London, England

June 25, 2020

Hello from London, England! This was a bucket list trip for us. For several weeks after Budapest, we contemplated our next destination. When we found round trip airfare for the whole family to London for less than $200, we quickly booked.

We went over a long weekend and packed our days, leaving our hotel early and not coming back until well after bedtime. We enjoyed the food, the culture, the museums and hearing and understanding everything when out in public again! I'll let the kids give you their take:

::Logan (age 10)::

Favorite thing about London: The Harry Potter tour, because I've read and loved all of the books. It was so cool to go see where the movies were made. I also read "The Half Blood Prince" while we were in London (we spent a lot of time riding on trains and subways, prime reading locations). It was so interesting to see some of the places talked about in the book.

Reading while we wait out a thunderstorm.

Standing in front of Harry's house on Privet Drive

Iconic Hogwarts Letters

Getting ready to board the Hogwarts Express.

Touring the Knight Bus

My second favorite thing we did was our high tea at the Chesterfield Mayfair. I've always read about tea in London, so to get to have tea at a posh hotel near the palace felt like something out of a novel I'd want to read over and over.

Favorite food: Scones and saucer candy on our smokey lemonade at high tea. Also, butterbeer.

The theme of the tea was a candy shop. The lemonade shots were topped with a saucer-- two wafers filled with nerds.

They made our scones gluten free and you'd never know. Topped with clotted cream and jam.

One new thing I learned: I learned that Lewis Carroll originally called Alice in Wonderland "Alice's Adventures Underground." He first wrote the story in only four chapters and it was meant as a Christmas present for the daughter of a colleague but it had most of the content in it. I read about this while we were at the British Library and was able to see some of Lewis Carroll's works on display. (mom note: the British Library was our educational highlight this trip. We learned about British King John's signing of the Magna Carta, which limited the king's power, in history not a month prior to heading to London where we were able to view an original signed copy of it. Once again, making history come to life for them. We also viewed original compositions from Bach, Mozart and Handel-- all composers we studied last year!)

Logan declared this the most magnificent library she had ever been in.

Our big history connection this trip

Original composition by Mozart.

::Brody (Age: 8)::

Favorite part about London: I loved the Harry Potter tour. It was really cool to walk exactly where the actors walked for so many years and to see all of the sets. I also really liked riding on a true London double decker bus.

At Harry's front door.

Double decker bus

Favorite food: Butterbeer ice cream! I also tasted mom's fish and chips. I didn't love it, but it wasn't bad either.

Gluten free fish and chips

One new thing I learned about London: That Big Ben isn't right next to Buckingham Palace. I thought the would be together. Also, that the palace guards don't wear their traditional red uniforms during the winter-- they have long grey coats on. They still have the big hats though, and they still don't smile.

In front of Buckingham Palace

Westminster Abbey

::Lincoln (Age 6)::

Favorite thing about London: Having tea at the really fancy hotel. I liked the fancy people there with the big top hats that held the door open for us.