Family trip out to London..
Well kinda, sorta off topic from the hobby, but something that we were up to last weekend.
Having recently moved to England last December, we have not had the time to head to London yet. Which is to much surprise and shock to pretty much everyone that knows us. I mean.. your in England.. surely you will visit London? Everyone goes to London!
And yes.. it indeed seems like everyone was in London on Sunday as the trains were standing room only on the way there, and the sun was out for a change!
The last time I had been in London was back in 2006 when I first moved to Turkey actually. And I had come over to renew my visitor visa there, so decided that UK was a good place to head at that time.
I can't say that the weather was as nice then as it was for us on Sunday though as it seemed we were able to slip through the cracks that are the British weather, to have a good time out for walking.
So off to Waterloo we went via train, and from there we were planning on doing some touristy looking about.. Obviously we had to go and check out Big Ben.. to which my son immediately exclaimed how it looked just like his toy from the Cars movie! Yes.. they built it to reflect the movie boy.. now move along..
Originally we were thinking of going onto the London Eye and seeing the whole of London.. but then we saw the prices.. ye gawds.. really? Mmm OK.. tourist trap.. fair enough.. let's look at the line up... WTF!??!?!?! It looked to be a mile long! Ok.. Frak that.. and off we went.. though I had a few nice snap shots of it as we waved good bye!
Thankfully we were able to divert the little one's attention by the park that sat next to the Eye.. to which we survived there just long enough to see him scare us enough as he climbed the beams. I must be a parent as I kept freaking out whenever he did something on it that made my heart skip a beat..
But again we were able to distract him with what seemed like a song from the village people...
I think we got to the point where they began asking for more volunteers in which point I was quick to leave! Already had a hat, didn't need another one thank you!
From here it was a blur of carousals, bridges, and statues as we headed to Big Ben...
Before making it to the big guy himself... from which we had a nice meal at tiny tables in a local pub that charges way too much. Aw London.. just like every other major city that has a tourist section and wants more of their money. Reminded me a lot of Istanbul.. so we needed to remedy that.. off we went towards Buckingham Palace in hopes to see the Queen! Or at least that was the ruse that we used to get the little guy to keep walking with us :)
Once there though he was more interested in all the animals that we had passed, and then the massive fountain that sat outside of the palace. Chattering on about how the statues mouths were spilling out water, and how that man's legs were gone but he looked like a fish..
By this time however he was quite done ( and to be fair so were we! ) with all the walking. So a quick walk back down the main road towards the bridges once more, stopping for a treat along the way, before finding a train to get back home.
Overall a good days out.. much was seen, more to be seen the next time, and for the train ride back, just happy we could find seats! A quick nap, and back to home for dinner and bed. And believe me when I saw that all had a great sleep that night!
Though with just a small portion of the city seen, and no real places visited, we will head back in the future. Just have to wait for the clouds to go away for a day again so that we can do it without worry about trying to swim back in the rain! Which it seems to be doing by the buckets today!
Back to normal posts about miniatures and the hobby tomorrow.. just writing about this makes me tired again so I think I shall take a nap. If you need me, I will be under my desk! :)
Having recently moved to England last December, we have not had the time to head to London yet. Which is to much surprise and shock to pretty much everyone that knows us. I mean.. your in England.. surely you will visit London? Everyone goes to London!
And yes.. it indeed seems like everyone was in London on Sunday as the trains were standing room only on the way there, and the sun was out for a change!
The last time I had been in London was back in 2006 when I first moved to Turkey actually. And I had come over to renew my visitor visa there, so decided that UK was a good place to head at that time.
I can't say that the weather was as nice then as it was for us on Sunday though as it seemed we were able to slip through the cracks that are the British weather, to have a good time out for walking.
So off to Waterloo we went via train, and from there we were planning on doing some touristy looking about.. Obviously we had to go and check out Big Ben.. to which my son immediately exclaimed how it looked just like his toy from the Cars movie! Yes.. they built it to reflect the movie boy.. now move along..
Originally we were thinking of going onto the London Eye and seeing the whole of London.. but then we saw the prices.. ye gawds.. really? Mmm OK.. tourist trap.. fair enough.. let's look at the line up... WTF!??!?!?! It looked to be a mile long! Ok.. Frak that.. and off we went.. though I had a few nice snap shots of it as we waved good bye!
Thankfully we were able to divert the little one's attention by the park that sat next to the Eye.. to which we survived there just long enough to see him scare us enough as he climbed the beams. I must be a parent as I kept freaking out whenever he did something on it that made my heart skip a beat..
But again we were able to distract him with what seemed like a song from the village people...
I think we got to the point where they began asking for more volunteers in which point I was quick to leave! Already had a hat, didn't need another one thank you!
From here it was a blur of carousals, bridges, and statues as we headed to Big Ben...
Before making it to the big guy himself... from which we had a nice meal at tiny tables in a local pub that charges way too much. Aw London.. just like every other major city that has a tourist section and wants more of their money. Reminded me a lot of Istanbul.. so we needed to remedy that.. off we went towards Buckingham Palace in hopes to see the Queen! Or at least that was the ruse that we used to get the little guy to keep walking with us :)
Once there though he was more interested in all the animals that we had passed, and then the massive fountain that sat outside of the palace. Chattering on about how the statues mouths were spilling out water, and how that man's legs were gone but he looked like a fish..
By this time however he was quite done ( and to be fair so were we! ) with all the walking. So a quick walk back down the main road towards the bridges once more, stopping for a treat along the way, before finding a train to get back home.
Overall a good days out.. much was seen, more to be seen the next time, and for the train ride back, just happy we could find seats! A quick nap, and back to home for dinner and bed. And believe me when I saw that all had a great sleep that night!
Though with just a small portion of the city seen, and no real places visited, we will head back in the future. Just have to wait for the clouds to go away for a day again so that we can do it without worry about trying to swim back in the rain! Which it seems to be doing by the buckets today!
Back to normal posts about miniatures and the hobby tomorrow.. just writing about this makes me tired again so I think I shall take a nap. If you need me, I will be under my desk! :)
Wow, you were lucky with the weather!
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised you didn't need a boat to see the capital the way the newsreaders tell it, with the Thames busting its banks. London is a nice place to visit now and again but I'm not that big a fan. The London Eye is worth a visit, though you have to book online to avoid the queues. We did get a little bored as you're in the pod for what seems a long time – after the first 20 minutes you've sort of seen everything and taken all your photos.
Looks like you had a great day out, and it's good to see you in the UK!
Yes we lucked out quite a bit with the weather, but agreed that I could not live there. Not a fan of the big cities anymore after Istanbul. Will keep it in mind though to book online before we go next time and maybe space it out inbetween some other walking. Could be a good time to rest maybe?
DeleteAnd glad to be in the UK btw.. now to find more events and meet ups to get to ;)
Have a nice day , London one of my favorite City !
ReplyDeleteGreetings .
It was a nice day indeed, but not my favorite city though ;) That would be somewhere in Germany.
DeleteLooked like you had a great day and certainly chose a great day weather wise!
ReplyDeleteWe were really really lucky indeed! I was very happy with that, but also checked before leaving in the morning to ensure that we would have at least a slight decorum of good weather!
DeleteIronically, there was a painters meet up going on just down the road from the London Eye that Sunday...
ReplyDeleteI know there was.. At Dark Sphere.. I actually showed up around 4ish but most of the painters had taken off already :( I just picked up a few paints and headed for a decent timed train back home. Hopefully I can make it without the family next time around so that I don't make them have to wait around for me.
DeleteLooks like a great day out.
ReplyDeletecheers
It really was a good one out. Looking forward to when the clouds separate and we can do it again!
DeleteMy dream is to one day visit the city of Liverpool. =)
ReplyDeleteWill be heading there in 2 weekends ;) Expect many photos then :)
Delete