the city

Everytime we walk somewhere where it is crowded and busy Marisa asks, "Mom, are we in the city?"
And actually, most of the time we are.

Today we started the day at Westminster Abbey...

London is great for kids. I love that everywhere we go they have a little something for children to keep them interested at their level. At the Abbey, while Tim and I listened to the tour on headsets, Marisa got a clipboard and pencil with a "Children's Trail" paper to mark off the things she sees inside. She loved that. She sat in the stroller the whole time and would circle things off as we went along. Natalie, on the other hand, preferred to climb past the roped off areas and climb ancient tombs where famous kings and queens are buried. Like Henry VII...

We couldn't take pictures inside obviously, which is too bad because it is amazing inside. We could only take pictures in certain areas which aren't worth taking pictures of actually, except for this...

Britain's oldest door. Probably built somewhere in the 1050s. How random and cool is that?

We were told in the beginning of the tour that the girls would get a chocolate gold coin at the end of the tour for doing the sheet/participating and we thought it would be some small little thing, but we were wrong! They were huge and the girls were so happy.

Next, lunch-time. Because a lot of the tube lines were closed we walked a lot and took a lot of detour routes to get where we wanted. We walked to Victoria Station...

and walked past The Monument...

to reach The Borough Market.  Let me begin by saying that this place is definitely London's little treasure. This afternoon we were just there and Tim and I are already having serious cravings for everything we saw and actually did eat.

It is a big outdoor market where you can buy local produce and other bits and pieces, but it mainly is a place to try food and eat it. We were told to come hungry. This place is serious eye candy. My pictures don't do it justice, sorry. I was too busy feasting my eyes on everything.

I ordered fish and chips for the girls. First time for all of us actually having the famous British dish. Tim had this wild boar hot dog which looked and smelled delicious. I promise better pictures next time. Because you better believe there will be many next times.

After a delicious lunch we went to Tate Modern. I will sum up our experience there with what Tim said inside.


"I'd rather go to a baby shower."


If you knew Tim well, you would know exactly what that meant.

Ironically during dinner when we asked Marisa what her favourite part of the day was she said the "treasure hunt", which was at Tate Modern.

Level 3 has a children's section for various activities for children under 5.

We chose to do the treasure hunt for the girls where they were given a big felt-board bag and various felt items which corresponded with items in some of the art work. She loved searching for the items in the paintings and sticking them on.

Once the treasure hunt was completed we quickly left and headed to St. Paul's Cathedral. We crossed over the Millenium Bridge where we found these tasty treats, again. Just about at the ends of every bridge there are these caramelised peanuts. Way good and way cheap.

We entered St. Paul's near closing time so we are going to have to go back and see the inside another day. So we settled for soaking in the light rays on the cathedral steps, girls giggling while chasing pigeons, and calling it a good day...