Villeneuve d'Ascq

No more hot weather! Craig was delighted to find London had put on its usual, and more expected, gloomy rainy type of weather which makes it altogether a much more English experience. So out came the raincoats and the umbrellas and we set off for another day in London. The kids have become quite adept at reading the Underground maps now and with both Bayswater and Queensway stations almost on top of each other and only a few minutes walk from our accommodation, it has been pretty convenient to get around and for the most part we have had to avoid taking more than one line to get anywhere.

We did a walk by of St Paul's Cathedral (mainly for the Mary Poppins reference for the kids - birds not there, perhaps because they are no longer fed). An educational walk by Newgate and Old Bailey via Temple Bar, where I was able to be impressed/surprised by Kate's recall of both from her convict unit at school. We then skirted around St Bart's Hospital on our way to the Museum of London where we spent several hours. I first visited this back in 1991 and was impressed then, not only because it was really well done, but also because it was free - an important criteria if you were travelling on the cheap! It has been completely updated since then, but importantly, it is still incredibly brilliant and free!

Our one and only pub lunch for the visit provided another bit of respite from the rain before we jumped on a tube to Tottenham Court Road and to visit a specialist guitar shop and bought a guitar for the trip. Too wet to walk along the full length of Oxford Street, we jumped on another tube to get to the other end. Since Craig and I have recently watched the miniseries Mr Selfridge, we decided to go and look at the real deal. The place was jam packed with people which is a testament to the vision, but also hard to believe he died a pauper. Kate declared it the best toy section she had EVER seen in a shop.

We then ducked around the corner to The Leonard Hotel and met Lesley for a very English afternoon tea in a very English drawing room. It was lovely to meet up again - last time we visited, Finn was only 10 months old. I lived with the Watters family in London in 1991.

We popped home quickly to ditch the guitar and dress a bit warmer, and headed back to Drury Lane in the West End to see the "School of Rock" musical. Another bunch of talented kids performing and it was great to be caught up in the live atmosphere of the production. The character of the kid bass guitar player was called Katie, and our Kate had a conversation this morning about perhaps learning base guitar, so it obviously made an impact. She did look cool!

A whirlwind tour of London in 4 days - off to Lille in France tomorrow for some self-driving of the battlefields of the Western Front.Read more