You can click on my Flickr page in the right margin if you haven't already to view the photos from the UK. We have had an overly busy week here with fighting jet-lag, unpacking, laundry, preparing for our 2nd annual homeschool facilitator visit, a garage sale, a first communion, and replacing our laminate countertops with granite. I am currently sitting amongst the clutter that is my kitchen cupboards. It is amazing what we can stuff into these cupboards and drawers and ignore for nearly ten years. The most frightening was pulling the oven away from the wall. We found some long lost fimo treasures, loads of grease, and plenty of dust bunnies. Tomorrow at this time I will have shiny new countertops and hopefully my clutter will be back in it's place.
So, some highlights from our amazing trip.
We spent six nights in London, where we toured the city and all that it offers. We purchased Hop-On-Hop-Off tickets through the Original Sightseeing Tour of London. We rode the double decker buses to all the city attractions. We saw the Queen's Horses, watched the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace, toured Kensington Palace's state apartments including Queen Victoria's and Queen Mary's living quarters, a small collection of the late Lady Diana's dresses, and a temporary exhibit featuring the debutante's of London from the earlier 20th century. We visited Harrod's and Hamley's (world's largest toy store), had pizza at Pizza Express complete with Bambinoccino's, strolled through Hyde Park and Kensington Park, visited the Lady Diana Memorial Fountain and played at her Memorial Playground.
We saw Westminster Abby, the clock tower with Big Ben, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, St. Paul's Cathedral, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, etc. etc....
We took a cruise on the Thames River (included with your Hop-On-Hop-Off ticket), took a ride on the London Eye (amazing! especially since there wasn't a cloud in the sky that day), stopped in to check out Shakespeare's Globe Theater and watched a live performance of "As You Like It". Very Cool!! Then, we strolled across Millennium Bridge and stopped for fish and chips and a "London Feast" .
We spent two days touring the countryside of England. On the first day we visited the University of Oxford including Christchurch, (where one of the highlights for the kids was a staircase featured in one of the Harry Potter films), Stratford-Upon-Avon to visit Shakespeare's birthplace, then onto the amazing Warwick Castle to see medieval life in action, and a pleasant drive through the Cotswold.
On the second day we visited and toured Windsor Castle, Stonehendge, and the town of Bath to see the Abby and tour the Roman Baths.
The last 8 days of our trip were spent in Scotland with the first being in the city of Edinburgh and the last 7 days in Aviemore/Coylumbridge. We toured the Old and New town of Edinburgh on a double decker Hop-On-Hop-Off tour with a stop to tour the Edinburgh Castle and a stroll down the Royal Mile. A very scenic, quaint and beautiful city.
From Edinburgh we drove to Aviemore and from there we took daytrips to places such as Loch Ness for a cruise and to see the Urquhart Castle, Fort George (a working military fort), Fort William to take a ride on the Hogwart's Express to the town of Mallaig (yes, the actual train featured in the Harry Potter films with the actual aqueduct! Check the pictures!!), and a trip to Dundee to see where Grandma grew up.
I was very impressed with how child friendly all the tours were. Entrance fees almost always included an audio tour with a children's channel, the University of Oxford included a booklet for children to work through as they toured the chapel searching for specific aspects of the architecture while the guides were always eager to point out child friendly sites such as a stained glass window inspired by Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll who was once a student at Oxford and the little door that was inspiration for the rabbit to come out of. The Hop-On-Hop-Off tours in Edinburgh included a Horrible Histories channel for children, and the Loch Ness boat tours gave the children a complimentary drawstring bag with activity books in it.
The sites we visited were made more meaningful with our read-alouds. For example, the Globe Theatre where Jack and Annie of the Magic Treehouse books had one of their adventures, or the Waterhorse in Loch Ness, or the Bogart and the Monster when there was an explosion at Urquhart Castle, or Good Queen Bess with Queen Elizabeth the First. We also listened to Horrible Histories cd's as we drove and played Harry Potter card games on the Hogwarts Express. There are so many fun ways to make a trip meaningful and educational for children rather than just having them tag-along.
