Wrapping up England…

We had a full and fun final week in England… We visited Oxford on our way from the Cotswolds back to (north of) London to drop off the rental car and then took a train into London to spend the next five days. Our days were packed!

Some highlights:

rode the Eye of London for beautiful views
St Paul’s Cathedral (toured w/ an audio guide and climbed to the dome)
British Museum (William taught me so much! He loved learning about the Roman Empire in history this past year!)
Tower of London (learned more from William about William the Conqueror, who built the Tower in 1078…the Tower was then used as a prison until 1952!)
spent 90 minutes in the Imperial War Museum (my favorite! and not nearly enough time!)
Covent Garden (to eat and watch street performers)
Buckingham Palace (for the Changing of the Guard)…very memorable because it wound up POURING on us… some of us were in t-shirts… we got completely drenched
Leicester Square (heard amazing street musicians)
Trafalgar Square (wandered through one evening…felt a bit sketchy)
Piccadilly Circus; rode the Hop-on-Hop-Off Bus (enjoyed an audio tour)
Hyde Park (Michael reenacted obstacle courses with the boys… Doing an obstacle course in Hyde Park is their [the oldest three boys’] strongest memory from when we were in England before Keegan was born!)
Thames River Cruise
Borough Market (for lunch)
Harrods (to admire £9500 ($12,000) rocking horses and stuffed animals and have a couple snacks)
enjoyed Lebanese, Thai, Indian, Chinese (and English) meals…
William, still on his quest to eat creative foods, had tripe (cow stomach lining) for the first time. Michael, Findlay, Tate, and Keegan all tried it. I probably should have (I’m usually more brave) but it had been a long day and just looking at it was all I could muster. Everyone enjoyed it but said it was chewy. William’s last bite took him 70 seconds to chew and swallow.
and enjoyed time and frozen yogurt with our friends, the Drewers, at Snog along the Thames!