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Summer in England: Big Ben & Westminster, London

Welcome to London! We arrived at Heathrow from JFK in New York and the boys were absolutely awesome. They wear their own backpacks and pull their own roller bags. C and V get visitor Oyster cards (kids ride free!) and tube from Heathrow to Victoria. We eat breakfast (C and V need coke from McD’s to stay awake, and the kids enjoy croissants from a bakery), then tube to our apartment at Clapham Junction. We walk out of the station and through the neighborhoods to our Airbnb apartment to drop off the bags. The area is SO cute and the apartment is fantastic! We couldn’t believe how great it is! We drop off bags while they are still prepping the Airbnb and we walk through the neighborhoods to the shopping areas to pick up food, find groceries, pharmacy, etc. We take the kids to play at the playground across from our apartment and they love it! We go back to our apartment after check in time, V naps, C takes care of Airbnb check-in, and kids relax and watch a movie until they join in on naps. We set an alarm to wake up the kids, get dressed, and go out to pick up dinner (cheese, crackers, fruit, chocolate chip muffins) and tube to Westminster to picnic on “our bench” across from Big Ben by St. Thomas hospital where we were many years ago! Walking out of the station, H sees Big Ben for the first time. He looks up and is amazed! Points and says “that’s Big Ben!” It was the cutest thing ever! We walk across Westminster Bridge and to the park. Find our same bench from when C and V were years ago when we promised one day to bring our kids to this exact spot! We eat our picnic dinner, and the geese want to eat it too. The kids think its funny. They read their Adventure London books made for them by C and V. After our picnic dinner we walk back across the bridge to see Westminster Abbey. There is an absolutely amazing pink and gold sunset! It is magical! We walk through Westminster, cross another bridge, hop on a red double decker bus (#77 to Tooting Station – the boys loved that one). Kids were so excited to go up the stairs and ride on top of the double decker bus! S and H pretend to be driving the bus on top level. We bus back to our apartment and the kids write and draw what they saw today in their Adventure London books, including check off lists, write their impressions and memories, draw pictures of what they did. They were totally into it and it kept them busy for a long time! C and V were so happy! A great first day in London!

Things to Know:

*Children aged 13 and under will be able to board any London bus or tram and travel for free.

*Up to 4 children under 11 years old accompanied by a paying adult travel free on the London Underground.

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