On our last few days in London, we cultured it up. On Saturday we got a late start (still recovering from our long day in Warwick) but we finally drug ourselves out of our flat and braved the British Museum to check out antiquities. J and I were really excited and spent most of the Tube ride explaining what the Rosetta Stone is to the kids and why it was so important.

Sam was impressed…

While I might not recommend going to the British Museum on a Saturday afternoon with two squirrelly children, we did have a good time. The Museum has some pretty good kids activity guides where you pick a topic and it gives you a route through the museum to go on and things to look for in each room. J and Clare took Ancient Greece and Sammy and I went looking for Creatures. It was actually pretty cool and and we saw snake sculptures in the Central American room, totems in the North American room and dragon carvings in the Chinese room.

But, if you’re counting, that was our billionth museum in London and the kids were done with them. So we ended up a playground while J went to the Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221B Baker Street.

I might do a whole post about London’s playgrounds (because goodness knows I hung out in enough of them), but they were truly the most international places I’ve ever been in my life. Sitting by the sandbox was like a mini-UN meeting, only the people meeting were all under the age of 10 and they all could agree that water mixed with sand was a good time. It was fascinating, but also so very human, to watch parents and children of every nationality, religion and background come together to just play.

On our last day in London we were getting a bit tired of the hustle, bustle, noise and crowds. So we hopped a tourist boat to Greenwich for some green space, more museums, and a bit of (relative) relaxation.

We saw Big Ben! (Sort of)

“We’re on a boat!! In the Thames River!”

“Mom, can you give us your phone so we can make a phone call from an actual phone booth.” (My kids still don’t quite get the concept of phone booths… but why would they?)

So we weren’t done with English museums. We spent a few hours at the Cutty Sark. I wasn’t that excited about this stop, but it was actually pretty cool. You gotta love a museum that has something for everyone in the family.

We finished at the Greenwich Meridian with a view of beautiful London.

Cheers London, you beautiful, dirty, crowded, exciting, wonderful city!  The McFourson’s are out – but we’ll definitely be back.