London!

With the Brexit looming and the pound down we decided to offer ourselves an autumn weekend break in the capital. Kids were so excited with the idea of taking Eurostar under the channel, so were we! We had booked tickets and accommodation in early summer, which gave plenty of time to plan and prepare the visits and raise ‘momentum’ with the kids. Our friends thought we are out of our minds for adventuring a city trip with four small kids.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the trip did start with a farce. Our trip planning didn’t take into account the manifestations in our capital and getting through the city became an adrenaline filled race against traffic and time. I was brainstorming for alternative ‘make-up’ scenario of the weekend for our kids, in case we would not make it. We received a royal welcome at the gate as our cavalcade arrived to the channel check-in. We sat down on our seats 5 minutes before the departure. I wanted to enjoy a glass of shampagne, but settled with dark chocolate.

2 hours later, London welcomed us with sun shining through the bustling traffic as Londoners were hasting to start their weekend. OuOur hotel had received super reviews about location and cleanliness and those were indeed the only items worth mentioning about the place. The ‘hotel’ was a shabby townhouse with a ‘reception’ area of 2 square meters, dusty carpets, squeeky floors making us feel sea sick. It took us 7 doors in a narrow corridor (yey, with the pushchair, two luggages and 4 kids) and two floors up before we arrived to our ‘family room with shared bathroom’. This turned out to be two individual rooms in different floors with no toilets or bathrooms in either of the rooms - but access to the shared toilet and shower with all the hotel guests! A sad example of how images, reviews, hotel info can be misleading. Obviously, we didn’t let this spoil our long waited weekend and run through our program holding head high!

The TOPs

Museums are FREE of charge! Must-see with or without kids: Natural Science museum ( NB dinosaurs, but also section about human biology, our 8 and 5 year olds loved it), Science Museum, V&A museum. All these three museum are next to one another in Kensington (Piccadilly line, metro stop South Kensington). Everything so elegant here.

Southbank walk! The classic walk from Westminster and Big Ben crossing to Southbank passing London eye towards London Bridge..Although crowded, it was lovely, sunny walk vibrating positive energy, music, delicious food, filling all senses..I could gladly make this a Saturday ritual.

The parks! Kensington, St. James, Hyde park..havens of peace in the middle of the city. They are truly beautiful and definitely worth more than passing through.

Just seeing the amount of culture pouring from every corner made me drool. We solemnly promised to each other with my husband to return here soon -with our babysitter..