London

We woke up early -- some of us very early (me and Seb at 3 am) -- but then enjoyed a full day in London. We started at Grace St Paul's, our favorite breakfast spot, with porridge, bagels w lox, scrambled eggs on toast, and coffee.

 

Our next stop was St Paul's Cathedral. Despite our proximity, we did not visit it last summer, as I assumed there'd be many more churches in Paris and Germany and the entrance fee was quite steep. But then I regretted it, so it was a priority this time. I'm so glad we went in -- the church was beautiful, of course, but we also liked visiting the crypt and climbing all of the tiny stairs to the surrounding balcony level (very high) and then to the outside of the dome (even higher).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We finished up at St Paul's and headed off on foot toward Covent Garden and the Seven Dials. We were feeling a bit tired and not entirely inspired, despite some tasty gelato, so we hopped the tube and went to Harrod's. Such a spectacular building! And so huge! We enjoyed the enormous food hall and the toys section.

 

We started to fade in Harrod's - Steve and I sat on couches in the tv area and nearly fell asleep - so we went back to our rooms and all took naps of varying lengths. When I woke up, the boys were still asleep (and Liesl was tired), so I walked across the river by myself to Tate London, a free contemporary art museum.

Once everyone was up, we were starving, so we went for pizza at Gordon Ramsay's (bottomless pizza! by the slice) and played multiple rounds of PacMan.

 

And then we had our first sadness/missed opportunity. This was the entrance to a new Formula 1 simulation racing place right near our place -- Steve had seen it online, and Seb was excited to try it out. But when we arrived at 6, we learned that it was 18+ after 6 pm, and we needed to have come earlier in the day. Such a bummer. Seb was a trooper about it, and he and Steve went off to look at the Arsenal stadium instead. Couldn't go inside for a tour -- those ended at 5 -- also too bad. We ended up wandering outside a bit before retreating home to watch a little soccer on tv and then fall asleep.