London Love
When we walked out of Paddington station, late Friday night I saw a double decker bus. My body had a visceral reaction. I was in London! The city looked exactly as I remembered it twenty-six years ago: red telephone booths, black cabs, cobble stone sidewalks, white street signs with black and red lettering and of course cozy pubs everywhere.
I returned to the apartment filled with excitement for the day ahead. We made a plan to start at Westminster. We decided to take the bus rather than the tube. We rode on the top of the bus so we could see the passing sites: Hyde Park, Marble Arch, Buckingham Palace. Our energy was high! We hopped of the bus at Westminster Abbey. Big Ben was under construction, but the kids didn't seem to care. We walked across Westminster Bridge to the South Bank and looked back over the Thames to Parliament. 
The bridge was packed, packed, packed with people. I don't think the kids had ever been around so many people. There was a popular gambling game that stopped pedestrian traffic. People bet on which cup covered a ball. At one point, Brewster said, "Mom, that guy just bet 1000 pounds". No wonder there was a crowd.On the other side of the bridge was the London Eye, Europe's tallest ferris wheel. I didn't remember it from living there and then I heard it opened in 1999 so I felt better about my foggy memory. The kids really wanted to ride it and I thought, why not?? We bought tickets and upgraded to the Fast track which was well worth it to skip the enormous lines. We boarded the glass oval car and started to climb above the city. It was an amazing 45 minute ride. We could see into the Palace, views of St Pauls and a 360 degree of the extensive city. Our cheeks hurt from smiling.
The bridge was packed, packed, packed with people. I don't think the kids had ever been around so many people. There was a popular gambling game that stopped pedestrian traffic. People bet on which cup covered a ball. At one point, Brewster said, "Mom, that guy just bet 1000 pounds". No wonder there was a crowd.On the other side of the bridge was the London Eye, Europe's tallest ferris wheel. I didn't remember it from living there and then I heard it opened in 1999 so I felt better about my foggy memory. The kids really wanted to ride it and I thought, why not?? We bought tickets and upgraded to the Fast track which was well worth it to skip the enormous lines. We boarded the glass oval car and started to climb above the city. It was an amazing 45 minute ride. We could see into the Palace, views of St Pauls and a 360 degree of the extensive city. Our cheeks hurt from smiling.