Day 45/366

Feb 21, 2024
3 min read

Appu has taken the rest of the week off so we decided to go to London today. The train from where we stay takes about 30 mins to reach London Victoria Station. The girls wanted to see the Buckingham palace so we decided to get them to see the 'change of guards' parade (pictures above) too. The walk from London Victoria station to the palace was about 12 mins but the crowd there was massive. I guess it must be because of school mid term break. Appu and I had to carry our girls on our shoulders for them to see at the least a bit of what was happening. We watched for about 30 mins and then decided to leave. From the palace we took another underground train to get to Natural History Museum (picture below). The entry to this museum is free but again we hadn't anticipated the long queue to get into the museum. There was apparently an option that we hadn't know , which especially is highly recommended during peak season, to book slots online. This again was free but it meant we wouldn't have to wait in the queue. But it was too late and all the slots for the day was already fully booked. We had bought lunch after getting off at the tube station so as we waited for around an hour in the queue, we had our lunch. I must say the girls were extremely patient and we somehow managed to make it into the museum.

First sight inside and the girls were thrilled. My younger one wanted to go to the washroom so we did that before we started walking around the museum. The museum is huge and you can get a map for 1 pound. It would easily take us at the least 4 hours to finish seeing all of it. We decided to take it as it comes and decide to leave when the girls start losing interest. But again, my girls, though at some point they did mention they were tired, never wanted to leave until the had seen it all. We kept taking short breaks as and when needed and was done by around 4.30pm. We had a little treat at the cafe inside the museum while Appu had some calls to make. On our way back to the station, my older one wanted to have bubble tea (picture below) so we got one from a shop named Bubbleology. It was very nice and refreshing.

We had initially planned to go back home and have dinner but since it was getting late, Appu suggested we have dinner before we board the train back home. We went to a popular chain of retaurants named Wagamama. It serves asian food inspired by the Japanese cuisine. The girls and we enjoyed our meals. At the station, there was the turkish sweets stall, the one from where Appu had got me boxes last week. I bought a box (picture below) of few that looked nice to have in the train on our ride back home. My older one has a sweet tooth like me so she took a bite of some. Appu and I had the rest. The girls at this point were extremely tired but kept awake till we got home. After quick shower and prayers, the girls went to bed. Appu and I watched some movie on Netflix for a while before hitting the sack.