London Eye

After dinner we walked Leicester Square area past Trafalgar Square to the London Eye. This is a giant Ferris wheel on the Thames River across from the Houses of Parliament that offers great views of the city. The Eye is celebrating its 20 years this year as it was built for the milllenium. 

Each pod holds 25 people and it takes about 30 minutes to make the entire loop. Some cars have special themes like pianos and theaters and it’s the site of many proposals!

We had a few students who opted out of the trip and watched from down below with one of our adults so if you don’t see your child in these pictures that may be why!

Westminster Abbey (where Kate and William got married)

The Shard is the tallest building in London. 

The Thames

Tomorrow we are off to Bath and Stonehenge. Kids are excited to be back at the hotel and finally get to go to sleep. They have been troopers today as we accomplished so much!

Until tomorrow!

Icons of London

How exciting that on our very first day we would get to see so many of the things synonymous with Britain!

Double decker busses

Taxis driving on the left side of the road

Red telephone booths

The underground

Tea

And then some things that make you go hmmm...that wasn’t what I expected!

Chinatown-

I guess an alternative to chicken and waffles?

And an interesting outfit choice!

Fish and Chips

Dinner is typical British fare - fish and chips. Even though the kids are exhausted (see evidence below) the general verdict was it was yummy. Dessert was waffles. 

Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square

Our first stop was Piccadilly Circus. This is like Times Square in New York City. Historically it serves as a meeting point in the city where they used to make the feather collars worn in the 1700s. Now it is filled with tourist shops, American restaurants, theaters, and big brand stores like LEGO, M&Ms and so on. We gave the kids some free time to shop and watch the street entertainers. 

We walked up a ways into Leicester (pronounce it Lester) Square. This is kind of like the Broadway area of NYC. In London this is called the West End area. Around the square is the Odean theater, which is where all major British movies premiere. Also found a neat statue of Mary Poppins!

We gave the kids half an hour here to shop before we head to dinner.  

Hotel and Tube

Our hotel is in the Kensington area of London right downtown. It’s typically British with a small lobby (we filled the whole thing up!). It took us about 30 minutes to get all the kids up the elevators (or lifts) as each one only holds about 3 kids and suitcases. The tube station is about a  4 minute walk which will be super convenient!

The kids are in a mix of triples and quads. Here’s a typical double room. 

After our luggage drop our tour director Orane gave the kids directions for our first tube ride. 

Our nearest station is a large one, and multiple levels. We taught the kids how to ride the tube and headed up towards Picadilly Circus. 

Learning how to read a metro map. 

Trip leaders and Orane.