With the Eurostar to the Thames

I started this week a double function at work (covering for the maternity leave of one of my colleagues on top of my own function) so I'll face a very busy time ahead with little opportunity to take some time off.  So I was checking the agenda 2 weeks ago and noticed that previous Friday had no meetings yet. Jan could also free himself . So I quickly decided we had to take this opportunity and get a long weekend away to escape and reload before I'd have to submerge myself into the busy madness.

After searching weather websites, flight prices, tripadvisor comments on different European cities etc... I decided London would be an easy and nice destination. Both Jan and I know the city very well since he's lived there for years but much to my amazement, I had not been there anymore in the last 5 years! Holy moly, time flies. Anyway the children had never been in London yet, so it was time to introduce them. (And I joked to myself that we'd better go now, before Brexit would require us visa applications to go across the Channel)

The great advantage of London is that you can get there by train in only a couple of hours.  The train is an ideal means of transport when travelling with little children: they don't need to be strapped up immobile for a long time;  they can eat, sleep, go to the bathroom at whenever moment, etc.  On top of that "high speed trains" that run under the sea are attractive to the imagination of toddlers. 

We had left on the late Thursday evening train so we were all ready straight for bed when we arrived in the hotel. But this way we had the luxury of sleeping in (to the limited degree the children allowed us to do so), having a lazy morning without rush and enjoying a full day in the British capital. The alternative of getting up really really early on Friday morning to get on one of the first trains seemed way less relax. And the point of this trip was relaxing and having fun without stress.

Good morning London!

It was freaking cold to explore the city: a foggy mist, simmering rain/snow and an icy cold wind. We needed hats, scarfs and gloves and were all whining from the cold after a while.

We explored the Jubilee walk along the Thames between Westminster and the Tower Bridge. We passed by the London Eye, the Southbank center, The OXO tower wharf, the Tate Modern Museum where we really had to warm up again, Shakespeare's Globe , the Borough market , ...
Kabouter enjoyed Big Ben "the tower of Cars!!!", the "pirate ship" at one of the wharfs, the boats on the river, etc...

We had just eaten before visiting Borough Market, which was a good thing since the temptations for so much delicious food at the market were invading all our senses. At the same time it was a pity as we were not to be able to try all these delicacies. But it was simply too cold to have a lunch outside on the market so I was glad we had opted to have a seated lunch in one of the traditional pubs with the children.  Nevertheless I hope to come back to Borough Market once on a warmer day at lunch time with empty stomac. I envied the people that worked in an office nearby.

Borough market

By the time we reached the tower bridge we had 2 sleeping children with us and we could speed up our walk a bit to keep warm. However we had promised Kabouter to take the river bus to go back to Westminster and he had whined with every passing boat when we'd take the boat...so we had to wake him up again at the Tower of London to ensure he'd experience the promised boat trip awake.  

I must say I was really impressed by the comfort of the boats and I fell in love with this way of moving around through the city: much nicer and more comfortable than taking the bus, metro or cab. Too bad there are not more rivers crossing the city to allow more river bus itineraries :).