London Trip, Day Six

well. the big last day.

we woke up in the hotel, grabbed some coffee and croissants, and made our way to the tube station that would take us back to our kids. here's the fun part: the end of the line was wimbledon station, and when we got to wimbledon, there was becky and the kids. becky handed ramona and james to us at the station, and we handed her our overnight bag and said good bye. then david and i got back on the tube with the kids and headed back into london for one last day of tourism.

back on the district line tube, back to the city, straight to the south kensigton tube station. we emerged from the underground to walk a few blocks to the hyde park gate. 

in hyde park, we strolled by kensington palace, 

 

 

checked out the swans in the pond, 

the pigeons in the park,

 

peeked at some gardens, and headed  for the princess diana memorial playground. the kids played and played and played and played, made a friend and played with her (specifically, they were native american indians and she was a princess and the abducted her and tied her to a totem pole....because the playground is peter pan themed). 

i shivered and sipped coffee.

i was kinda set on having fancy pants lunch at the orangery next to kensington palace, but alas, it was closed for a private event.  i loved this building. 

i'm sure everyone dodged a bullet by not going into a swanky high tea and doily setting, and instead we had some food cart sandwiches. it worked. 

everyone who wasn't shivering to death got some ice creams. 

after lunch in the park, we walked the few blocks down gorgeous streets full of embassies and mansions to get to the natural history museum (ALSO FREE ADMISSION AMAZING). 

we looked at animal specimens and an interactive insect display, gazed at the big animals and skeletons in the main hall, 

and checked out the dinosaur bones. there was an animatronic or automatronic or robotic (?) t rex that moved realistically and roared. neither one of the kids wanted anything to do with that thing at all.

 

after the museum, we made our way back the westminster tube station and came right up to the street in the bright close gaze of big ben and parliament. 

we made our way across the bridge, wandered along under the eye, and did some fierce posing. 

and then, one last visit to the waterloo station to grab our last overground train home to cobham...

but first, before the train arrived, these turkeys rode the escalator quite a lot. 

we arrived back in cobham in time for a fabulous goodbye dinner with our favorite expats.

here is what happens when two giddy over tired kiddos are asked to smile and pose with their cousins.