Ah, London! The Tower Bridge, the Thames River, the tourists, the noise, the museums...
At 8:30 AM the kids and staff - and all of our full tummies from the delicious big breakfast - boarded the coach headed for London. Our day of sight-seeing, museum touring and souvenir shopping began at the embankment, where half the students and leaders were dropped off (unfortunately) in the rain, and they began their tour of the more famous sights, such as the London Eye, Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square, among others.
The other half of the group stayed on the coach, and made their way to the science museum, and later on to Harrods department store to do some shopping.
The science museum was full of interesting displays throughout history, and the children especially enjoyed the interactive activities, and of course the souvenir shopping to be found.
At 2 PM we accidentally found ourselves in front of the monument dedicated to Prince Albert upon his death.
Between 2:30 and 4:45, the children in the second half of the group were giddy beyond measure to be inside of one of the most famous department stores in the world! Of course, this was not the reason for their excitement. More certainly than not, it was because of all the toys they found inside of the world-renowned store!
Teddy bears, video games, Barbie, magic tricks, candy/sweets, figurines, cards and Lego were just some of the many toys that caught the eye of each of the kids, and some of the staff was impressed as well...
While the second half of the group was enjoying their magic show and serious shopping excursion, the first half of the group were on the other side of the city having tea with the Queen! Well not quite, but the Queen was there at the same time as our students!
At Buckingham Palace, they witnessed the flag fully raised, to indicate that the Queen was in at that time. Although it rained extensively throughout the day, the weather did not dampen the mood of the kids, and they enjoyed their entire day in London as everyone had hoped they would! From Harrods, the second half of the kids and staff were treated to a red double-decker bus ride to dinner! The special treat of the day was some yummy pizza, pop and salad at Pizza Hut, and all the kids were happy to sit with those they had not seen all day long, and talk about what they'd seen and done!
The coaches picked us up at 7:30 PM and we were back at our camp in Ipswich by 9:30. The kids had a good night's sleep when they got back from their long day of walking, shopping, talking, eating and sight seeing! And while they rested that night for the following day to learn English in the classroom, they all thought about the hands on English they got during the day in London!