No rest for the weary

*Delayed Post*

Wednesday, October 12th  

After a good night’s sleep, a little planning and a short list of goals for our last day of seeing London, we were ready for the day. We set straight out for Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards and arrived well before the show, but not before the crowd. The size of the crowd was insane. We did get to experience the ceremony of the changing of the guards. Reese and Kendall enjoyed it from our shoulders, the front row (kind strangers let them slip to the front) and from our arms. I (Robert) was able to see most of the show and tell Kelsy the highlights as the height of the crowd hindered her sight lines.
We took a walk to lunch in the Piccadilly Circus neighborhood. It was at lunch that we figured out that our theatre tickets were not actually purchased! With threats from the girls persuading my hunt for our Lion King reservation/tickets I came across a super nice restaurant host who let me use his phone and then a helpful customer service agent who found our cancelled reservation and rebooked us for similar seats. With that near tragedy out of the way, we made our way up to our surprise stop for the girls-Hamley’s Toy Store on Regent Street. Not surprisingly this was the girl’s favorite stop in London. After all it is marketed as the world’s oldest (probably true, founded in 18^th century and at this same sight since the 19^th century), world’s largest (possible-it spanned 7 floors!) and world’s finest toy store. There they found their London souvenirs…a Paddington bear for each of them and some animal figurines.
With new toys in hand we rode the Underground to the London Eye, where a daddy/daughter adventure up the enormous Ferris wheel took place. Admittedly, it was a battle to get the girls to enjoy the amazing views while they had amazing new toys in hand, but we struck a balance and had a great time on the wheel. Kelsy enjoyed a normal paced walk, coffee and having her feet on the ground during our adventure. With show time approaching we had time to walk to Westminster Abbey-which fortunately for us went past our family favorite…Big Ben-and snap a few pictures. The girls got excited when we told them that Westminster Abbey is where England has their coronation days (Frozen had taught them about coronation days).
It was then time for dinner and a show. It took about 3 seconds of the Lion King for us to feel as though we got our money’s worth. Reese’s jaw literally dropped open and her face had a look of pure joy, wonderment, excitement and curiosity during the opening “Circle of Life” song. As impressed as I was with the show, I was nearly brought to tears seeing the looks of both girls as they absorbed every moment of the magnificent show into their memories—hopefully becoming memories they will never forget.
Our final walk back to a European hotel took us down Drury Lane and closed out two adventure filled days in London.