"London calls me a stranger, A traveller..."

Sometimes I have posts that take me forever to write. This is usually because we've done something or been somewhere and have taken a ridiculous amount of photos. I've been putting off writing this post for weeks now because of that reason. A few weekends back we had an amazing weekend in London, visiting friends and taking in the sites. Seth had been going on about London for quite sometime so he was so excited especially at the thought of seeing Big Ben.

The drive down was shattering as I had been up quite early and it was hot. We picked Seth up from school and headed straight there. We were staying with our good friends Sam and Jamie, I love hanging out with them both they are such great people and having some experienced London tour guides always makes visits there that little less stressful. By the time we arrived it was a little late and everyone was hungry so we had some tea and then Jamie offered to take us out for a drive to see the city under the moonlight. As soon as we walked out of their front door there was a fox standing in the street waiting for us but I couldn't get a shot quick enough for our next fox post. It was lovely to be in the passenger seat for once and the boys were really excited about seeing the palace and the London eye etc all lit up.

The following morning after a great well deserved sleep (for me anyway) we got ready to go out, Opeie hadn't slept brilliantly so we popped out to buy a pushchair as it was obvious he would want to sleep within the first few hours of being out. He never uses a pushchair so I didn't pack it (it turned out to be quite the lifesaver). Mrs M was working so me and the boys ventured over to the museum of natural history with Sam and Jamie as Seth had missed out when we visited a few months back.

After a couple of hours pottering about there we went next door to the science museum. One of the things I love most about London is that in many areas there is so much going on and all so close together, you can spend a whole afternoon not far from where you have started but manage to see a few attractions. The boys had a great time and were really excited about all the buttons they could press and levers they could pull.

After the science museum we made our way back to pick Mrs M up, she looked shattered so we made our way to Sam and Jamie's for food and a relaxing night in. Jamie gave us a crash course in juggling and we showed him the wonders of the 3ds. It was so nice being somewhere where there was no clutter, it's amazing how much your house fills up when you have children, Sam and Jamie's place was so relaxing.

On the Sunday morning we had arranged an open top bus tour with Golden tours as it was something Seth had wanted to do for quite some time. Seth was so excited about being on a double decker bus, which to me seemed odd as being brought up in Birmingham most of the buses are double decker, here in our part of Shropshire though you don't generally see them. We hopped on a train to get to the bus stop which conveniently are dotted all around London and it was so nice not having to drive as I get a little frustrated driving in traffic around London. The bus was already there waiting which was great and we sat upstairs at the back of the bus, the sun was out and it was really relaxing driving about. Everyone had big smiles and looked really at ease it was a great way to spend a Sunday morning.

While taking in the sites I remembered that LEGO had put up and Bus stop outside Hamleys and I really wanted to get some pictures of it, not before we visited Wholefoods though (Mrs M's mother ship). The great thing about the London tour buses is having the flexibility to hop on and off all over London for the day. The bus stop was amazing, really cleverly done, everything you would expect from LEGO, I'd love something like that in the house it would be a great talking piece.

As we were outside Hamleys we thought it would be rude not to go and have a look around. The guy blowing bubbles outside (what a great job) told us there were some special LEGO characters on the top floor. Mrs M's eyes lit up when she saw who it was.

And then it was time for us to get back on the tour bus and take in the rest of London's sites. while waiting for the bus something quite frightening happened, our bus arrived and Mrs M, Seth and Sam stepped on when out the corner of my eye i saw a motorcyclist lose control of his bike cross lanes and head towards me and Opeie, luckily i managed to get us out of the way before the rider ploughed in to a shop window, if the bus hadn't have arrived and we were all standing there we may not have been so lucky.

Frightening as it was we didn't let it ruin our day and we took full advantage of the Golden Tours route.

The tour guide was great and the trip was really educational. The story we heard about Selfridges kick started a new obsession for Mrs M with the TV show Mr Selfridge.

 After a couple of hours riding about taking in lots of things that London has to offer the boys started to get a little tired so we headed towards Seth's favourite part of London, the tube...

We made our way back to Sam and Jamie's for a bite to eat before starting the journey back home to Shropshire. It was the perfect weekend away with close friends and being in London has got Seth so excited about our next visit. Mrs M also came away with big smiles after spending the weekend with her best friend and who can blame her both her and Jamie are so much fun to be around.