Day 4-Tuesday, January 8:  Aquarium and Westminster Abby

Today we decided to do something for the Punkin instead of dragging her to another art gallery (not that she minded, she was mastering using her stroller as a walker).  We went to the Aquarium. This is located at the base of the London Eye and nobody in London has ever heard of it.  Fortunately I had seen it from the boat on Sunday and so I knew exactly where it was, but getting oriented coming off the Tube was a challenge.  We finally found it, and went in.  As expected, Genevieve loved it–not only the fish but also the other kids. It wasn’t the best aquarium we’ve ever been to (Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Vancouver Aquarium are much better) but it was good for Genevieve.

After the aquarium we walked to the Westminster Abby across the bridge.  I needed a cup of coffee and went to street vendor.  Ever had an instant cappuccino?  My advice–just say no!  The vendor was a bit strange too and gave me a complimentary thing of ice cream.  Hello?!  It’s freezing out here! So I had to hold the darn thing because there were no rubbish bins close by.  Bet he does that to all the tourists, he must think it’s great fun.

We really liked Westminster Abby.  It was everything St. Paul’s wasn’t and I’m not sure why.  But it was cool to see so many graves and the coronation throne and the chapel with the WWII pilots commemorated in stained glass.

It was now past lunch time but Genevieve was napping and there weren’t any good restaurants close by anyhow so we went on to the British Museumwhich hosts antiquities.  We found an American style diner to have lunch at–I know, I know but by now it was about 3:00 and it was the first suitable place we found.

After lunch we went to the museum.  Very nice and we got to see the Rosetta stone, which I hadn’t know was there.  The only beef I have is that the museums close so early–5:30 or 6:00, most of them, which doesn’t leave much time for latecomers like us.  Once the museum closed we took the tube to the Bond Street stop, which was near the cool Tesco.  And so back to our hotel for dinner and sleep!

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