Wonders of London

Having been brought up close to London, and commuted there every day for a time, it’s easy to take the UK’s capital for granted. But having lived abroad for many years I’ve come to re-appreciate what a fantastic city it is.

As a kid, my family and I used to make regular day trips to London to take in the sights (my father worked there for British Rail, which meant we could take advantage of both free train travel and his almost encyclopaedic knowledge of the city).

We went everywhere, visiting many of its most famous sights: we had trips to the Natural History and Imperial War Museums, to Hampton Court Palace, Kew Gardens and the Greenwich Observatory, saw Buckingham Palace and the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London, had tours of Tower Bridge and HMS Belfast, Madame Tussauds and the London Planetarium. They were great days, and have left me with wonderful memories.

So it was exciting to take my daughters to London last week for their first visit.

With youngsters it’s easy to attempt to do too much – London is such a big city, and has such a wealth of things to see, that you can get carried away. So we tried to keep it simple.

First stop, Buckingham Palace. Brought up on a diet of Disney princesses, it seemed appropriate we should show them a bit of real-life royalty. So we duly joined the hordes of tourists by the gates and admired the palace frontage and watchful guards. No sign of a tiara-ed monarch though.

We then caught one of London’s famous red buses up to Regent’s Park to reach London Zoo. It’s been decades since I was last there, and I only had a vague memory of the place. It’s hard not to wonder if you’re doing the right thing when you see some of the animals in such confined spaces, especially the lions and tigers. But there is the valuable conservation work the Zoo undertakes. And you have to hope such visits are fostering an interest in, and appreciation for, the natural world among all those delighted children. 

And the best bit of the day for our kids? Well, there was seeing the gorillas. But I sense the £2 bus ride just edges it!

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