13 June 2015 - Six months since we left Australia, the Museum of Childhood and Platform 9 3/4

It is both difficult to believe and very easy to imagine that we have been travelling for six months.  We have seen and done so much, adapted to new environments very quickly and this travelling existence seems normal to us now.

Tim worked out that the current edition of the English coins make a picture of the coats of arms.

 In many ways it was a typical Saturday: cleaning the bathroom, cooking soup, and doing just a small amount of school work.  At home it would have been full with home duties and maintenance and ferrying kids about and probably mowing the grass.  It is freeing not to have to do those activities for a year!

I'm not sure how Luke got so grubby so quickly - that's London for you!

 London has so much to offer in the form of museums and things to do and it is tempting to make the most of them.  The V and A Museum of Childhood is a small but well organised museum in Bethnal Green.  Tim, Annika, Luke and I decided to explore it.  The museum didn't have as many hands on activities as we had hoped but the displays were interesting.  I recognised lots of toys from my childhood!  Upstairs there was a great dolls house display through the ages with anecdotes and vignettes given by the doll house residents.  It would have been excellent if there hadn't been two screaming two year olds who were let loose and seemingly unrestrained for ages until the museum attendant intervened and asked the parents to take them down to a little kids' area.  It did spoil the experience for us.

I always wanted a rocking horse!

Good old fashioned rote learning...would kids these days know half of these words?

Gorgeous and detailed dolls houses at V and A Museum of Childhood

Dressed as a General!

My roller skates looked like these!

....and no lighting fires in your dolls house.

Liverpool Street version of Love locks!

 From there we walked through Tower Hamlets and a very Muslim area where a great number of women were wearing full niqabs.  It is very different from the Tower Hamlets of 25 years ago.  We walked on past Brick Lane and on to Liverpool Street Station.  The area close by is very trendy these days and full of cafes and pavement dining areas.

Bishopsgate building

 As a bit of fun we decided to go to Kings Cross Station to see Platform 9 3/4 of Harry Potter fame.  The bookshop next to it has set up a photo spot, a few props and a photographer but anyone who wishes can queue up for a photo and take their own, can.  We decided to join the small queue and had a bit of fun with the photos.

Waiting for our turn at Platform 3/4

Luke, who didn't know the story of Harry Potter, tried to jump through the tunnel walls as we were heading down the tunnels and corridors back to our train.  At his age, the boundary between fantasy and reality are still blurred.

Complete with trolley and owl.

Having a bit of fun!

Mrs Weasley joins the gang!

Vegetable soup, pasties and sausage rolls for dinner as easy weekend fare.  We watched Top Gear in India which was filmed in places we had visited and so it was pretty exciting to watch.  Following that, the kids and I sat down to watch Prince Caspian now that Luke has listened to the audiobook and knows the story.  And that was our Saturday!