We went to the Science Museum first. It was a great museum! We stared on the top floor, which was probably a mistake, as it had some video game style interactive activities. Bennett played for quite a while, until Caroline complained enough. Then we went to an exhibit learning all about us. There were maybe 2 dozen interactive stations where we learned all about humans, from puberty, to healthy lifestyles, personality traits, memory, everything! It was great. We could’ve spent all day here going from station to station. Bennett even learned about male and female development, from conception until old age. I thought he’d be embarrassed by it, as we were watching it together, but he just took it all in and moved on.
The museum was massive but there was really a lot of dead space between exhibits. It just took so long to walk around. After all the interactive games, the rest of the museum was just ok. We ended up spending about 3 hours there!
After, we walked nextdoor to the Natural History museum. I thought the science museum was massive but it was nothing compared to this one. So many exhibits, so much walking. This museum was definitely more crowded than the first. There was just a corridor dedicated to taxidermy birds, another hall dedicated to sea mammals, then insects, gems, hoofed animals. Just everything! Unfortunately, the one taxidermies animal Bennett wanted to see, the bat, wasn’t in display. He said this museum has the largest collection of bay species but that part of the mammal exhibit was closed to refurbish the animals. Such a bummer! Especially because we spent about 30 mins looking for it. The museum is just that big and the map was just that vague. And Caroline was just that tired and scowled the whole time.
When I think about, part of the problem is, we never really stop to eat. We (probably mostly me) are always on the go. We stopped at the science museum but they only had a cold ham sandwich, which Caroline claimed had moist bread (from the ham) and she just couldn’t eat it… but she ate the teeny piece of ham in the sandwich. Ugh. I mean, sure, valid point but that’s why people eat it as a sandwich, so they don’t taste the moist bread. Anyway, probably an hour earlier we went past the T-Rex restaurant, with pizza, so we went back and of course, they were closed. OF COURSE. So we compromised and the kids got a brownie to share.
After the natural history museum, I forced my kids to go to the V and A. I was just short of dragging Caroline there, but they both made it VERY clearly they didn’t want to go. Caroline was now a level past scowling. She just stopped talking and grunted a lot. We saw a few things, watched some influences pose with the art (literally pose after pose for pictures, it was ridiculous) and then left.
It was raining when we decided to leave, but we’d letting up. My plan was to go to Harrods for dinner before heading back to the hotel. Harrods was about a 10 minute walk away… or 2 minute taxi ride. We embarrassingly took the taxi. It was well worth the £6. The kids were very happy.
Harrods is a labyrinth. It’s insane. I don’t think there’s really a map. It took me a while to realize that each fashion designer had their own room there, and Harrods was just a collection of rooms, at least for the first few floors. Somehow we found the food hall. I didn’t realize there was a food hall, but knew it had restaurants. Anyway, the hostess asked us where we wanted to be seated and I asked what the options were. One option was pasta, to which Caroline’s eyes lit up and she quickly said, “Pasta!” So we were less through the elegant food hall to the cutest high top table. Then we got the menu. Of course there wasn’t a kids meau, and the dishes were all over £30. When in Rome, I guess. I sheepishly asked the server if there was a spaghetti and meatball equivalent because nothing was similar on the menu, and he said they could make one. Then I asked for a recommendation and he pointed to a popular chicken pasta, so that’s what I got. He seemed very miffed that we just wanted the two dishes and no drinks. Judging by the suuuupppeeerrr fancy girl wearing a Chanel tweed suit with a massive diamond on her finger, sitting next to who I hope was her dad and not husband, I’m sure weren’t not his ideal customers. Whatever! Not my problem. We just want £30 spaghetti and meatballs, ok?! The more I think about it, he was just not a great server. He never offered water, we had to ask another server for some, who was super kind and chatty, asking us about our day.
While we were waiting for our food, I quickly texted Joel and apologized for the crazy expensive meal the kids and I were about to eat. I have to admit I was a little excited to be eating there though. It was so cute! And really, if Chanel tweed suit is a few tables away from J.Crew shirt wearing me, then who is the idiot? I actually felt really good about this because during our meal, an equally plain couple sat next to us and shared a salad and pasta. Then as we were leaving, two guys sat down wearing graphic tees. We were totally fine!
The pasta was unwhelming. I had the spIcy paccheri chicken cacciatore With Taggiasche olives, red bell pepper and chilli. It was fine. Just fine. The sauce was nice. Noodles were nice. Chicken was awful. Back in college I used to make a one pot meal, where I’d throw a package of cheesy rice and chicken, frozen chicken breast and broccoli into a pot. When the chicken defrosted and cooked, the food was done. The chicken always ended up kinda rubbery, but it was fine because I didn’t have to spend time defrosting it, so I wasn’t picky. That meal cost maybe $5. This meal cost £29 and had THE SAME chicken that tasted both rubbery and boiled. How does that make sense? The kids shared the spaghetti and meatballs, which was actually mafalde and beef meatballs with creamy stracciatella & a datterini tomato sauce. Caroline was disgusted by the stracciatella, but I thought it tasted nice. Like fancy ricotta. Splitting the dish was the way to go, as neither finished their half of the meal. Bennett actually didn’t like the meatballs at all, because they were chewy to him. He also thought the pasta looked like brains, and he wasn’t wrong. So there you go. The meal was just under £70 and if we had a choice, wouldn’t eat there again, even if we were wearing Chanel tweed suits.
After we are, the kids had energy again. We wandered a bit and found the famous Egyptian escalators. We rode it to the top, then walked around the kids area which had quite a large toy section. The people up there were super kind. There were many cheerful employees showing off toys. One offered to give Caroline a fancy ombré sparkly tattoo, but Caroline isn’t a tattoo girl, so she declined. Then we rode the escalator back down… only to ride it all the way to the top and back down again. I think maybe there were 6 floors? Could be 7 including the basement. They loved it. The basement had a Harrods gift shop. The kids begged for the cute stuffed animals but Caroline already got a corgi from Buckingham Palace and Bennett got an owl on the Harry Potter tour. We do not need any more stuffed animals. Joel was able to meet us for 5 minutes. That raised everyone’s spirits. Then he left for a conference banquet and we walked the mile home.
Poor Caroline cried on the walk home because she wanted a stuffed bear so badly. I think she was just exhausted, as she had pretty much stopped talking after dinner, and didn’t talk that much since the V and A, around 4:00. Her feet hurt and Bennett said his heels hurt on the walk home. We had nearly 17k steps today so that makes sense. We stopped at the grocery store on the way home because we were out of water. Caroline DID NOT want to go, but she got a cupcake out of it. It was a fondant covered cupcake. I was worried she didn’t know what fondant was, but she said she had had it before and loved it.
Our night ended with some much needed screentime in the hotel room. We left for the museums around 10:30 am and got back to the hotel a little before 7:30, so they needed to zone out. Tomorrow is our last full day in London, so we have to fit a lot in, which means a lot more walking!
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