A Day Trip To London - The Tate, The Dungeon and The Mexican

We had a big day out in London starting with meeting our old uni mate Brogs at The Tate Modern. They have added an extension to it, so we went to check that out. The Tate is great for kids because it's so big and open, it's OK for the kids to run around a bit and let off steam. And the exhibits are always a bit weird and interesting, good conversation starters with the kids. These were big concrete balls attached by ropes and some had speakers, I'm not entirely sure what it was all about!

You can now walk around on the 10th floor, there is a small cafe so it's a nice place to stop for a cuppa and you get a good view of the city. 

The Tate is all free except for the special exhibits, which is always a bonus. I rather liked this one... I don't remember the artists name though!

The boys looking dashing against the orange carpet wall...

Di teaching the boys how to make shadow animals and other such silliness. I think this is one of the best things about London, there are so many parks, museums and galleries that are free, you can have a great day out without spending much money, especially if you take a packed a lunch with you.

Just hanging and being cool... as you do!

We stopped to get some lunch and spotted a small shop doing bubble waffles, of course, we recorded an Ebi-kun eats so you will have to wait for that to be published to find out if it was any good! Might be in a couple of weeks time, we need to catch up on the episodes.

After lunch we split up. Di and Ry headed off to Ripley's and Ebi-kun, Broggy and myself went to the London Dungeon. We luckily had complimentary tickets and I think they advise that isn't suitable for kids under 12 but it doesn't look like they enforce the rule.

I think that really they should, it is quite scary and there were a couple of kids, maybe three and seven, who were clearly terrified. You can't actually take photos inside, this is just where we were waiting to get in.

The actual tour is great, there are a couple of rides inside to take you to different sections. Each area has an actor that tells you about that period of time in gruesome detail. There is often water and jets of air or things moving about to make you jump and it is all in dimly lit rooms.

We really enjoyed it and had a big discussion on which are the scariest parts - I won't share, just in case you want to go too. All in all it is fun, educational and gory! But really not suitable for little ones!

We managed to time it just right and came out just as Di got back from Ripley's, so we had a wander down the Southbank. I do love it down there, you never know what is going to be along there, with the street artists and performers.

We happened upon a random band, which was fun to watch as they went by...

We had a bit of time to kill so we stopped to watch the skaters, we seem to do this every year, but Ebi-kun still has no interest in taking up Skateboarding.

We finished off the day at Wahaca for Mexican. Rob and Roger joined us after work, I'm not sure what we ate but we ate a lot of it! Great meal and service, not too spicy! And they do kids menus.

All in all it was a fab day and great to catch up with everyone. The boys had a great time and were all shattered by the time we got home.