When Walking Through Cheapside...

Mummy says that if you're walking down Cheapside, you must stop at St. Paul's. I think she's right!

This is us just before we got on the train, and then me and Mummy on the train in our Christmas jumpers!

Yesterday, we took the train down to London again. We visited St. Paul's Cathedral, which was really cool. We didn't spend a whole lot of time in the main part of the cathedral, cause Mummy and Daddy had been there before. But we did climb up to the top of the dome!

To get up to the Whispering Gallery, you have to climb 257 steps. Whew--that was a lot of steps! Luckily, Daddy carried me in the tummy pack, so it wasn't any work for me! The Whispering Gallery is really cool. They call it a Whispering Gallery because you can hear someone whispering from the opposite side the dome, no matter how big it is! In St. Paul's, the Whispering Gallery is huge and decorated with beautiful gold mosaics. I wish we could have taken pictures inside.

After the Whispering Gallery, we climbed up 119 more steps to the Stone Gallery. This is outside of the building, right at the base of the dome. I loved that part! The wind was blowing my hair all over the place, and we could see all of London from up there! It was also fun to look up at the dome. Did you know, that when Sir Christopher Wren first presented his idea of the design for St. Paul's in 1673 they told him he couldn't do a dome? So, he built things around the middle of the building while men were working on it, and built it in secret! Then when they were all done, there was nothing they could do!

Here we are on the Stone Gallery. Whew so windy, but so much fun! Can you spot the London Eye?

Mummy says a lot of people won't believe that, so I need to tell you where I learned that (she says that's called "citing your sources"). It's from a letter that Christopher Wren's son wrote. I think that is really cool, though.

Anyway, after the stone gallery, we climbed 152 more steps to the Golden Gallery, which is at the very top of the dome! I was amazed at everything we could see from there. We saw the London Eye, The Globe Theatre, the Houses of Parliament, the Gherkin, The Shard---lots of things! London is really a HUGE city.

On the Golden Gallery at the top. Do you see the London Eye again?

After we went to the tip top of St. Paul's (528 steps in all!), we went down to the very bottom: the crypt. They bury people in the crypt! I thought it was going to be creepy, but it wasn't--it was actually very beautiful. There are some very famous people buried in St. Paul's Crypt. Their graves in St. Paul's are really big and fancy. There were two that Mummy and Daddy told me about:

1. Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson
2. The Duke of Wellington

Do you know how they are? Well, Lord Nelson was the man that beat the French and Spanish Navies at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. He was injured in the battle, but kept on fighting--until he died in the middle of the battle. Mummy said that he is a great hero in England. Mostly, I think he's cool because he only had one arm and he was still fighting!

The Duke of Wellington is also a special guy--he defeated Napoleon! He is another important British Hero, that Mummy says I better not ever forget (I won't!). ***

After the Crypt, we bought some souvenirs, then headed out the door to the Museum of London!

The Lamp in the Victorian town. 

The Museum of London is seriously just down the street from St. Paul's. It is seriously an amazing museum! It tells you all about the history of London, the city, from before humans lived there, until today. I asked Mummy and Daddy what their favorite parts were:

1. Daddy: His favorite part was seeing a Roman Eagle that was recently discovered in London, in September actually! A lot of people say it is one of the best pieces of Roman art ever found--it's in almost perfect condition. (I wish we had a picture of it, but you can see it and read about it in the article I posted on here)

2. Mummy: Her favorite part was walking through the Victorian Street. The Museum set up a part to look just like a city would during Victorian Times! They had all different kinds of shops, a pump for water (that told you all about the gross things that were in it! EW!), and they also had a real lamp from that time. It was really cool.

3. Me: My favorite part was definitely the model of London's streets. They had a bus, a taxi, and a horse drawn carriage that you could drive along, and underneath they had a tube! It was so cool. I played with it for quite a while before Mummy and Daddy said it was time to go. Oh! And I also really enjoyed listening to the stories of people who lived in London during the Blitz, when the Nazis were bombing it. They had a big room where you could go and sit and watch a video, see pictures, and listen to the people tell what it was like.

By the way--another funny thing they had in the Victorian City part (Mummy's favorite part) was a urinal from the Victorian Times. Daddy explained what a urinal is to me.....huh.

So the Museum of London is definitely on our list of "best places in London." A lot of people don't go there, because it's not very well known outside of London. I Loved it!!

Anyway, after that, we went over to Harrods to see the lights and their Christmas windows. It was so crowded! We didn't stay very long before Mummy and Daddy decided we should go home. Which was good, because I was exhausted!!

Harrods all lit up for Christmas

Here we are on the Tube on our way home. 

***Mummy's note: We didn't get many pictures of us outside of St. Paul's, because it was getting dark by the time we left the Cathedral (it's pitch black outside by 4:30 p.m now) and we wanted to get to the Museum. Daddy promised me that we would go back and get photos outside of the Cathedral another time---we better!!!

Whip-Whip-Whipple Museum!

Today we went to the Whipple Museum. It's all about the history of science! The Whipple Museum is in a set of buildings that were once the Cavendish Laboratories. Some pretty amazing things were discovered there, including the structure of DNA! I'm not really sure what DNA is, but Daddy says it's something to do with our genetics and blood.

My favorite thing was a model of a clock. It's small compared to what the real clock is like, but it was really cool. You can see how the seconds tick by on a clock! Daddy held me up so I could see it and we watching at least 96 seconds tick by.

Besides the clock, there were a bunch of old microscopes. Including one of the first microscopes that an important man named Charles Darwin bought. Daddy told me that Darwin was one of the first guys to talk about evolution and that he studied animals. I don't know anything about evolution, but I LOVE animals, so I'm sure we would have been friends. 

Upstairs, they have a whole collection of globes. That's when I knew this really was a museum designed for Daddy! Daddy loves science and he loves maps and globes. They had some really, really old globes there. One of Daddy's favorites was made out of slate--the continents were outlined, but you could fill in the countries with chalk!

Mummy likes this museum, too, because it's about the history of science, not just science. She found a cool display of horse jaws that showed each stage of a horse's life and how their teeth change. But I think her favorite part was the "Victorian Parlor." They had everything set up how a parlor would be during the Victorian times. She made me put on a silly hat--actually, I look pretty good, don't I?

The Tube is a Great Place for a Nap. And so is Parliament Square.

I found some amazing places to take naps and scenic places to eat while we were in London yesterday. Mum wanted me to sleep while we were on the train, but there were just too many things to see and look at outside the window.

But once we got on the Tube, it was just too long since I woke up--I fell asleep right before our stop at Westminster. 

Mummy carried me for a while, then put me in my stroller with my blanket. I took a nice nap while she and Daddy got through the crowds around the Houses of Parliament. 

I think Mummy was a little bit disappointed that I wasn't awake for when Big Ben told us it was noon, so I decided I better open my eyes so we could take a family picture. 

Mum has told me all about Big Ben and how much she loves to hear the bells. I liked to look around at all the people while they took pictures and ate their lunches at Parliament Square. Watching them made me really hungry through, so Mum and Dad stopped at McDonalds and got food for them, then we headed to St. James' Park for lunch. 

Did you know that St. James' Park is right in front of Buckingham Palace? That's where the Queen lives. Mummy and Daddy said if I want to live there I'm going to have to marry a Princess. I guess that would be ok.

Just as we went through the gates into Green Park, it started to rain. I decided I was tired of being in my stroller and just wanted Mummy to hold me, so I got to ride in the tummy pack and see her pretty umbrella! 

We walked and walked and walked and walked until we finally found the Victoria and Albert Museum, Mummy's favorite Museum in London. I liked it because I got a bottle once we went inside. We wandered around and looked at some of the amazing things in the museum. My favorite part was probably all the silver they have in a big long hallway. 

The Victoria and Albert Museum is HUGE though. Mummy said that we went into parts that she had never seen before--and she's been there dozens of times! One of the places we went that she'd never seen was the baby changing room. I felt very pampered getting changed in there--the changing table is polished marble! All of the tiles in the bathroom are white marble with green in between. The white ones have a V&A on them--it was REALLY fancy. Mummy said she wants her bathroom to look like that someday, except have a D&J. I think that's a good idea!

We were pretty tired after that, so Mummy and Daddy found a bench and sat down. I got a bottle and that put me right to sleep! I'm telling you--there are lots of great places to sleep and eat in London.

After the museum, we looked outside and saw that it had stopped raining! We stopped at the Hyde Park Chapel and then Mummy said she really wanted me to meet Peter Pan, so we headed back to the park. This time, it was to Kensington Gardens. 

Peter Pan was so cool! We were lucky that there weren't a lot of people around, so got to touch the animals and talk to Peter all by myself.

Look at me! I can fly!!

I was hungry again after that (naturally), so Daddy and I sat by the Long Water and had some dinner. Well, I had dinner, anyway.

While I was eating, the craziest thing happened! The tree that was right above us decided that I needed a branch full of beautiful yellow leaves to play with. So, it dropped one right next to me in my stroller. Thanks, tree!!

I pulled of the leaves and examined them one by one. Every leaf is different, did you know that? Then I chewed on the branch. Mummy and Daddy were nice enough to let me do that. I know lots of Mummy and Daddy's aren't that cool.

After that, we went to get dinner for Mum and Dad at a place called Whole Foods. Then, we headed back to Kings' Cross Station, tried to get in to Hogwarts (see my previous post about that), then headed home. 

I was exhausted after such a long day! Mummy gave me a nice bottle on the train and snuggled up with me. The train was very full, though, with lots of interesting people to watch. So, I ate my bottle and kept myself awake. 

Overall, I really enjoyed London. I can see why Mummy loves it so much and why she talks about it all the time. I can't wait to go back!!

The Cold Museum

Mum and Dad took me to a museum today: The Polar Museum, part of the Scott Polar Research Institute. The Museum is the closest one to our house--I thought that's why Mum wanted to go there first, but then when we got there, I realized why.

Mum told me about one of her heroes, Sir Earnest Shackleton, who tried to cross the Antarctic a long time ago. At the Polar Museum, they have some of his clothes, some boxes of food, some of his letters, and other things from his trip. Mum showed me his coat and told me about how brave he was, how they had to eat their doggies (oh no! I don't think I could ever eat Edie!), and how they were rescued after a very long time in the snow.

My favorite part of the museum was looking at the penguins. Mum said they used to be alive but now they are behind the glass case so I can see what they really look like.

I also really liked pulling the drawers open to see the letters and things inside.

Mum and Dad put a really big hat and goggles on my head. They said that's what people wear when they go to the Antarctic or the Arctic because it's so cold. Mum said that in the olden times, the men would wrap themselves up in coats made out of animal fur.

Outside, Dad showed me the harpoon gun. It's so cool! I wish I could harpoon a whale--one like Moby Dick!