Saturday 3rd December

After a good nights sleep for all, including Xavier sleeping for 15 hours, we decided to brave London trains and head into the city to visit the Queen. Our departure time was delayed due to Xavier's mammoth sleep but eventually we managed to get ourselves organised and out the door for the walk to the train.

We got off at Waterloo Station and headed to the only exit that was pram friendly and began walking. We knew we needed to get over the river so figured that the bridge we could see was a good start. However, somehow we ended up walking over bridge after bridge wondering how the hell we were supposed to get back down to the ground. This dilemma was solved when we ended up walking into another bloody train station. Again we took the only pram friendly option and despite wanting to end up at Buckingham Palace, we ended up in Trafalgar Square and decided to sit on the steps and eat lunch. For some reason I thought there was only 1 lion statue there, but alas, there are 4 of the big buggers as well as 2 fountains. The sun was out and while it was cool, it was a good spot to stop for lunch.

Despite it all, I'm finding it really difficult to actually enjoy the experience. Its just so much busier here than I imagined and I have a constant state of internal panic that one of the kids is going to go missing. If only they would just stay in the pram it would make my life easier. 

After consulting the map once again, we headed off towards what we were sure was Buckingham Palace. Being the start of winter here there are autumn leaves all around so the kids had an absolute ball running through the leaves and throwing them all around. (the walk to the palace was less busy so I was able to be calm about them running riot there). We stopped off at Clarence House (where the Queen mum used to live) and saw the guards there, we arrived at changeover time and while everyone else was standing watching quietly, Xavier and Stella wanted to know the ins and outs of a ducks bum about what, why, how, why, where, why everything was happening.

We kept walking down to the open parkland near the palace and Xavier announced he was collecting some leaves for the Queen. *cute*, coaxing the children away from the leaves was hard work, but finally we were standing in front of Buckingham Palace, sadly her madge wasn't home. Granted the palace is imposing, but its not impressive. Its rather bland looking, there are so many other buildings we saw just yesterday that are much prettier to look at than the palace.

running through the royal leaves

Collecting leaves for the Queen

Buckingham Palace

Me and the kids at the palace gates

We decided to walk a different way home past St James park and were surprised and rather excited to see squirrels EVERYWHERE! The locals think they are pests (bit like rabbits in Australia) but for me, the squirrels were the highlight of my day. The most amusing bit is that they have no fear of humans. They will come and take food from your hands and at one point one had climbed onto a mans arm and was sitting there eating from his hand. It was crazy cute. Stella was loving them and wanted to catch one to hold, but despite them not being scared of people, they are rather alarmed by a small girl chasing them squealing.

So hard to get pics of the little buggers but they are so cute and their tails are so fluffy and fine

As we got further along Big Ben came into site. Now THAT is an impressive building. Its stunning. I mean really really stunning. Stella was asking where Tinkerbell was (the Tinkerbell movie she likes has Big Ben in it) and Adam was trying to coax Xavier into getting into a red phone box. I bought some postcards and stamps (so those who have requested post cards, keep your eyes out) and we headed into the underground to get a train out to meet Dave and Teresa for a suit fitting before heading back to their place to decorate their first Christmas Tree. It's going to take me a while to get used to the fact that is dark about 4:30pm, it makes it feel so much later than it really is. It also means that wandering around makes me feel a bit uneasy once its dark.

Big Ben and a red double decker bus (bad lighting as it was 4pm and almost dark)

Teresa was overjoyed to have Xavier and Stella awake to play with and the Christmas tree construction and decoration was a success.

Some celebratory drumming at the conclusion of tree decoration

We got traditional fish and chips for dinner (despite England being the home of fish and chips, I think Aussie ones are better) and the kids fell asleep in the car on the way home.