Europe Day 2

Well today was supposed to be a big sight seeing day… only I woke up at 11:30 am. Yikes! This was definitely not the plan. I bought tickets to Buckingham palace and by 12:15, we were on our way to the tube station. There was a tense moment when the machine wouldn’t take my credit card, but then I tried the next machine and it worked. It was a big relief. And then we were on our way. 

The train ride was short and uneventful. We were able to find the entrance of Buckingham Palace really easily. We each got an audio guide, which was awesome. We weren’t allowed to take pictures during the tour but it was awesome. The kids were really engaged with their audioguide, as it was very interactive. We finished the tour a little after 2 and needed to be at the Palace Theater by 3:30 for a Harry Potter walking tour. It’s really unfortunate I woke up late as today is the only day Buckingham Palace and the Royal Mews are open for our trip, which means we won’t be able to see the Royal Mews. In hindsight, we should have skipped the walking tour and done the Royal Mews instead but considering we booked the walking tour, despite it being free, I felt bad cancelling. 

After the Buckingham Palace tour we walked around to the front to take pictures. It ended up being quite the hike around the palace grounds. We didn’t have far to go to the Palace Theater train stop. By this point, the kids are a little food we had in the hotel room, but otherwise, we hadn’t eaten. They were such troopers. We had a bit of time to kill at Palace Theater so we stopped by McDonalds, so they could have a quick burger before the 2 hour tour. Well atleast we   tried but the machine kept asking me for a PIN and I didn’t have it. Super frustrating. The other credit card I had was a Discover card, which it didn’t take. I wasn’t able to order using the mobile app. And I only had 1 pound on me. Basically, the kids weren’t getting burgers. I texted Joel, who was able to sort out the pin, but unfortunately by the time he did, we were already on the tour. The kids said they weren’t very hungry anyway, so I guess I lucked out there. 

The Harry Potter tour was ok. The guide was entertaining but it was a bit more geared towards adults. The kids were the only kids on the tour, actually. But we all learned more about Harry Potter. 

When the tour finished, Joel was nearly in Trafalger Square waiting for us. It was good for the kids to see him. We are dinner in Chinatown, which was such a busy place. 

We left our hotel around 12:15 this morning and got home around 8:00. I ended up a few steps shy from 12k. Not too bad but probably would’ve been better had we gotten up on time!