London: Day 3 (Tuesday, April 16)
We started Tuesday with the museum right at the end of our block, the British Museum. It's enormous--maybe bigger than the Met, have to check--so we bought a map with a suggested top-ten list of things to see, and worked our way through that. It was a great way to see some galleries we probably wouldn't have gone into, plus some of the famous things. We saw the Rosetta Stone, sculptures and carvings from the Parthenon, and a figure from Easter Island. L&G were really into it, taking notes in their small notebooks of things they thought were cool. We made it through nine of the ten things, perusing other galleries along the way, which took about two hours. (Andrew was intent on finding the tenth sight, which was a bridge too far for all of us.)
We were all starving at that point but made do with some snacks (candy) since we had reservations for afternoon tea at Fortnum & Mason. We ended up having to walk because of more snafus with the buses, but it was a good excuse to walk through Leicester Square. Our afternoon tea was as fancy as you might expect, and more expensive than you could possibly imagine, but it was an experience to remember. We all had tea (even the kids, with a honey/lavender tea) in our own teapots, and three-tiered trays of pastries, scones, and sandwiches, all endlessly refillable. L&G nibbled the sandwiches but ate all the pastries plus another plate of refilled pastries. They both really liked the silver tea strainers we were given to pour our tea through. There was a piano player, and beautiful tulips at the tables. A truly decadent London afternoon.
Next: a Thames River cruise. This was lots of fun. We went from Westminster Pier to St. Katherine's Pier and back again. It was fun seeing things from the water and going under some of the bridges. It started sprinkling right at the end of our ride.
We went home for a bit after that, and Andrew, Dad, and I went out to get a few groceries. When we got hungry (much later, after our huge tea) we found a cute Italian restaurant just around the corner from our apartment, called Giotto Italian Restaurant. It was exactly what we all wanted. L&G ate every speck of their adult-sized portions of pasta.
A perfectly paced and planned Tuesday. We still had some bus diversion problems but overall a pretty smooth day of London fun. Greta can't believe we're letting them buy and eat so much candy.
We were all starving at that point but made do with some snacks (candy) since we had reservations for afternoon tea at Fortnum & Mason. We ended up having to walk because of more snafus with the buses, but it was a good excuse to walk through Leicester Square. Our afternoon tea was as fancy as you might expect, and more expensive than you could possibly imagine, but it was an experience to remember. We all had tea (even the kids, with a honey/lavender tea) in our own teapots, and three-tiered trays of pastries, scones, and sandwiches, all endlessly refillable. L&G nibbled the sandwiches but ate all the pastries plus another plate of refilled pastries. They both really liked the silver tea strainers we were given to pour our tea through. There was a piano player, and beautiful tulips at the tables. A truly decadent London afternoon.
Next: a Thames River cruise. This was lots of fun. We went from Westminster Pier to St. Katherine's Pier and back again. It was fun seeing things from the water and going under some of the bridges. It started sprinkling right at the end of our ride.
We went home for a bit after that, and Andrew, Dad, and I went out to get a few groceries. When we got hungry (much later, after our huge tea) we found a cute Italian restaurant just around the corner from our apartment, called Giotto Italian Restaurant. It was exactly what we all wanted. L&G ate every speck of their adult-sized portions of pasta.
A perfectly paced and planned Tuesday. We still had some bus diversion problems but overall a pretty smooth day of London fun. Greta can't believe we're letting them buy and eat so much candy.
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