London

Before we decided that camping was the thing to try this summer (see previous post) we booked a trip down to London in the middle of the summer holidays break up the school holidays, take in the sights and visit family.

We spent three nights at the Premier Inn in Sidcup, so we were close enough to see family but also close to all the transport links to get into the sights easily.

The first day was spent travelling down, and we stopped off in Stamford to show Chloe and Oliver some more of where I grew up (I like to try and show them as many of my childhood places as possible as I sometimes feel quite disconnected from my family living so far from 'home'). Strangely Chloe really enjoyed Stamford market and was reluctant when we told her we had to carry on the journey to London.

The second day was spent taking in as many of the sights as possible, and we walked Chloe until her little legs couldn't walk anymore, finishing the day on the London Eye. 

The real Buckingham Palace

Westminster Abbey

The highlights of the sights were Buckingham Palace (the Queen was in residence - this completely blew Chloe's mind and we're pretty sure the Queen saw her through the window), Westminster Abbey, The Houses of Parliament (Chloe was very disappointed that Big Ben was covered in scaffolding) and Trafalgar Square where we met a floating Yoda.

The London Eye

The following day we went to the Science Museum where Oliver was turned into a duck and Chloe did some very cool experiments in the Wonderlab.

A very proud little duck

Learning about clouds

We then ventured onto Hamleys and Chloe and Oliver both got to meet some Lego figures and were faced with  the very difficult and painful decision of what to spend their pocket money on (this may have been a little cruel in such a big shop).

Lego soldier

Meeting the Queen