London Trip, Day Two

the next day was a pretty big day. we got on the overground commuter train from the mcfarland's local station in cobham, and took it all the way into waterloo station in london.


as we were approaching london at 830 am on a monday morning in a train packed with silent coffee-drinking commuters, james spotted the london  eye and exclaimed loudly in sheer excitement "there's the eye of london!!!!!!!!!!!!". i like to imagine it brought a little joy to a few people who long ago stopped seeing the landmarks as exceptional things to see.  it certainly brought me a lot of joy, but i was just as excited as james to see all the things. i LOVE to travel. i love seeing new things.
 

we snuck our little guy into a phone booth,


and lifted our little girl up onto a lion in trafalgar square.



let's be honest: we were all pretty excited in trafalgar square. i couldn't believe i was that close to st martin in the fields (see that pointy building in the right of the above picture? yep.), and despite not going inside, we were just outside the national gallery and simply being near it felt exciting.

 

 from trafalgar square, we marched our way down the mall, alongside the beautiful st james park, with buckingham palace in our sights.



we tried to arrive in time for the changing of the guard, and though we did arrive in time, so did many other tourists, and we weren't going to be able to gain any kind of visibility. so instead, we walked the half block from the palace gate to the wellington barracks. the guards were already out and dressed for inspection, band instruments and fuzzy hats and flags and shiny boots all at the ready. and best of all, no tourists. so we had a front row seat for marching bands and marching exercises and fine costumery.

 and when the guards were changed and the marching was over, we found a playground in st. james park, just over the little bridge from buckingham palace. there was even a celebrity at the playground...sort of. (this guy, from house of cards, and had a small enough part that at first david and i thought maybe he was someone we knew from madison).


st. james park was blooming and gorgeous. ramona stopped to check out some swans (they're out there on the water. i promise.)

 

next up: a tube ride to the tower of london. side note: our kids love public transportation. the tube was every bit of the joy ride they thought it would be. here is jamesy, awaiting his train.


after a quick lunch, we headed to the big event of the day: the tower of london. i think this was my favorite visit of the whole trip....maybe? i don't know. i don't think "favorite" is a fair term to apply to this week full of awesome visits and things to see and do. how about we leave it at this: we all loved the tower of london.

on our way, waiting to cross the street, and james just being craaaaazy.


here these two monkeys get in a little pose/wrestle in front of the tower.


we hopped right into a beefeater tour, who gleefully made all kinds of fun of american politics and appeared to be a most entertaining tour guide, when suddenly the skies opened and rain poured down. the guided tour was cancelled, and we were off on our own to explore the tower of london.

we descended to the torture dungeon,
 

and climbed up the stairs to the white tower to see the armory.


 we visited the "haunted tower," where two young princes were (probably)  murdered and (probably) secretly buried beneath the stairs in a (supposed) power grab long ago. here we are, casually sauntering through the rain from tower to tower, completely unaware that we are walking into james' nightmare. we walked into the main room in the haunted tower, and there projected on the wall was a movie depicting the fictionalized scenario of the boys being murdered. the smothering-the-boys-with-a-pillow scene was playing as james came around the corner. he saw the murder scene, took in the haunted storytelling regarding the tower he was standing in, and immediately requested to leave NOW through tears. poor guy. it was just one horrible thing too much, in a big old place full of horrible things.


outside, he felt better, the rain lifted, and we saw the crown jewels and the beautiful queen's residence within the tower. just beeeeautiful.


and in that same courtyard, the marked location of previous beheadings and public punishments gave us all a bit of pause. having been to hampton court palace the day prior and learning about anne boleyn and katherine howard gave a bit more meaning to this place for the kids.
 

end of tower tour smiles (ummmm, two smiles, two tongues, and one set of crossed eyes)


and a bit of sunshine on the tower of london bridge.


after all this walking and touring and learning, we hopped on a bus and crossed that iconic bridge and headed to another playground. this super cool playground was in the shadow of the london eye, and was a stone's throw from waterloo station, where our ride home would soon be waiting for us.

but first, a bit more play....


then some tired kids loaded onto the train with their pooped parents,
 

and alighted back in cobham as the sun started to go down.
 

there, we had family dinner with those wonderful mcfarlands and put our feet up. it was a GOOD DAY.