My Bloody Feet Are Killing Me! – Day Four (London)

The remainder of last night went well. Madeline got a much needed good night’s sleep. After David and I took turns going to the Pub next door to use their Wi-Fi (which we have to do again tonight), we took a minute to sneak up one floor to the rooftop to scope out the view. This photo of the Tower Bridge was taken from our rooftop. As you can see, we are very close to the Tower Bridge.

This morning, David finished up with his work obligations early in the day so we were able to do a bit of sightseeing. This first picture of Mama and Madeline was taken at a sundial in a small park area outside of our flat. We next jumped on the Tube (subway) to head in the direction of some of London’s most popular sights. David and I were thrilled to see all that we did but Madeline wasn’t so impressed. For the most part, the tantrums have improved today however the only time we were close to tantrum stage was between Buckingham Palace and Big Ben. After traveling to Disney last fall, Madeline couldn’t quite understand why she wasn’t seeing any princesses at the “castle”. Also, the guards and barricades of the palace limited how close we could get and Madeline had a hard time understanding this. In her mind we should be able to get as close to Buckingham Palace as we did to Cinderella’s castle. And since we saw fireworks at Disney she thought we were going to see fireworks at Buckingham Palace. Also, from what I could gather, I think Madeline knew that we weren’t at Cinderella’s castle so in her mind she decided that we were at Mulan’s castle. She was insisting on finding out where Mulan was. With this rationale in her head it’s no wonder she pretty much had a meltdown when we looked at Buckingham Place, took a couple pictures and walked away. After several attempts to explain that this wasn’t Mulan’s castle I gave up and told her that Mulan was inside hiding from Madeline’s screaming. (Oh yeah, Madeline’s screaming fit had me so distracted that we practically got ran over by a car while crossing the street. Same as in Dublin, the cars are on the opposite side of the street and thus coming from a different direction than we are used to for pedestrians as well)

With all the elaborate architecture, Madeline must’ve thought we were in a village of castles. We took a walk through St. James’s Park. On the other side, we came upon Churchill’s Museum and Cabinet War Rooms. Although Madeline was now tantrum free, and pretty much stayed that way for the rest of the day, we were not willing to press our luck and head inside…..just not a very exciting place for a kid. Mama-Dirtyfoot wasn’t too disappointed but David is a history buff so I know that is something he would’ve loved to see.

From there we walked over to see 10 Downing Street (home of the Prime Minister). We also walked over to see Big Ben. For the faithful Mama-Dirtyfoot readers you know how Madeline pronounces “clock” (without the “l”) so of course we got to listen to her exclaim, “I see the big clock!” with her unique pronunciation. Luckily there was plenty of traffic volume so that the rest of London didn’t hear that too! The Big Ben is part of the Parliament building. The architecture is beautiful. Also, in that general vicinity is Westminster Abbey. There too is beautiful architecture. Unfortunately, by the time we got to Westminster Abbey, they were no longer allowing tourists in for the day. That is someplace that, if time allows, we will try to get back inside.

Next we walked across the Westminster Bridge and headed to the London Eye. The London Eye is a huge Ferris wheel. In fact, the London Eye is the largest observation wheel ever built. Madeline was thrilled to go on the wheel. The height aspect of the wheel didn’t even faze her as she would sit right along the glass enclosure. Madeline can make a friend anywhere and she had a fun time during the ½ hour ride with another 3 year old girl. The views from atop the London Eye are beautiful.

Finally we walked quite a distance along the River Thames. We ended up getting dinner at a little place that overlooked the river. In fact, we could see St. Paul’s Cathedral directly across the river from where we ate. The restaurant was great because the décor was very nice yet it was *very* kid friendly. David had a burger while Madeline and I shared a shepherd’s pie (yeah, I know Tammy….that is *almost* like a casserole!!) After dinner we walked back over the river via the Millennium Bridge but since it was getting late and cooler outside we took the Tube the remaining three stops back to our flat. I think we will all sleep quite well tonight!!