London - Plane, Train, Ferris Wheel, and Big Ben

March 20, 2014

Last Thursday we took a trip to London for two nights. The children were looking forward to this trip and K was hoping to meet the Queen of England, Will, and Kate. Ha! I completely have her into in the whole Royal Family. The last few weeks at school they have been learning about the Tudors and K even has a song she sings of all Henry VIII's wives and how they died. It's pretty funny. T also just finished reading a book about the Tudor's at school. The timing of this trip could not be more perfect. 

We got up early and took a direct flight from Dublin to London Gatwick. This was my first time flying into Gatwick and I now prefer this airport over Heathrow anyday. Its easy to get around unlike Heathrow which is a metropolis. We then took the Gatwick Express train right from the airport to Victoria Station in London. It was a quick 30 minute ride into the city.  

I had a hard time finding a hotel for the 4 of us in London that was a decent price. London is just sooo expensive...worse then Paris! I would have probably gone super cheap but Joe told me I could not do that when I am on my own with 3 children in a big city. So I did eventually find a small B&B right near Victoria Station. It is a good area to stay as there are many hotels and restaurants in the area. When we arrived we walked down to our hotel which was about a 10 minute walk. We dropped off our luggage and then started our adventure. 

On the left is our B&B - Victoria Inn. This is the street our hotel was located on. Every street in this whole area looked the same just like this.

We walked towards Westminster Abbey to see Big Ben. This was about a 20 minute walk from our hotel. They had already closed Westminster so we decided to just tour it the next day. We walked over to Big Ben and took a few pictures. You can't go into the courtyard where Big Ben is because that is the Houses of Parliament (Palace of Westminster) building. The guard was very nice and let the children in, but we had to take a picture with him.

The three children with the guard

The Parliament building was the royal residence from 1042-1547. It is now the meeting place of the legislative branch of government. Most of the building was destroyed by the 1834 fire, and it was rebuilt in the Victorian Gothic style. Visitors are welcome to view debates in either the bickering House of Commons or the genteel House of Lords. Big Ben is named for its 13-ton bell, Ben. The light above the clock is lit when the House of Commons is sitting. We walked over Westminster Bridge to get a better view. 

The view from Westminster Bridge

K and T had heard about the London Eye from friends at school so they really wanted to do that right away. It is the world's highest observational wheel and Europe's tallest ferris wheel. The entire structure is 443 feet tall and the wheel has a diameter of 394 feet. Its actually the most popular paid tourist attraction in the UK. Crazy! It was built for the Millennium year. 

25 people can fit into these air-conditioned capsules for the 40 minute rotation. Thank goodness it was not crowded that day and we had only about 12 people in our capsule. 

K looking at the map so that she can find all the sites

View looking down at Big Ben..you can see Buckingham Palace
on the right behind the green park

When we were approaching the top of the wheel you could hear and
feel the wind a little bit. It was not scary just rattles your nerves a little.  

View of the Thames River in the background

We walked around that area for a little while and got dinner. They have made this area a big tourist attraction with dinner theaters, restaurants, etc. 

L was so excited to find a red bus and even more excited when she pushed the button and it moved. I guess someone had accidentally left money in it.

We then started our walk back to the hotel for the night. We all had to get to bed early since the next day we were getting up early to start our day. 

Goodnight, Big Ben!