last day

The hotel we stayed in was more like an apartment, which was great. We had a full kitchen and a washer and dryer. (The washer and dryer were the same machine; I felt like I was living in the future. Did you know they made those? Washer AND dryer in one? I was amazed.) Anyway, we had run out of milk and cereal by this, our last full day in London, so we ran to the corner patisserie (Etoile) for breakfast. Delicious.

Then we hopped on another train out to The Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, southwest of Central London, and another rather long tube ride away!

 The weather was perfect for slow strolling and plant-examining. Audrey picked up a kids' guide book that had all sorts of plants to find. She found them. All.

 The Temperate House

Audrey and me, in front of The Palm House

 Beautiful scene in The Water Lily House

Cloudy skies. Around lunch time, we found a great kids' playground and had to drag the kids away after an hour. I don't know how they possibly had any energy left. I fell asleep for a moment on one of the benches while they played. Neal had gone to the Bonsai House and I was awoken by a little English girl saying, "mummy, that lady is sleeping!" 

After returning to the city, we ate at a fun sushi place inside Whiteley's, a mall right there on Bayswater and Porchester Gardens. We spent the rest of the night packing up and booking a taxi for the morning. We left the city bright and early (I love leaving when the city is empty) and flew home all day long.

I am so grateful we were able to take this trip. Although it was a little stressful taking the kids out of school and stepping out of our lives for what seemed like weeks, it was such a memorable trip and I think my kids learned so much. Next time we visit England, we'll skip London and just see the countryside, perhaps make our way to Wales and Scotland (castles! lochs!). I can't wait to go back.

The Tower

The next morning, we headed out early on the Underground, all the way to Tower Hill (our longest tube ride yet). The Tower of London could take days to see, we tried to do it all in one day. It was so fun!

 We caught a guided Yeoman Warder (Beefeater) tour from Bob. He was great fun.

Saw the Crown Jewels and lots of armor.

Became involved in a crazy show put on by actors on the premises.

Found some of the famous ravens.

 And found an empty guard house.

 We left the Tower and started walking down the river a bit to get a good view of Tower Bridge, then hopped on the tube to St. Paul's. Unfortunately, we got there just as Evensong was beginning (which meant the cathedral was closed to visitors). We sat there, taking it all in during the service, and then shuffled out. We hopped on the subway back to Marble Arch, hoping to see someone interesting at Speakers' Corner, but it was empty. So we meandered through Hyde Park, along the Serpentine Lake, until we found a playground. 

And this pretty little cottage. We dined at a delicious Indian restaurant near Lancaster Gate before taking the back way home to our hotel.

London, day 3!

The next day was super busy. We had tickets to tour Buckingham Palace and to see the Duchess of Cambridge's wedding dress, which is on display for a short time. We weren't allowed to take any pictures inside the palace, so here is one of the kids in the palace's back yard, after our tour, some coloring in the children's activity room, and some yummy treats.

 And in front of the entry gates.

Miles got to see his first guard. He loved these guys!

We walked from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey. Neal and I listened to the audio tour while the kids did a sort of scavenger hunt activity. The Abbey Shop gives you a piece of chocolate if you complete the activity. That was motivation enough for them!

Parker in the cloisters. From the Abbey, we went just steps away to see the Houses of Parliament and the famous clock tower.

For some reason, it was really hard to get a good picture of us with Big Ben! We grabbed some sandwiches from a corner shop and made our way up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square. We ate on the steps overlooking the fountains. We found a fun street performer and then began our visit to the National Gallery.

I snapped a couple of photos of the kids doing another audio tour for children. They loved every minute of it! I think they were the only children in the museum that day (there was a major lack of children all over London, we soon realized). They would eagerly search out the paintings listed in their activity guide and listen intently to each painting's description. I was so proud, I must say. We let them pick out postcards of their favorite paintings in the shop at the end. The boys chose the same one (for skull purposes).

Steps away from the National Gallery is The Texas Embassy, now a restaurant, but once upon a time, there really was a Texas Embassy in London! The food is pretty lousy, but we just had to go anyway.

We ended the night with a quick stroll through Covent Garden (not really a great place for kids after dark), and a subway ride up to King's Cross Station to find the way to Hogwarts. A big day in the big city, but the kids were such troopers!

London Sightseeing

Monday morning, most of our family left town, and we hopped on the "Oxford Tube" to Central London. It let us off at Notting Hill Gate, my old stomping grounds from when I was on Study Abroad with BYU.

We walked down Queensway a bit until we reached Palace Court and found number 27, where I lived for a couple of months, all those years ago. It was really strange to be standing outside the place where I lived, back when Neal was just my boyfriend and three red-haired children had not even entered the picture. Yet, here I was, in that very same place with those three precious kids and my husband taking the photo. Life is amazing.

 Once we checked into our hotel (Space Apart Hotel, on Kensington Gardens Square; perfect!), we took off across Hyde Park, past Kensington Palace (construction!) to get to the Natural History Museum. It was amazing, the kids loved it, especially Audrey. She is a very thorough museum-goer. Must see and read every little thing.

 There is a life-size model of a Blue Whale, which is incredible.

  

 The boys, on the way up to the Earth Science floor, where they have an earthquake simulator, among other cool things.

The next morning, we set off into Notting Hill to find the 1871 home of my great-great-great grandpa, Thomas Smith. The house is at 150 Kensington Park Road, which is just off of Portobello Road, and a nice little morning walk from our hotel. Best part of it is that it still exists! Several of the other ancestral addresses we were interested in finding are now the homes of ugly, modern buildings. We then waited for Toni and Julianne to arrive (Toni chose to celebrate his birthday with us in London!), then we headed off to Abbey Road! 

 At the tube stop.

  I had never been to this part of London; I always assumed it was too far away, but it wasn't at all! Fun to see in real life. I love to check in on this Abbey Road webcam every so often. It will crack you up to see all the silly people walking across this street.

 More fun shots on the Underground, with Toni and Julianne.

The kids loved seeing the Rosetta Stone in real life, too. And the unwrapped mummy won't be forgotten, either.

We walked with Toni and Julianne down to Leicester Square (more construction! The Olympics begin less than one year from now and London is under remodel), and then to Piccadilly Circus before landing at a yummy Italian place near Oxford Circus for dinner. We separated when we hopped off the Circle Line train one stop before they did, and they headed back to Oxford. What a fun day!

Blenheim and more Oxford

Between the wedding and the dinner that evening, we took a short bus trip out to Blenheim Palace and Woodstock, a charming little village just outside of Oxford. Blenheim is an amazing place, the last time I was there with Stephanie in 1998 and we had fun taking photos on the grounds. I don't think I've ever been inside this huge home, built for the Duke of Marlborough in the 1720s. Over a hundred years later, Winston Churchill, a relative of one of the Dukes, was born here. The grounds are entertainment enough, we had a lovely visit.

 Audrey in the Rose Garden.

 On the way out the gate to Woodstock.

 The next day was Sunday, and after a small sacrament meeting that we were able to have in the Oxford chapel (the Oxford ward had Stake Conference in Reading that day), we met up with Toni's family again. We had lunch at the Vaults and Gardens Cafe (downstairs from the wedding dinner), and went to Evensong services at Christ Church Cathedral.

 I loved the moss growing in the letters on this epitaph, outside the cafe.

 We played a little bit of catch near the river by our house, and Miles became super attached to his fun Uncle Matthew.

This ancient house on Ship Street in Oxford captivated us every time we walked by.

You're not allowed on the grass within the colleges. We liked to tempt fate.