London

We were able to spend Fall Break in London and it was amazing. As hard as it is travelling with kids, I'm so glad we had the opportunity to do so. I loved everything about London except the tube which held more people than seemed possible. The history and the buildings in the city are amazing. Helsinki is comparatively young and has much more modern architecture. We spent the trip hitting as many tourist attractions as possible. Day one we saw Buckingham Palace and St. James park. We walked through Westminster Abby. The courtyard was beautiful. We saw Big Ben and rode the London Eye. We shockingly ran into Isaac's teacher who we had repeatedly told him there was very little chance we would see.

Day 2 we rode the Hop On Hop Off bus that was a bit of a let down. Our bus seemed to park more than drive. We did walk through Kennsington Gardens though which was beautiful. Then we saw Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Circus, Trafalgar Square, ate fish and chips then saw London Tower. We also went into Hamley's toy store which was crazy. It was 5 floors with employees demonstrating toys, blowing bubbles and doing magic tricks. It was very impressive. We averaged 8 miles of walking each day.

Day 3 was the highlight for the boys and still a sore spot for Kyle. We got tickets to the Lion King at Kyle's suggestion then he instantly remembered that Zachary is our child and regretted it. He agreed that if Zachary was too loud he would leave with him. They made it through the first act. It was amazing though. The costumes and stage set up. It is still what the other 3 are talking about.

Day 4 we went for brunch and got on the wrong bus so we ended up walking and wandered through China Town. I love to eat when I travel and this was Kyle humoring me. After brunch we went to the British Museum. It was amazing and overwhelming. All the historic things you hear about are there to see. Benjamin held a 5000 year old ax and they wrote on Roman wax tablet replicas. We saw mummies and the sculptures from the Parthenon. It was really cool. After we got done there we went to Harrods department store. Once got through the $500 kids clothing section and had ice cream at the Toy Story restaurant we happened upon the toy department and it was impressive but not quite as amazing as Hamley's.