We were able to get up and get breakfast early enough to hop on the tube to get to the Tower of London by the time it opened. I again got breakfast from the convenience store rather than in the hotel restaurant like the rest of the family. It was nice to get out and walk around in the morning to get my breakfast. I was also surprised that during my walk I saw a Lamborghini that had been parked on the street overnight. I guess when you have too much money that’s a normal thing to do…

Tower of London

We had purchased our tickets for the Tower of London online and I had printed our vouchers the night before, but we still had to pick up the actual tickets. All the ticket offices were still closed for same day purchase and group sales. The lines were also pretty long. I got in line while my wife took the kids and my dad to the nearby weclome which was open.

Luckily she thought to ask about our tickets. They said they could print them out there. She quickly ran outside to get me and we had our tickets in hand within minutes. WIN!

We proceeded to wait in the line for the entrance. We were about 10 minutes before opening time and there was about a hundred people in front of us. Once the line started moving it didn’t take us long to get through, though. We had to have our bags scanned and we went through metal detectors as was standard at most places we visited.

From what we had read, we needed to go straight to the display of the Crown Jewels as that line gets long quickly. We headed straight there and luckily found no line. It took us about 20 minutes to go through all the rooms and exhibits. While looking at jewelry isn’t often high on our list of things to see, it was definitely worthwhile. Even the kids grudgingly understood the uniqueness.

After seeing the crown jewels we visited the Fusilier Museum. In this museum they displayed weapons used throughout the years throughout the British empire. Tomatico was pretty interested in reading about the swords and knives and relating to the American Revolutionary War. It was around Patriot’s Day back home and it was what he was learning about in school.

Patriots Day is a state holiday in Maine and Massachusetts commemorating the start of the Revolutionary war. It’s a big holiday as it’s the day of the Boston Marathon and there are numerous re-enactments of battles that happened. The famous “Shot heard ’round the world” battle on Lexington green is a draw every year. We used to live in a house where Boy Scout troops would march through nearby towns with “minutemen” periodically firing their muskets (blanks of course) in a call to arms. A must do for anyone with even a little interest in the revolutionary war!

Back in London… As we exited the museum we saw on the schedule that there was a historical tour that was about to start. There were volunteers dressed in period clothes and gear. As the tour progressed they took us to many parts of the fort (the Tower of London is more of a fort than an actual tower). There were “re-enactments” of things that happened at different time periods politically and socially. Near the beginning of the tour they called for a volunteer to hold the flag. Guess who forgot to “step back”… The boys absolutely loved that I was the one that was chosen.

The tour was really excellent and educational. The kids were extremely engaged and learned a lot. It lasted about 45 minutes and ended where it started next to the central armory building. At that point the kids were hungry for a snack so my dad and I went into the White Tower building which housed 4 floors worth of armor. Some of it was quite unique and ornate. I can’t imagine having to move around with that on.

When we were done, we met the family outside the Fusilier Museum. Tomatico had wanted to see that one again while we were looking at the armory. We quickly checked out the Bloody Tower which is one of the areas inside the exterior walls but the kids were losing interest and wanted to go back to play in the park so we split up.

Tower Bridge

The iconic tower bridge is just a few steps from the Tower of London.

You can pay for tickets to go to the top, but we decided to just walk across the bridge for free. We couldn’t imagine the views would be very spectacular from the top given the price. The bridge itself is really unique and is still functional. They still open it up to let larger ships through, though that didn’t happen while we were there. The purpose idea is that the platform at the top allows pedestrian traffic to continue to cross even when the bridge is open.

Churchill War Rooms

By this time it was getting towards lunch time so we found a quick bite. We decided to try going to the Churchill War Rooms bunker museum. We had tried going our first full day in London but the line was too long at the time. We hoped it would be better this time as it was a weekday instead of a weekend.

We hopped on the tube and once at the museum found there was about a 30 minute wait so we decided to stay. We were essentially in a standby line. There was another line for people with reserved tickets and scheduled tour groups. The museum is popular and there’s a limited amount of space inside so they have to limit the number of people inside at one time. I would definitely recommend reserving tickets online.

We eventually got inside and paid our admission which came with an audio tour. The bulk of the museum is in some restored bunkers that were used during World War II by Churchill and the military leadership. All the big decisions related to the war were held in those rooms. The audio tour gave a real sense of what life was like in the bunkers. The rooms were all set up like they were during the war and was very immersive. I had visited the museum the first time I visited London and it was even more impressive the second time because I knew a lot more about the history.

Additionally, the first time I visited I completely missed a large section of the museum. There was a separate area dedicated to Churchill and his life that was connected to the the bunker rooms, but was around a corner that I obviously had missed the previous time. The section was quite interesting. Churchill was a fascinating personality! My dad and I spend about 2 hours enjoying the entire museum.

Soccer Ball Drama

On the evening of our first full night when we took the water ferry to Canary Wharf we had a bag full of our sports equipment, including a football, soccer ball and frisbee that we bring on all our trips. We realized on our way home from dinner that night that we didn’t have the bag. In our excitement it had been left on the ferry, hopefully not creating a security incident for whomever found it!

Tomatico was especially bummed about it. He wanted us to try to get it back, but we really had no idea where to check, who to call, or any desire to waste hours of precious vacation time tracking that down. The balls weren’t all that nice anyways.

After splitting up at the Tower of London, my wife took the kids to get a new soccer ball on the way to the park. Apparently there are a lot more options for balls in London than there are in your basic sporting goods store back in the US. There was even a little piece of turf in the store to “test” the ball. For some reason they chose a ball from Portugal but they love that ball and it’s lasted through a couple seasons so far. It wasn’t much more expensive than we’d pay at home. I guess they make them better in Europe!

The Evening

After the Churchill War Rooms museum I texted my wife and found they were still playing in Green park near the hotel. We walked through St. James park to meet up with them before we all headed back to the hotel.

In our room, we rested for a little bit before Tomatico went with me for dinner. Our youngest wanted to eat Indian food so he went with my wife to find something. My dad wasn’t hungry again so he retired to his room for the night to catch up on some sleep.

Tomatico wanted pasta so we went to find a nearby pizza place for dinner. It was a 10 minute walk to find the place, Mayfair Pizza. He really enjoyed his pasta and I had a pretty decent pizza.

After dinner I texted my wife to see where they were. They had difficultly finding an Indian place that looked appealing and ended up back on Carnaby Street where we had eaten the first night. I checked on Google Maps and it was another 10 minute walk to get there and we eventually found them. It was pretty crowded as the bars were overflowing into the (closed off) streets with people who had just gotten off work.

We decided to go find some ice cream for desert and ended up at a gelato place called Snowflake Luxury Gelato. We learned later that it’s a chain and we had actually been to the one near Times Square in NYC before. It’s very artful and decent gelato at that. Still not as good as the best we had in Rome, though. We’re spoiled!

After dessert we ended up walking back to the hotel and headed to bed. I’d check with my dad in the morning, hoping he’d be recovered by then.