London: so many things to do... if you have time :) (part 1)

We went to London last March with E, to visit my cousin and his family, who live in Stoke Newington, only a bus ride away from downtown. Stoke Newington is a great area with many young families and everything seemed walking distance away: the shops, the cafés, the groceries (and the italian grocer we loved), and the great weekend farmer's market in the neighbourhood school yard. With such a lovely neighbourhood, it was easy to want to stay around town but, this being LONDON, there was also much awaiting us in the big city.

I've mentioned it before, but the Time Out London for Children  was bar none, the absolute best guide we had (i'm kind of a guide junkie, so I also had this one, this one and this one...). We also bought two passes before going to London: the London Pass and the Merlin Entertainment Combi Ticket.

Personally, I don't think the London Pass was worth it. We took the option with travel, which was convenient because it allowed us unlimited travel for 7 days (bus, underground & train) which was probably the best part of it, but overall, there are so many free things to do around London that I would think twice about getting it. However, it did get us out touring to try to make the most of it (in the end, I don't think we did). On the other hand, the Merlin Entertainment Combi Ticket, I would recommend, as all of the places we went to with it, were a good half day each, even with a toddler (as opposed to some of the museums we visited with the London Pass which we went through in 10 minutes).

The Merlin Entertainment Pass gave us entry to the London Eye, the Sea Life Aquarium, Madame Tussaud's Museum and the London Dungeon. We did the London Eye and the Aquarium on the same day since they are right next to each other.

The London Eye is great on a clear day, and the combi ticket allows you to go when ever you want, only MAKE SURE YOU GET THERE EARLY. I cannot stress this enough. E really did love it, and we got some great pics and great views of the city.

E with London in the background

The London Eye

The aquarium was nice although there's one which is just as good (and included in the admission price) at the Zoo. E is nuts about aquariums, so she did love both, but from an adult point of view, neither was as good as Vancouver's. If you're in the area and you have older children, check out the London Film Museum we unfortunately didn't get a chance to go, but it really looks like a great place. The only low point of the area has to be the food selection. London overall is great for (great & healthy) kid-friendly food on the go but this area was just the pits. Only a sandwich and hotdog stand which was expensive, and flat out not worth it, so maybe pack a lunch. There was, on the other hand a great place  for ice cream for a mid afternoon snack.

Madame Tussaud's was really fun as well and E did get quite a kick out of it. It was quite busy though and E pretty much ran through the whole place. If you do have young children, you might want to note that there is a "scary" part that they don't allow children under 12 in (even if they're asleep in a stroller) so you have to wait out that part with your small one and take turn going through.

E "carrying" the olympic torch at Madame Tussaud's

Samuel Jackson at Madame Tussaud's

The London Dungeon was pretty cool and although at first I thought it was going to be a really cheesy "haunted" experience type ride, it turned out to be really cool. E was asleep in her stroller for half of it, and I wouldn't really recommend it for very young children, but they were very accommodating with the stroller, and for the half that E was awake for (second half) she only got scared at a gunshot noise at the very, very end, so it was enjoyed by all.