Day 1 and 2--London

If you just want to see pictures, scroll down!

After a 10 hour flight, we were so happy to land in London. Our AirBnB is in the Notting Hill neighborhood. It is a wonderful location, with a tube station 10 mins away and a Tesco express around the corner. We had dinner at an authentic fish and chips shop on our arrival day. We all slept soundly, but the girls woke up with terrible back pain from their tiny, thin mattress.

On our first full day, we had an absolutely wonderful breakfast on Portobello Road. The waitress was very nice and answered every question Donnie threw at her with warmth. The rest of the day, we walked around Notting Hill trying to find a cushy mattress pad for the girls’ bed. We were treated to absolutely gorgeous weather, and we got to see so many beautiful gardens and examples of housing. We finally had success in our quest at the nearby mall, and Donnie carried the large box with a king sized mattress pad on his back for a 25 minute walk. Always our hero.

After the bed was revitalized, we went to Tesco express three separate times to buy our needed groceries for the week. Elise made friends with the security guard. Our whole grocery bill was as much as our morning breakfast out, so we vowed to do a lot more cooking going forward. Donnie made burgers for dinner, and then he and Gracelyn walked back to the mall in the evening to find a new shower curtain and bath mat for the girls’ bathroom. After Donnie fixed up the bathroom, we all had dessert and went to bed.

Our second full day was full of touristy goodness. We saw Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, and Borough Market. As a Disney family, I have to say the crowding at Disney is nothing compared to these sites. Westminster was warm and claustrophobic on the bottom floors, but I had prepurchased tickets for us to visit the Queen’s Jubilee gallery. After climbing over 100 stairs and loving the views, the gallery itself was much less crowded and absolutely stunning. There were wax funeral effigies of Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Anne, along with the oldest taxidermied bird in England. Sadly, we weren’t allowed to take pictures, but Gracelyn said it was the most awe she’s ever experienced.

The Tower of London has changed significantly since I visited 10 years ago on my own. It is now a major tourist attraction with a real theme park feel. We saw the Crown Jewels, which were beautiful but overly adored by other gawkers. The girls climbed a narrow staircase to see graffitied walls of former prisoners, but found it underwhelming. The line for the Bloody Tower was much too long to endure, and the weather had become significantly warmer. We decided to walk across the Tower Bridge to Borough Market. Again, the crowding was truly unmatched. We managed to buy a delicious pastry and made our way back to the flat. The tube was so warm it felt like the heat had been turned on, but friendly people made it bearable, and we were able to get home with enough energy to make dinner and head to bed. More tomorrow!

On our way! Gracelyn was determined to sleep.

Travel can be exhausting. Gracelyn’s face says it all! Ubering to our flat after the girls’ longest flight ever.

Bri got this message from her tea bag the first night. Such a perfect reminder from the universe.

Outside our flat, ready to begin our adventure the first day!

Exploring Notting Hill and looking for a mattress pad.

We walked about 40 minutes to this store, only to discover it was a boutique mattress store for babies. The mattresses are eco-friendly and literally made with some kind of specialized tree branch.