London - A Review

Buckingham Palace - London Duck Tour - Rainforest Cafe

It might seem a novel experience, being a tourist in a city you occasionally work in, but I suspect a lot of Londoners have no idea what they are missing.

We have done this a few times before - made a set agenda of places to go and times to be there - but yesterday was a bit special. This time, we were going to mix with royalty.

OK, so the flag on Buckingham Palace told us the Queen wasn't actually in, but that didn't stop hundreds of people lining the streets for the Changing of The Guard. We watched the marching band come down the road and make their way into the Palace grounds. Junior wanted to take some pictures, but by the time she was ready, all she got were taxis flying past her low viewpoint.

First port of call in the Palace was the Queen's Gallery. Not an obvious choice to take a 6 year old girl, but even she was impressed by some of the paintings inside. After encountering a few sneering looks from people who couldn't believe they "let children in", we had lunch and then queued up for the main attraction, the State Rooms, and "The Dress".

Junior was very taken by the Royal Wedding and she, along with thousands of others, were queuing up to be able to see it as part of the current exhibition.

There is a "Family Audio Guide" available on the front desk. Rather than a stuffy aristocrat telling you about the history of the gilded staircase, we were treated to a fantastic guide that fell somewhere between History Channel and Blue Peter. My daughter absolutely loved it, as it was full of interesting stories and facts that kids can relate to. The Duchess of Cambridge's dress is on display in the main ballroom, and is the main reason for everyone being there. It does look slightly ghostly, but it captured the imagination of the little 6 year old, who happily barged her way to the front to see it close up.

Being the kind of people we are though, we were pushed for time. We never made it to the Royal Mews, but that doesn't matter, because at the end of the Tour we converted ticket to a year pass. So we'll do that next time.

A slightly mad dash across town took us to the next port of call - The London Duck Tour. Giant yellow amphibious craft that take you on a bus tour of the city, before driving into the river. Aside from the historical relevance of being in a vehicle that was used in the D-Day Landings, the sheer novelty factor of being able to drive into the river is something that the other tours can't match. Yes it's pricey, but it is unique.

A short hop to our final stopping point - The Rainforest Cafe. Part toy-shop, part restaurant, this is another unique experience. Certain younger members of the family are not keen on thunderstorms or animatronic jungle creatures, but in spite of this, the staff found us a "quiet" spot surrounded by butterflies.

We were all agreed that, as far as customer service goes, we could not have had a better meal. Our "safari guide" was fantastic, sorting everything out in double quick time, she was very attentive, and the simple act of bringing us the bill while we were still eating made the whole evening almst perfect. It's not cheap though - a two course meal for three set us back £75.

We returned home a 9pm rather weary, but having had another great day out in the city.