England Day 3

Papa Paul wanted to go to the Natural History Museum, so we went there Tuesday morning.  The girls' favorite part was a two-storey escalator that led into the center of the Earth.  We saw a dinosaur, some eggs, minerals, and other animal skins.  The museum was crazy crowded (because it's FREE for everyone!) and we did not brave the crowds to go into the aquatic section.

The museum is housed in a beautiful building that looks more like a cathedral than a museum.

The escalator

Delaney is very into posing these days.

The girls touch rhea feathers (a large South American bird similar to an ostrich). 

From the museum, we walked toward Hyde Park to let the girls play on  the Diana Memorial Playground.  Unfortunately, it started to rain (our first rain of the trip), so we ducked into Whole Foods to eat lunch.  The rain didn't look like it was going to let up and we were all feeling tired and crabby, so we went back to the hotel and took a nap.  It felt nice to relax for awhile, but it was also hard to not be out and about experiencing the city.   Afer a knock-down, drag-out fight with Harper about her outfit, we went to dinner at a little, family-owned Italian restaurant that Paul found called Bistro Benito.  It is always nice to go to a non-chain restaurant that is more geared toward the locals rather than the tourists.

Oops - caught Harper with a mouthful of bread

Delaney didn't like her ravioli, but scarfed down my linguine with clams.  Go figure!

Mama and Delaney

Harper thought she was so grown up drinking out of a stemmed water glass.

Mama and Harper share a giggle.

After dinner we took the tube and went to Piccadilly Circus to show the girls the lights.  It was still a little drizzly, but the girls were troopers.

London's version of Times Square

The Statue of Eros in the middle of Piccadilly

I made Allan take a picture of me in front of the GAP sign.  It was the closest I came to a store the whole trip.  I can't believe we didn't do any shopping :(

The girls loved the lights at the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum

Lastly, we headed back to the river to see Big Ben and the London Eye lit up at night.  Very pretty.  I have to say the girls were so good about not complaining that they wanted to go home or go back to the hotel at any point during the trip.  They were up for the adventure - even when it was raining!