Turning 12 in London!

London bound for her birthday!!

We flew all night to get to London and man were we tired!  We arrived early in the morning so our room was not yet ready.  We dropped off our bags and headed out to our first destination.

Day 1

The British Museum

This girl was so happy to be here.  Even through her exhaustion and the freezing cold she just kept grinning!

She Loves taking pictures and constantly had her camera out.

This would be a painful face punch!

We love all the Egyptian artifacts.  They were in great condition and they were fascinating!

We also went to the mummies exhibit where they take imaging of the mummies still in their coffin and wrapped and show the image on a screen.  You can turn the dial and the image turns.  It was amazing but we weren't allowed to take pictures of it.  If you get the chance to see this special exhibit I highly recommend it.

I know this is just a pigeon but she was thrilled by everything she saw.  She stopped and just had to take pictures of the birds.  We finally told her her that she had enough and we needed to keep moving.

We finally went back to the hotel after grabbing a quick bite and ended up sleeping until 2 in the morning.  At that time we figured we were done so we all just tried to get back to sleep.

Day 2

Aveda Salon 

We went to an Aveda Salon (my favorite) and we both felt pampered.  She was thrilled to get her hair straightened for her big night.

London Eye 

I was not excited about going on this but it is one of the few things she said she had to do. 

To my relief it was nothing like a ferris wheel and we had beautiful clear skies to see the city.

It did get a little long and after we got past the halfway point Ha-Na sat down on the bench.

I don't think she stopped grinning for a very long time!

We had to get fish n chips in London but these were not good eats!  Man did I miss Ivars while trying to eat this greasy fish!  

After lunch we went to the London Dungeon.  I was not sure what to expect, it seemed a little silly at first but we loved it.   It did get a bit intense for Ha-Na and she was almost frightened to tears but as we left she said "that was awesome, can we do it again?"  We were not allowed to take pictures inside so you will have to visit for yourself .

Dinner and a show.....WICKED!

Ha-Na loves Italian food so for her big night we took her out to Italian.  It was wonderful and in fact the best meals we had in London was the Italian.  

She was really excited about the evening and I let her wear my fire opal necklace so she was floating on air.  

Now to the show!

I don't think she stopped saying thank you the entire evening.  I loved being there with her and Carl.

Carl bought us great seats, we were in the 10th row.  We felt like we were a part of the show.

Time to buy souvenirs... of course she got a snow globe.  She loves snow globes.

The show was beyond wonderful!  I can't say enough about how much we loved this show.  

Day 3

Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey 

This was a cold and wet day.  Ha-Na was a trooper.  

We had fun walking around the palace but it wasn't the beautiful structure that I thought it would be in person.  I am sure inside it is amazing and I hope to see that one day but there were no tours open.

We did get to see a car escorted in with a lot of guards on horses.  We also got to avoid all the horse droppings that were left everywhere.  I was surprised no one cleaned up after them, I guess I have been in UAE for too long.  

Big Ben

While in this part of town she became excited every time she heard Big Ben chime.

On the streets of London trying to stay warm together!

Lion King

Carl surprised her!  She knew we were going to see Wicked while in London but he also bought tickets to this show.

She was really excited to be in the balcony seats. 

The costumes were great but the acting was only passable.  One of the actors was a stand in and his voice was not strong enough to carry the songs.  I thought the kids did great.  I am not a fan of the movie and I was not a big fan of the show.  I guess since I really don't like the music in the movie I should not be surprised that I did not like it much better here.  I was really impressed with the stage and costumes. 

We found a great burger place around the corner from the theater.  It was the best burger I have had in a very long time!  We also got amazing onion rings, fried zuchini, and fries.  

Day 4 ... BIRTHDAY!!!

Shopping in London 

We were frozen so we had to get a pic with our hot chocolates in front of the Frozen theater.

What better to do on your birthday than to spend your birthday money?

We had so much fun in Hamleys.  We didn't buy much but this six story toy store was so much fun to spend several hours in.

The figures they built with legos were awesome!

Ha-Na wanted to go back to the burger place for her birthday dinner, yes it was good enough that she passed over Italian.  

We surprised the Birthday girl with cake and a balloon in the hotel room.  She was one happy, sleepy 12 year old!

Day 5

London Zoo 

I was thrilled that the Baker Street station was our stop!

A two hump camel makes a .....

These were  some of the beautiful butterflies at  the butterfly house.

Not sure what kind this one was but it didn't look real.

The penguins were enjoying the cold weather but Ha-Na was especially cold this day!

Silly gorillas!

British Museum

Yes, returned on our last day to see a bit more of the museum.  We had only seen a part of it and we really wanted to see the Rosetta Stone and much more.  We only had an hour so we ran through the exhibits as fast as we could.  We only saw maybe a quarter of the museum.

The Samurai  Armor.

One of my favorite things in the museum.  I was fascinated by this art.  I would love this as my dining room center piece.

She wanted this but we told her they would not let her on the plane.

Time to return to Abu Dhabi and back to real life until our next adventure.  Ok, I will be honest, real life is the real adventure!