London Day 4

Finally - the end of the week! This morning the children were asked to pack their own suitcases. You'd think some of them had been asked to fly to the moon. They had no idea. Fortunately Ellie did hers no problem at all. Once we'd got them all out of the hotel we walked across the road to the Natural History Museum. They spent an hour in the Investigate Centre. Above is Ellie looking scientific.

Then after a few galleries, the shop and lunch it was back on the coach and home. Hooray! All over for Ellie, and all over for me until next year (maybe).

London Day 3

Yesterday I didn't get to bed until gone midnight so no time for blogging. So here is my report on London, Day 3. It rained pretty much all day. That thin drizzly sort of rain that gets you wet before you even realise. Fortunately we were indoors most of the day. We started with a visit to the Imperial War Museum. Their schools entrance was tiny and they were trying to get about four schools in and out at any one time so it was chaotic and stressful. There were so many schools there it was heaving everywhere you went. The Blitz Experience was good but other than that I couldn't wait to get out of there.

After lunch it was off to the Science Museum. Much calmer. The children had time to look properly and to sketch and find out things. Ellie is above, sketching some form of 20th century transport. Can't remember what. I've barely had time to talk to her all week.


In the evening we all went to see 'Wicked'. This is Ellie all dressed up in her posh clothes with her room mates. We like to make them dress up. It's a proper occassion going to see a West End show. They looked lovely. The loved the show. I did too and I've seen it four times now!

London Day 2

Today was completely knackering. We have walked for miles. We started the day with a tour of the Houses of Parliament. My group lucked out and got the boring guided, but Ellie's group had a good one by all accounts. Then it was off to St Pauls. Four hundred odd steps to the Whispering Gallery and Stone Gallery. Ellie and her friends are on the Stone Gallery in the photo above.

Then the BIG WALK. Across the Millenium bridge, all the way down the Southbank to the Eye. There were road works so we had to take a long detour. After the flight on the Eye we walked across Westminster Bridge, up past Downing Street and into Trafalgar Square. Once there we all collapsed onto the bus.

After tea it was back out again. A tour of London by night, with a few quick stops along the way. We walked across Tower Bridge. More road works on the pavement meant we had to cross the road. Hair raising. And we also stopped by Buckingham Palace for a photo. The Queen was in so we waved. Some of the children even think they saw her look out of the window.

Ellie is fast asleep now and I think I'll have a job waking her up in the morning.

London Day 1

Ellie and I are in London at the moment on a residential with Year 5. Ellie has been looking forward to this for ages. We left at 8.00 this morning and our first stop was Stonehenge. It was covered in mist and very eerie. We could just about make it out through the shroud. Ellie is the one in the pink hat taking photos.

After a quick walk around our next stop was London Zoo. The weather was much kinder to us there and we had a lovely time. Ellie's group managed to see lions and tigers but missed the giraffes. My group did the opposite.

The hotel is boiling hot and the children are writing diaries at the moment. Bed time is not until 10 o'clock. I'm not sure I can wait that long!