"If you don't like London weather, wait 5 minutes": "Paris" week 8 & 8.5

This week, we ventured out of the country. Hello, United Kingdom. 

Wednesday morning we left for a London. Once we arrived, we just spent the afternoon in St. James park, and got ice cream. It was nice to not have an agenda straightaway. 

The view from the bridge at St. James' Park.

Thursday morning we headed to the science museum. The kids LOVED it. We did flight simulators, lots of interactive games, and Simeon got his hand lit on fire during the explosion show.

On one of the flight simulators..

Later that afternoon, by the children's request, we rode the bus to the Big Ben. Honestly, they just wanted to ride the bus. 

One of my favorite things about London was how blatant their advertising was. "Proper burgers", "really good cellulite oil". And it was serious, which was honestly the best part.

Friday morning, before we left London, I went on an incredibly long run, to Earls Court, to see a Police Box replica. Then, we headed to Windermere, in the Lake District. And honestly, it was probably the worst traveling experience of my life. 

The train got oversold. So when we got onto the train, there were no seats left, and it was already completely packed. So we ended up standing the entire 2 1/2 hours. What made it worse, the Air Conditioning wasn't working. A dozen bodies in a small amount of space, with no air? I got so sick. 

But then our second train had space and air, and then we got to Windermere. And it was beautiful. Not quite as beautiful as France, in my opinion. But maybe I'm biased. And I'm definitely a bit spoiled.

While in Windermere, we did hiking, the Beatrix potter museum, rode steam boats and steam trains, we took a motor boat out onto the lake, visited a castle, the kids did pony riding, and we managed to coax S through a ropes course.

The view from the top of our hike.

E on the steamer train.

Windermere "world famous" ice cream.

S on the motor boat we rented.

Quickly taken selfie with Peter Rabbit.

The views were amazing and the food was just as amazing. 

We're traveling enough that most mornings, M wakes up and asks when we're taking the train. 

After 5 nights in Windermere, we headed back to London for 2 nights, before returning to Paris before the next big trip...

While in London the second time around, there was a lot of getting lost, a lot of walking, and a little bit of fish and chips. 

All in all, honestly, a wonderful trip. It was beautiful, and fun, and I'm bonding with the kids more and more and that makes me so happy.