Summer Day In London With Mika!

August 1st. 2015

London, UK

9:05-Got on the train Huntingdon-King's Cross. An hour ride is super easy, fun and convenient.

10:15--King's Cross is always a crazy busy station, but especially during summer months. Robert, Katya and Mika had to stay behind to queue at the ticket office to pick up their tube passes, while the boys and I headed towards Waterloo where THE EYE was waiting for us.

My cute men in hats for the day. 

11:00--Got to The Eye in hopes to get in line since the wait is always so long even if you prebook your timed tickets but it turned out there was no line at all! 

11:15--Alex, Mark, Mika and I started our thirty minute journey to the top of London. 

...with dozens of pictures, of course.

I am not really scared of heights or anything.

11:35--enjoying crystal clear skies and the never-getting-old view of the Parliament.

12:00-breaking our own moral code of not eating at fast food places, we went to McDonald's next door to the Eye and fed the kids and ourselves for a mere $30.

12:30-crossed the river Thames from The Eye side to the Big Ben side along with hundreds of other tourists!

12:40-there is always time for pictures with Big Ben.

1:30-took the tube to Baker Street hoping to go to the Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. We found the place, saw the line that, they said, would be a two hour wait, debated about what to do, and then gave up on the idea since no one wanted to wait for two hours just to be rushed through the museum as we had plans for the evening already. At least we got a picture with the Baker Street sign and we made plans to come back during the off-season.

2:00--took a double decker bus to somewhere towards Hyde Park. We still don't know that area of Kensington/Hyde Park very well, so we were hoping we'd be dropped off at a convenient place to go play at the Princess Diana Memorial Park....No such luck. We got dropped off at a far away place from the playground. But the bus ride was refreshing:)

2:30--arrived at Hyde Park corner area, thought about renting those bikes standing outside the park, but there would have been no way for Mark to be transported, so we decided to walk. 

It sounded like a great idea. 

For a while.

So we walked. And walked. Ice cream stop. And walked. Bathroom stop. Walked a bit more. 

3:30--finally got to the playground which turned out to be so busy that we literally had to wait in line to get in! I think we waited for about half an hour, which didn't leave the kids much time to play. 

4:45--the kids had a fun time running around and I am sure wished they could have run for longer. But we had to go as we had dinner reservations at Bella Italia in Covent Garden.

5:30-7:00--a free dinner at Bella Italia thanks to Tesco vouchers (converted points into gift certificates).

7:00--we parted ways. Robert took the big kids to see Lion King show, while I headed back to King's Cross with Mark to catch a train home.

10:45 pm--It is late after the show (which was FANTASTIC, by the way!). No queues of people to take pictures with Harry Potter's school cart. They have to take this opportunity.

11:40--almost home. Such a wonderful but exhausting day highlighted by such colorful memories.