London tour by playground

Today we had to all take a family trip into London so that we could get Rhiannon's US passport renewed. The law says that both parents and the child have to appear in person at the US Embassy, so we got Tryfan and Helene to come along too and made a day of it. The only appointment available (bookable online 8 weeks earlier) was at 08:15am so that meant we had a good early start and caught the 6:37am train from East Grinstead.

Here is the original Minx looking out the train window

 We made it to the appointment in time, spent a solid 2 hours in there going to various windows when they called our number and otherwise just hanging around. The interior of the US Consulate is so 1970's with brassygold bannisters and door handles. The kids were well impressed with this feature and kept saying what a fancy place it was!

After we finally finished, we found Helene and walked through Kensington Gardens. Our plan was to find the Princess Diana Memorial Playground (because its meant to be supercool) but instead we found the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain which did not look so cool so we aborted that effort before we got too committed to it. We explored these rose gardens instead.

 We walked and walked and made our way to Buckingham Palace, where there was a marching band practicing for the Queen's Birthday the following day (though we didn't know this at the time). It was kind of a bummer because we couldn't get very close to the Palace so couldn't see the Guards and all that.

Somewhere near Buckingham Palace when quite a bit of whining was starting to happen

In front of Buckingham Palace, kids very grouchy now

 By this time, people were tired and hungry and starting to really get grouchy, especially since we hadn't found the Princess Diana playground. So we flipped a u-ey and found a really cute small playground in St James Park which was shady and sandy. All of a sudden, life turned good again. I think sometimes all we need is to take one's shoes off and wiggle them in sand while sitting in the shade. 

Tryfan spent at least an hour in this approximate position as he scampered around the rocks and made Transformer noises to himself. But then he found a friend and the two of them climbed around telling each other about themselves. It was very cute to overhear.

 After this little playground oasis, it was time to go for a bus ride. Didn't matter where the bus was going, we just needed to spend some time upstairs on a red double-decker. Rhiannon promptly fell asleep in Rhodri's lap, but Tryfan was still fired up.

Tryfan and I on the double-decker bus. Good times!

 We ended up switching buses a couple of times and then getting off at London Bridge so we could meet Annie for a coffee before heading home. Voila! We found another little play area just next to some ancient stone wall across the road from the Tower of London, and the kids played for another long spell while we waited for Annie.

Rhiannon found some new friends who were from Muscat, Oman. They had a great time together on this swing, a big bumpy slide, and a flat merry-go-round that you had to hold on really tight to.

 After enough playing, we walked across the road to the Tower of London and met Annie for a coffee and treats.

We had prime real estate outside on the patio overlooking the Tower and London Bridge.

 In fact while we were saying goodbye, the London Bridge opened up so a big ship (it wasn't that big actually) could go through. That was pretty cool.

It was great to see Annie, though too short! She is leaving London soon and we are going to miss seeing her :-(

Us with Annie in front of London Bridge

 From here, we took the Tube back to Victoria Station so we could catch the train back to East Grinstead.

The troops in Victoria Station, end of a long day