Museum of London, Covent Garden, Picadilly Circus

From Liz – When planning our trip we didn’t realize that we would be present in London during a “bank holiday.” I message my sweet friend Alyssa to see if this would be a problem with any plans. She assured me it would not affect any tourist attractions and added in that she and Duncan could join us because they had the day off! Hurray! So we made plans to meet at the Museum of London on Monday morning!

After a quick breakfast in our “home” we headed to the museum taking the tube and a little walk. It took us a bit to find the entrance to the museum but we finally arrived! We dived right in to the exhibits. This museum takes one through the history of London from prehistoric times to today. While Erik and I are interested in the minor details of history the children were not so we ended up moving fairly quickly. About half way through Alyssa and Duncan found us and this was a perfect diversion for the kids! We found exhibits on the great London fire, a lovely garden to meet a variety of Victorian Londoners, and interesting “artifacts” from the 80s and 90s. I had fun showing the kids the Apple IIc computer – just like the first computer in the Hladky house!

You can see the computer in the background!

The last exhibit we viewed was the Olympic caldron from the 2012 Olympics in London. The exhibit walked you through the entire process and showed videos from the opening and closing ceremonies. Attending the Olympics is on my bucket list and this just made me want it more! Japan 2020 anyone?

Soon it was our favorite time of the day – lunch decision time. Thankfully we had Alyssa and Duncan to help mediate this decision as it was a holiday and our options were limited. Together we decided on “Bonfire” a burger place not too far away – or so we thought! Alyssa took us on a tour of the Barbican area as we searched for Bonfire. Although some in our party questioned her knowledge of the area she proved to be a perfect guide and found us our lunch! We enjoyed a lunch of burgers, fries, and drinks and then realized our time was quickly coming to an end. We found our way back to the museum entrance and took some last group pictures. Alyssa once again used her guide skills to bring us to our bus stop and there we bid her and Duncan “cheers.”

We hopped on the bus and decided to head to one more museum for the day (carpe diem!). We found the Transport Museum (https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/) located near Covent Garden. They had a perfect children’s trail (museum guide for kids). Once again Charlie took this responsibility to heart and set off to find every stamping station to complete his trail! This museum described all the various forms of transportation found in London and their history. The kids particularly enjoyed a game where you could pretend to be a tube driver. Juliette patiently waited her turn only to be “schooled” by a young boy who tried to tell her what to do. After kindly asking him to “bugger off” she resumed her tube driving!

Our time at the Transport Museum was short but we had to go as it was closing time! After a quick run through the gift shop (we love gift shops!) we headed out to search for sustenance (because it had been so long since lunch!). We decided to walk through Covent Garden to see what we could find. I was excited to explore this area as I had heard there were many “buskers” (street performers). We were not disappointed! As we walked Katie noticed a public piano and wanted to wait to play while the other children were ready to move on. So I moved on with the other 3 while Erik stayed with Katie. As we walked we heard music and decided to investigate. We came to a small clearing and a mime dressed like Charlie Chaplin getting his area set up. There weren’t many people yet so we found a seat on the bench and patiently waited for his show. He was taking quite a while to set up and I wondered if it would be worth it but the 3 kids wanted to wait. Finally he was set up and started his show. As part of his “shtick” he dropped his cane and our Charlie (being the helper he is) quickly jump up to pick it up for him. The mime proceeded to engage Charlie in a fun game pretending to drop the cane and then drop it again. We all laughed and laughed and then finally the mime gave him a lollipop and sent him back to his seat – or so we thought. Just a few minutes later he called Charlie back up and from that moment on Charlie was part of the 30 minute act! He ended up dressed up complete with mustache and loved every minute!

About half way through the performance I texted Erik urging him to find us. Little did I know Erik was part of a show in another area! Like Father like son! All in all Covent Garden was a wonderful and hilarious experience! So much fun!!

Erik and I made an executive decision and chose “The Diner” for dinner. It was delicious and please everyone (mostly because it included pancakes and milkshakes!). It had already been a long day but the evening was beautiful and we were close to Trafalgar Square so we decided to take a little walk. We climbed the statue and caught a glimpse of Big Ben (Samantha’s favorite London icon). We marveled at the hugh Bronze lions and took in a beautiful London sky. At this time we knew we were close to Picadilly Circus and decided to check one more thing off the list! Now if we could all have read Charlie’s mind at this moment I think we have realized how disappointing Picadilly Circus really is to a 6 year old boy. It is really just a miniature version of New York’s Time Square and is only named “circus” after the Latin for “circle.” So after that let-down we headed to the tube station and home!