London

 

We just finished spending a week in London on our way to Valencia. Our thought was to use our time there as a bit of a buffer- a chance to get over jet lag so that we could hit the ground running once we reached Spain. And I would say our time in London was exactly that! While we enjoyed seeing the sights, the weather was cold and rainy for most of our stay and it took several days for all of us to recover from jet lag. By the end of the week, we were definitely counting down the minutes until we could swap our raincoats for warmer weather in Valencia.

But even with the gray skies and a few hiccups, we really did have a great time and managed to explore several different areas of the city. I had been looking forward to afternoon tea but I wasn't sure how the boys would end up feeling about it. I should have known that scones and pastries make everything fun- especially as a way to escape the dreary weather!

We stayed at an Airbnb close to Paddington Station and Kensington Gardens, which ended up being the perfect home base. Even when it was misty, we loved getting to walk through the gardens and Hyde Park most days to get some fresh air. The boys loved visiting the Tower of London- they were very fascinated with all the weapons in the White Tower there. And we couldn't visit London without seeing Buckingham Palace and Big Ben. Henry's favorite was going to King's Cross. He and David had just finished the first Harry Potter book right before we left, so seeing Platform 9 3/4 was very exciting for him. 

It wasn't "the best trip ever," but it was exactly what we need to kick off our adventure!