We made it to London but now Cory goes to work…boo!  I shouldn’t boo hoo hard though as this is the reason we’re all here.  We are staying at the London County Hall (where Cory and his family stayed 18 years ago) and we don’t have to go far to see a lot!  We can view Big Ben while we eat breakfast each morning…bonus!  The kids and I had a relaxing morning then hit the pavement for sights after early naps.  We saw Westminster Abbey then walked through St James Park toward Buckingham Palace.  Bea and Teddy had a blast seeing the birds and ducks in the pond; Teddy kept calling the bigger ones the “momma duck”.  Even though we’ve come at ‘off peak’ season, it’s still quite bustling everywhere.  You do see more construction (we did in Paris too) to prepare for the summer months.  Bea loved watching the guards marching back and forth in front of Buckingham Palace; Teddy had been in search of a lion all day which we luckily found statues around the fountain in front of the palace.  We walked on down the mall toward Trafalgar Square where we found four more huge lion statues.  This pleased Teddy!  Cory joined us here for a delicious Italian meal before we walked to the London Eye for a night ride.  London at night is even more beautiful with all the city lights!

Tuesday was all about Bea and Teddy!  We walked to the Waterloo Train Station for a tube ride.  It’s challenging to navigate the tube with a stroller but everyone here is so helpful!  We found some lifts but luckily we also found two sweet ladies that held Bea and Teddy’s hands as I carried the stroller down some steps.  It doesn’t seem to be completely handicap accessible!  That wasn’t the only help we had going up and down stairs and I was grateful!  We rode to Paddington Railway Station and you can probably guess who we were going to see… Paddington Bear!  We found him by a kiosk station (bigger store is under renovation) and Teddy proceeded to hug and tell him that he loved him. 🙂  Then Bea used her map to find the bronze statue under the clock on platform 1…where he met his family the Browns.  This was all a huge hit!  Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Playground was our next stop.  The people here still love her dearly and keep her memory alive all throughout the city.  This playground was expansive with so many nooks and crannies.  They enjoyed different types of equipment to play on from what we have at home.  Luckily I talked them out of the sand areas…why do they love sand at a park?!  We continued on walking through Kensington Gardens and it was beautiful with green grass and colourful changing leaves.  We took a taxi home and they’re so convenient for us; it’s big enough that I don’t even have to fold up the stroller for us all to fit!  Cory walked with us to supper (after nap time, of course) at a restaurant in an old fire station.  Then we were thankful for Teddy being a bit older (than our Australian trip) as I showered the kids (no tub) then pulled a traveler’s go to by washing some clothes in the sink.