London, Day One

Each day that we arrived in a big city, it took a little while to get going. We had to find out the subway schedule and location, get a map and mark out our route for the day and then navigate the trains and city streets. In London, we stayed out of the city in Twickenham. We had to take a 30 minute train ride into Waterloo station and from there hop on the subway. Our first planned stop for the day was the Natural History Museum, but when we arose from the tube, we found ourselves in front of Ben's Cookies. Ben's Cookies has only a handful of locations in the world, with ten in the UK and a few in Saudi Arabia and South Korea. We fell in love with Ben's Cookies in Salt Lake, years ago when we lived there, where there was one random location at the Gateway Mall. However, I am not sure if it is there anymore. My children have begged over the years to go again, but we never made it back. Their faces lit up when we made our way above ground at Kensington Station. With warm chocolate cookies in our hands, we immediately fell in love with London!   

 We waited outside of London's Natural History Museum for our turn to go inside. The kids had fun pointing out all of the different animals that they could find hidden on the facade of the building.

 Once inside, we were fascinated by the insides of a real camel, a bug exhibit that showed us what lives in a dirty kitchen, a collection of dinosaur bones, and a selection of sea mammals that hung from the ceiling of an upstairs gallery.

 The Hyde Park Singles' Ward for our church was meeting just across the street, which couldn't have been more convenient, especially for Sarah. We sat in the back, trying to keep the only six children in the meeting quiet. It was fun to see all of the cute English twenty-somethings, and for Sarah, it proved worth while. She met two friends from BYU with whom she ended up going out to lunch. We then made our way to the Victoria and Albert Museum nearby. The museum houses the world's largest collection of decorative arts and design. We spent our time in the silver collection, the theater gallery and in a room, that forbid photographs, full of the most exquisite jewelry. It was displayed by decade and the girls especially enjoyed oohing and awing over their favorite pieces.

 We then walked to Kensington Gardens past the most interesting sites. We saw damage from WWII, jumped in the iconic telephone booths for photos, and happened upon the London Mission House and Hyde Park Ward House that was being restored. The first apostles of our church came to Hyde Park to preach and many early members of our church came from this area, so we were excited to see our church's presence in this area.

 We strolled through Kensington Gardens, enjoying the monuments, fountains and gardens. The gardens seamlessly connect to Hyde Park, so our evening walk turned out to cover quite a bit of ground. Since we were in the area, I didn't want to miss the Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park. This is where the early apostles from our church first preached in London. They brought their own boxes on which to stand and joined others who had a message to share. Still today, on Sunday nights, groups gather around different messengers and preachers who have something to say. It was interesting to think back to when our church leaders stood in this same spot. I wondered if these people too had anything from which I could learn.  

Gates into Gardens

Prince Albert Monument

Peter Pan Monument

Speaker's Corner

After a big day of walking and seeing, we were tired. We found what turned out to be one of my children's favorite food spots in London, Pret Manger, had dinner and then took the trains back to Twickenham.