After spending a few days in beautiful Dublin we decided to head to London to spend American Thanksgiving eating proper English food (questionable what exactly is defined as ‘English’ food).  We spent our days doing a few touristy things.  The kids absolutely loved the Tower of London and we quickly learned that despite its enduring reputation as a place of torture and death, popularised by 16th-century religious propagandists and 19th-century writers, only seven people were executed within the Tower before the World Wars of the 20th century.   After walking the grounds we headed to the crown jewels which Belinda absolutely loved.

On Friday, we headed to the London Zoo for a little behind the scenes on the oldest zoological park in the world.  In 1831 or 1832 the animals of the Tower of London menagerie were transferred to the zoo’s collection. It was eventually opened to the public in 1847.

London never disappoints even with a bit of a scare on the Oxford Circle tube station which placed much of London on a lock down for our last evening in town.

Next we head to Maui, HI to spend NYE with some friends (old and new) before we head to Madrid in January.  We love showing our kids the world and what a blessing to have been able to do this without interruptions for the last few months.