Meeting up with our good friend, Paddington, at Paddington Station
So much fun playing on the pirate ship at Princess Diana’s playground at Hyde Park.
Tower of London! We couldn’t believe that the Bell Tower was built in 1190!!! We loved seeing the Crown Jewels-the 534 ct on the crown was pretty amazing! We learned about the legend of the ravens there, saw the changing of the guards, and saw where Queen Anne carved her name into the prison tower and where she was later executed. So much history here, so little time! The Beefeaters are the best storytellers ever! If it hadn’t been so hot, we would have stayed all day! #historycomesalive
We found Mr. Gruber’s Antique Shop from the Paddington movie. It’s actually called Alice’s Antiques and it quite quirky inside-they even had a horse head inside! Eli kept asking where the tea train was though! #onlyinthemovie
We visited our favorite bakery vendor at Portobello Market. Noah got a Nutella filled donut, Eli got a slice of cheese pizza and Emmy had a cinnamon roll. All were AMAZING!
We talked to noah before we left about how he could barter at Portobello Market. He was so excited to try it-it was something that he was really excited to experience. I gave each boy £20 and told them once they were out-that was it. Our very first booth was this one filled with pocket watches, magnifying glasses, antique looking knives-a 9 yr old boys dream come true! Noah found this pocket watch and really wanted it but it was £22. He confidently looked at the man and said, “I’ll pay £18.” The mat quickly told him no and moved on to another customer. Noah looked over the watch one last time, thanked the man for his time, and walked away. He didn’t make it far before Noah heard the man call after him, “wait-you want it for 18? You can have it for £18.” Noah was THRILLED with his pocket watch and story that he will tell for the rest of his life! #pricelesslessons #waytogonoah #lifeisajourneynotadestination #perfectsouviner
What an amazing night seeing Wicked! The boys loved it and were happy to learn that the wicked witch isn’t really wicked after all! Noah kept asking where our seats were and we kept telling him to keep going! He was shocked to see he was on the front row. Any closer and he said he would have been on stage!
We were able to visit the biggest LEGO store in the world at Leicester Square. 2 stories- 10,000 sqft of everything is awesome! A 2 story Big Ben, a tube car that we could sit in and a phone booth that we went in- all out of LEGOS!!! The line to get IN the store-not so awesome!
We were able to visit Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese pub. It was built in 1538 and Charles Dickens, Oliver Goldsmith, Mark Twain, Alfred Tennyson, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, G.K. Chesterton, P. G. Wodehouse and Samuel Johnson are all said to have been ‘regulars’. It truly is like stepping back in time here!
