London 2018 Days 4 & 5

Yesterday, day 4 we had a very quiet day. We hung out in our hotel all morning, even had a late check out at 11:30am. I'd like to say it was relaxing but that isn't quite accurate. Packing up the suitcases and getting all 3 of us showered, hair dried, breakfasted and out the door is tough. Especially when Ally sleeps until 930!!! But it was nice.
We headed out to go shopping, one of Ally's standard requests when we are traveling. We walked to a major shopping area. Probably walked too far early in the day, but it was fine.
Ally got some putty at the famous Hamley's toy store, and some clothes. We had lunch from a local chain of stores.

We stopped into a candy store to look around and saw these American breakfast cereals on sale for 10 pounds - that is about $14.50. Ally loves Lucky Charms right now - but she agreed to just wait until we got home to eat them when we could purchase them for about $3.00 / box. 

We are pretty bad at selfies - but we keep trying. This was inside our first black cab of the trip.

We headed back to pick up our bags and relocate to our second hotel around 300.
For this second half of our trip we are staying at the same hotel we did last year in Kensington. We didn't get the same room as last year but we it is a great room nonetheless.
Ally loves having her own alcove with her very own bed.
She has discovered the original Full House tv show on British Netflix and is loving them.

We met up with her friend Isobel from the Pain Clinic and her mom and sister. We had dinner at a local pizza chain and then back to our hotel.

Ally is delighted that I brought microwave popcorn for evening snack here.

Day 5 we headed out to the Tube station near our hotel and met up with a tour group at Picadilly Circus to see the Changing of the Guard. 

Pictures on the Tube:

Becky at the famed Eros statue in Picadilly Square.
Along the way to Buckingham Palace for the guard ceremony we learned some interesting London history.

The Anthenaeum, Gentleman's Club.

The Duke of York statue, this Duke of York was well loved by the military and they donated the money for the statue. Typically the title Duke of York is given to the 2nd born son.

After waiting and waiting we found out that the usual ceremony wasn't going to take place. There is a huge Commonwealth Summit government meeting in London right now so they did what they call a "wet change" we did get to see the marching soldiers and soldiers on horses. Since we don't know what we missed it was fine, and we are glad we did it. This was one thing Ally asked to do and she really enjoyed it.

Pretty happy girl. It helped that the weather has turned so sunny and warm.

After the tour ended we walked thru Green Park to Picadilly again, stopping to do some more shopping. Then it was Tube back to the hotel for Becky and Ally. I stopped for some summer clothes for Ally. It was 75 here today and slated to be 80 tomorrow!!! It is crazy hot. I then took the bus back to the hotel. After a restful afternoon we headed up to South Kensington High Street which is a pretty nice area. A little more shopping, at a store Isobel recommended and then dinner at an Italian restaurant where I had sticky toffee pudding for dessert.

Then back to the hotel, a bath for Ally and some cuddling up and watching more Full House with mommy.
Another great day in London.