anne Boleyn was imprisoned by Henry VIII and executed (that sounds quite dark now that I've written it). It is August so the crowds, which we obviously contribute to, were thick. As such we skipped the Yeoman-led (aka Beefeater) tour and walked through it ourselves, making sure to see King Henry VIII's armour, the tower were prisoners were held, St. John's Chapel where Anne Boleyn, Lady Jane Grey and Katherine Howard's remains were buried and the White Tower. We also saw a couple of suits of armour that were for children. B asked how old the child that would have worn that would have been, and I guessed 7 or 8. Wrong. Upon reading the placard we learned it was for a 12 year old. So wee!

Tower Bridge

We went up it. As you cross the enclosed pedestrian space over the vehicles and the Thames, you also walk on the glass floor. B got nervous but pushed through and even lay down on it for a pic with S. Prior to crossing we learned that workers that laboured directly in the river to make the bridge wore 87kg scuba suits. Can you imagine the horror of wearing such a brutal suit and in already perilous and physically exerting conditions? The answer is no, you cannot.

Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square and Goldfish Crackers

Alas, no signs of HRH Charles at this ONE of his fancy-pants palaces, but we did see a lot of tourists like us. I think it's easier to blend in as a tourist than as a Londoner (I am sorry locals...). We peered through the gates at the stern-looking King's Guards (which I'm sure are justifiably judging us all), took pictures and had the kids walk down The Mall waving like royalty. We then dragged their 19,000 steps worth of aching feet to see Trafalgar Square and eat dinner. We capped off the evening by walking into a store to buy Goldfish crackers for S and B to snack on the next day, only for the bag to be rung in at 13 pounds. That's $23 people! I mean, we do expect tourist prices in tourist areas, please feel free to gouge us, but were those Goldfish crackers actually made out of gold? Alas, we laughed at the price, and we left sans Goldfish.

Tomorrow will be easier on the feet. Come back and find out why! I'll even try and come up with a more succinct blog entry title.