London in September

Last year September, my lovely Nan celebrated her 90th birthday with a disco! DJ, flashing lights, finger snacks. It was brilliant! Family and friends all flew in to the UK to join her celebration. What a crazy fun, fabulous, wonderful time. We reunited with friends and family from all over. The weather was superb, blue skies and sunshine, with temps in the mid 20’s. During the busy 2 weeks we took a few days out to explore the city of London with our children. We decided to use the overland train to get to London… which is pricey. So instead of having a daily 2 hour trip and as there were six of us we found it to be cost effective and time saving to stay the 3 nights in London. Oyster Cards were purchased and surprisingly it was easy to navigate using the underground system. It was a bit more of a challenge with the buses. But we got lost more on foot than when on the trains!

Boy did we squeeze a lot in, with 2 full days in London… and a few hours on our arrival and departure days we managed to see just about all of the major tourist spots London has to offer.

London Eye. Still very impressive on a dreary afternoon. I can arrange a pre-booked ticket, which allows you to skip the queue – very handy! Also good to know that should you miss your allocated time slot or the weather isn’t great you can change to another day / time easily.

Seeing squirrels in Hyde Park. We had a lovely leisurely walk through Hyde Park. Eating out is expensive and with having fussy eaters, it was easier to pop into a Tesco or Sainsbury and buy pre-made sammies, chips, cooldrinks etc. for a picnic lunch. It was lovely sitting in Hyde Park and having a squirrel visit us to see what we were munching on.

Houses of Parliament (unfortunately Big Ben was covered and is under renovation until 2021) It was still lovely to show the children the building that Guy Fawkes tried to blow up 400 years ago.

St Paul's Cathedral. We stumbled upon the Cathedral, sadly it didn’t look as glam as I once remembered. I had to check the name to make sure it was certainly St Paul's. The dome of the Cathedral is far more impressive to view from the London Eye.

The Household Cavalry Museum. On our walk back through Hyde Park, we ended up at the Household Cavalry Museum. The Queens horses are also stabled here, so it is a good photo opportunity to have a pic of the family standing nervously next to a beast of a horse and a grumpy looking guard.

Trafalgar Square, which since my last visit when I was a child, doesn’t have 1000’s of pigeons anymore! Unfortunately the pigeon droppings were ruining the statues so they have since brought in a few hawks to get the pigeon numbers under control. I remember as a child being given a handful of seeds and then my parents clicking away on their Canon at us shrieking with fear!

South African House. When travelling to see anything that is a reminder of home, makes one very patriotic. It was heartwarming seeing our flag and golden springbok!

Bright lights of Piccadilly Circus. Very impressive, especially for little beings who have never seen anything like it before. Even better is that one is now very close to….

Hamleys. Seven floors! Rob a bank and commit to at least 2 hours for this! We had encouraged the children to hang onto their pounds, they battled to understand the conversion of rand to pound, so everything was so cheap! We on the other hand had sweaty brows! It was fun. It was fun for all of us. We interacted, played, explored. This will probably go down in their history as one of the best times ever. We didn’t interfere they could buy what they liked with the money they had.

Shrek Adventure. If you have children you can’t deprive them of this adventure. Ours thoroughly enjoyed it. It is so well done. You get to join in on an interactive adventure with the Shrek family.

Cruise on the River Thames. When the feet are sore. We cruised from London Eye to Tower bridge. Famous buildings were pointed out and an easy to listen history tour was had.

Highly recommended.

Tower Bridge. What an eyeful. Can you even say you have been to London if you haven’t seen Tower Bridge?

Changing of the Guards ceremony at Buckingham Palace. No longer a daily occurrence. It is best to have this information on hand before you go and make sure you get there well in advance to get a good spot. Did you know… “The Royal Standard is flown at royal residences only when the sovereign is present. If the Union Flag flies above Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle or Sandringham House, it signals that the Queen is not in residence.”

Covent Gardens and a theatre production. We watched The Lion King, it was just amazing! I would always add in a theatre performance to an itinerary when in London!

Last but not least the Warner Brothers Studio - Harry Potter. The children had never as yet watched a Harry Potter movie – they were too scared. Aunty Pauline who was with us, is an avid fan, so had this on her to see list. We loved it. We performed magic, had a ride on a broom stick and saw the set up and how the movies were made. Have since caught up on all Harry Potter movies!

All in all, once boarded on the train back to the countryside, the children sat quietly admiring their newly acquired Hamley items, Mum and Dad had a relaxed smile on their faces, Aunty P relaxed her sore feet and Nana dosed! If we had more time, it would have been better to have had an extra night. But we did it all and the memories to last a life time were made!

If you planning a UK holiday to visit family and friends, speak to me, I can help you put together a breakaway holiday it was great to do the tourist bits as well as catch up with loved ones.