Sunday in London, August edition

As I was downloading photos off Paul's camera, I realized I never blogged about a Sunday trip we took to London in August. I believe it was the weekend before we left for our trip to the States. We left mid-morning and took the train down to Kings Cross station. The train was crowded, so we stood for the ride and Charlotte fell asleep for part of the trip in her stroller. Once we got into London, we took the Underground to the closest stop to the Tower of London in order to take a walk along the Thames. We walked along the north side of the river, trying to follow the banks -- but due to construction, there were several times we had to cut back away from the river by a block or two. Somewhat unsatisfying! We ended up crossing the Millennium Bridge (a pedestrian walkway) to the south bank. We found some street food (a macaroni and cheese cart -- Charlotte was a fan) and enjoyed people-watching while we ate on some steps near Southbank Centre. We then continued our walk by crossing back to the north bank via another pedestrian bridge (the Golden Jubilee bridges) on our way to St James's Park and Buckingham Palace.

Exterior of the Tower of London

Tower Bridge

Walking along the North Bank of the Thames

About to cross the Millennium Bridge toward the Tate Modern

St Paul's Cathedral is on the North side of the Millennium Bridge

Views from the Millennium Bridge

We walked through St James's Park to enjoy/kill a little time before our entry time to Buckingham Palace. The Queen leaves Buckingham for about 2 months each summer, and while she's gone the State Rooms of the Palace are opened up to the public. We had purchased tickets the day before online, and we had a mid-afternoon entry time. Charlotte enjoyed the playground in St James's Park near the palace for about twenty minutes before it was time to leave.

Entering the park through The Horse Guards Parade (BEWARE)

Looking back towards the Thames from St James's Park

Sliding fun!

We enjoyed touring Buckingham Palace! You aren't allowed to bring a stroller through, but they check it for you (as they do any large luggage pieces) at the security checkpoint and you get it back at the end of the tour. They did give me a "hip carrier" for Charlotte, which was an interesting concept. It looks kind of like this, basically a wedge that straps around your waist so it supports the child's weight rather than having to hold her with your arms the whole time. A good concept, and Charlotte did let me carry her for short bursts, but her favorite phrase was (and continues to be) "get down! get down!" So I'd let her down to walk for a bit, which was really half chasing and half picking her up off the royal carpets where she kept lying down. She was getting tired, but wasn't crabby, so I can't complain. I was laughing as I picked off bits of red rug lint off her -- thinking, is this worth something?? 

The State Rooms were quite spectacular -- they give you a free audio guide with about a 1 minute spiel about each room. You can hear more about various pieces of art/decor in the rooms if you choose, but the 1 minute was just the right sized snippet for me to listen to while attending to Charlotte. You can't take pictures, but the amount of sparkle/bling/luxury is what you'd expect. My favorite was the dining room (I'm sure it has a more important name than that!) -- it was all set up to simulate a state dinner and was quite impressive.

After you exit the State Rooms, there is an indoor children's area with lots of cute royal-themed activities. Most of them were probably more appropriate for the 4-6 year old age range, but we still played for a bit.

Charlotte playing in the Children's area. Getting sleepy.

Views of the Palace from the back gardens

After exiting (and stamping/qualifying our tickets for free visits within the upcoming year), we headed back to St. James's Park to grab an ice cream and watch the ducks for a bit. Then we headed to the Underground to make our way back to St. Neots.