Went to London as a birthday treat for the youngest, he really loves his dinosaurs, so that was the focus.
Picked up after school and headed for the train, though we got their too early and were hanging around a bit. Nice to get the fast train though it was a bit busy, then into St Pancras and HEY! There's a new great big pub right at the bottom of the escalator! Did not check it out this time but good to know for next time we're there.
Tube to Tower Hill and a different Premier Inn this time, though they're all broadly the same. Big room at this one, room to move around all the beds, small TV though. Then out to our regular Zizzi and a lovely relaxing meal with a sort of view over the Tower of London. Bit too dark to see much though. Then Clare went to the new Brewdog pub while I put the boys to bed, though she panicked and ordered a lager. Then she came back and we swapped, and I did not panic, and got 1/3 of a pint of a fabulously expensive and strong beer that is now gone from their beer menu1. Then a Lovechild V1 fruit beer that was not very good. It's a great bar, enormous, they have shuffleboard which I have not seen before, and a good merchandise store, though I didn't get anything. I kept thinking of buying something for me but didn't quite manage it. I have £400 of pending transactions from the weekend though so I must have done quite well...
Next morning, the highlight of any trip for the boys is the hotel breakfast, too many sausages and muffins. Then to the tube to find Tower Hill would be closed all weekend! This messed with our plans. Then the bus we tried to get could not do card payments so we had to change at St Pauls but then we were back on track. A great morning at the Natural History Museum including the refreshed dinosaur section. It's quicker to get into and quicker to get round now but you can't go over the high level walkways. Little one was super nervous of the T-Rex but we all had a great time. Did a total trolley dash in the gift shops and came away with lots of swag... Was also surprised to see "Andy's Clock" at the museum now, from Andy's Dinosaur Adventures, a programme we used to watch on CBeebies that was set at "The National Museum". I joked about finding it, and lo, there it actually was.
Next to the Lego shop, though we spent longer queuing to get in than in there. Then to the pub of course! We went for the Punch And Judy in Covent Garden while we figured out where to eat. Had been recommend The Real Greek, so took a chance and it was great for everyone, very pleased. Then an Uber back to the hotel and we did our one in one out trips to the pubs again. Clare went only for the Brewdog, but I went first to the Princess of Prussia as it looked nice and was near the hotel. A characterful Victorian (I'm guessing) exterior, lots of tiles, and a good looking pub but no interesting ales on as it was a Shepherd Neame. Also full of scousers who had been visiting for the football. So just a half in there and then walked to the Brewdog though it was closed by the time I got there. At twenty past ten! That's the downside to this part of town, it all shuts early at the weekend when the city is not trading. Finally to The Minories, which I liked, but was also going to close soon by this time. There was some kind of transgender event going on in the back room of the pub so lots of interesting comings and goings through the pub. Mostly I read my book quietly though.
Next day to Camden market, lots of fun looking around and wanting to buy lots of things, and actually buying some of them. Nothing for me still but keyrings and badges and patches for the boys. Could happily have spent a lot more time here, but needed to get back to the hotel, pick up the bags, then on to Stratford for dinner before home. We had a relaxing Pizza Express, and I got their new vegan puttanesca pizza, which was tasty.
We watched the first couple of episodes of Sabrina on Netflix when they were safely tucked up in bed, still undecided about it. Quite Buffy-ish of course but not as good as I was hoping.
Paul Clarke's blog - I live in Hythe near Folkestone, Kent. Married to Clare + father to two, I am a full stack web engineer, + I do javascript / Node, some ruby, other languages ect ect. I like pubbing, parkrun, restaurants, home-automation + other diy jiggery-pokery, history, family tree stuff, TV, squirrels, pirates, lego, and TIME TRAVEL.