UK: A London vacation

After our quiet few days in the countryside, we then headed in to the big city of London for several days of exploring.  We were happy to drop off our rental car and take advantage of London's comprehensive public transportation.  Regan paid very good attention and I think she could get *you* around the London Underground should you need a guide!

We rented a wonderful mews (old stable house) cottage that was so wonderful, I was, at first, worried that we'd never get the kids out of the house.  The family that lives there has two daughters who are five and three so our girls were quite interested in all the new toys that they found there.  They loved the princess dress-up clothes and the scooters and in-line skates.  They also put on a puppet show with the girls' puppet theater.

Fortunately, we coaxed them out of the house and off we went exploring a new city.  Our first night, we were just there for the late afternoon and evening.  The lovely owners of our cottage had some great recommendations for us and we walked to an amazing pizza place in Notting Hill near Portobello Road.  Pizza East was the best pizza we had in a long, long time.

Day One we did the London Eye (which even though we had reservations for a specific time took a lot longer than we expected.  After lunch, our family hit the Royal Mews and saw the Queen's horses and carriages.  On our way home, we stopped in Hyde Park at the Princess Diana Memorial Playground.  Grandpa Carl and Gaga took off to do some of their own sightseeing.  We met back up at our cottage and ordered out Indian food from a neighborhood restaurant.

Day Two, we hit the London Tower.  The grown-ups were all fascinated by the far, far back history of the Tower (especially since we were familiar with a good bit of the history).  The three youngest ones, umm, not so much!  We did all enjoy seeing the royal jewels but missed a lot of the interesting history.

After the Tower tour, we hopped on a water taxi and headed to the Tate Modern museum for a bit of looking around and a lunch in their lovely restaurant on top with some lovely views.  The museum also had a small kids' play area that our girls thoroughly enjoyed.  We walked across the Millennium Bride and made our way home.  We were so worn out from two straight days of walking all over that three of our family members fell asleep on the subway on our way home - Anna, Meredith and Jake!  Grandpa Carl and Gaga were able to experience some of what the London theater scene had to offer and saw Billy Elliot that night (and loved it).  I went down the street to pick up Mexican (loved being in Notting Hill

We enjoyed our river taxi ride so much the previous day (and were tired from lots of walking), we decided to do a guided river boat cruise down the Thames.  We enjoyed the first part so much that we kept on riding all the way past Canary Wharf to Greenwich (of the Greenwich Mean Time that we've all heard of).  As we went past Tower Bridge, we were excited to see that they had put up the Olympics rings since the previous day when we were there!

After a long double-decker bus ride back to the city from Greenwich, we hit the science museum (not long before it closed) and let the kids get some hands-on fun there.  Our final night in Notting Hill, we debated between a nice Asian restaurant and a casual burger joint.  The kids were tired enough that we decided a fast, casual restaurant might be our best bet - so off we went for our final London meal.

Overall a really great few days.  We got up early our last day to head to Heathrow.  Grandpa Carl, the girls and I were on one flight, Jake another to Abu Dhabi and Gaga even another one to Atlanta.  It was nice having an extra set of hands

In front of iconic clock tower with the bell named Big Ben

Changing trains at Paddington.  Regan is quite the expert now
on getting around the London Underground.

Fun dress up clothes at our rental cottage - not
sure the girls ever wanted to even leave!

Walking over the Westminster Bridge to go ride
the London Eye

On the London Eye

4-D movie at the London Eye

Windsor Grey horse at the Royal Stables

One of the fancy carriages at the Royal Stables (they were all used
for very specific events)

Dressing the footmen at the Royal Stables

Jane's choice of a souvenir - a toy Corgi just like
what the Queen has.  Jane named hers Candy after
one of the Queen's 8 or so corgis.

At the Princess Diana Memorial Playground

Walking through beautiful Hyde Park

Meredith's choice of a souvenir - a crown (just like the real crown
jewels we saw at the Tower of London) just the right size
for her dolls (although a little small for her little sister!)

Boat taxi down the Thames.  Note the Tower Bridge behind and see how
it changed when we came back the following day.

Fun play area at the Tate Modern Museum

Walking across the pedestrian only Millennium Bridge (also known
as the Wibbly Wobbly Bridge)

One crashed kid on the Underground

2nd crashed kid on the same train

The almost completed Shard building - have a
spare $15M or so to buy an apartment there?

Between our day 2 and 3, the olympic rings were put up on
the Tower Bridge - the city is getting ready!

On top and right up front on a London double decker public bus

Building with magnets at the science museum

Ok, did Jake just beat their record???  Count the tiles and see.
My very talented, think outside the box man!

Experimenting with building - Mere met the challenge!

Anna trying her version.

A family effort on the science museum version
of something very similar to the St. Louis Arch

Another bridge built by Team Puryear

Heading to the U.S. - my row of girls (with Grandpa Carl
across the aisle ready to help out)

Regan - my little reader under the seats while our flight was
delayed....delayed...and then cancelled

At the hotel shuttle stop at 5:30 a.m. the next day on attempt #2
to get to Arkansas to see Gammy, Poppy and aunts and uncles.