Three nights in London

For the end of the family trip, we spend three nights in London at a hotel right next to Trafalgar Square. We took two taxis from the airport, which was a bit of a slow go in London traffic at times. After checking into the hotel, Paul, Chris, Colleen, and Tom went out to walk around the Westminster area and see the London Eye. Charlotte and I spent some time in Grammy's hotel room, then ordered some food delivery from a noodle place in the area so we could get Charlotte to bed at a reasonable time. The rest of the family went down the street to a Sherlock Holmes themed pub for dinner.

The next morning, Charlotte stayed at the hotel with Grammy and Papa while Paul, Chris, and Colleen went on a tour of the Houses of Parliament, and Kate & I went to the National Gallery of Art. We had been hoping to see an exhibit on Caravaggio, but it turned out the huge sign out front was advertising a coming exhibit. Oops. We enjoyed walking around anyway! The gift shop was extremely tempting, but I managed to get out with only a purchase of a "Maisy" book about London for Charlotte.

Paul joined us for lunch and we all then met up with Kate's good friends at a speakeasy in SoHo, called The Blind Pig, for cocktails.

Houses of Parliament

Westminster Abbey

That night, Paul and I got a special date night out while the rest of the family watched Charlotte for us. We went to dinner at a wonderful Portuguese restaurant called "The Port House"  -- the atmosphere, food, and wine were great! We then walked to see "Jersey Boys" in the theater district. It was such a fun show -- the music was phenomenal and we both enjoyed it a lot.

The next morning, Paul and I took Charlotte to the National Museum of Transportation which had been highly recommended for children. Charlotte did like the children's areas and the buses/trains she could climb on, but we felt it was a bit expensive for what it was. Of course, our tickets are good for a year -- the UK loves this method of overcharging, knowing that most people won't remember to come back. I could see if we lived in London that we would use the ticket for a few days out to make it worth it -- but I doubt we will end up back there. We'll more likely find new things to see in London next time we're there.

Pictures from the Transport Museum

That afternoon, the whole group minus Chris & Colleen (who had a few more sights to see in London) headed out to west London to meet up with Kate's friends for a traditional Sunday roast in a pub. It was a nice, busy pub atmosphere with other children around -- something we don't often see at pubs in the evening. We shared some delicious food and really enjoyed the experience -- and Charlotte was very well behaved, which only helped :)

That evening we were all quite full from the afternoon roast, so didn't end up trying to get some dinner until late. As a few of us were heading to Pizza Express, Charlotte started throwing a fit and I ended up taking her back to the room for bedtime. We finished up the evening playing cards while Mom stayed in our room with Charlotte.

The next morning, we had a courier service pick us up at the hotel to take us back to our house. We said our goodbyes early to everyone and headed home. The rest of the group had a mid-day flight out of Heathrow. It was great to see the whole family and get to experience beautiful Ireland with them!