Day 12. We told the kids if there was something they wanted to be guaranteed, they had to plan it for the group. John took the idea to heart and spent three hours the night before planning our day.

We started with a tour of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London. Our tour guide was amazing and was actually an actor in the nightly performances at the theatre. We learned about how the theatre was designed and built to replicate the original one in Stratford-on-Avon that burnt down. We learned how the plays were put on back int he 1500’s compared to how they are put on today. Definitely a group highlight.

Our walking continues as we explore on foot and see more famous buildings including the Shard (giant tower inspired by a piece of broken glass), the Gherkin (looks like a giant bullet) and City Hall (very modern egg looking building).

We do a self-guided tour of the Tower Bridge (not to be confused with London Bridge of the song). We learn about the design, engineering and science that went into building the bridge. The views from the top of the towers are great and they sections of clear glass where you can look down on the cars. Fun facts - bridge is celebrating its 125th anniversary, it’s 200M long and 60M tall and ~40K people / cars cross the bridge everyday.

Next, we go to the Tower of London which is a castle, royal palace, former prison and defense fortress wrapped in one. It is UNESCO site but also super crowded (I don’t remember these kind of crows last time I was here ~15 years ago). We see the Crown Jewels (crowns, swords, gold jeweled cups, etc) as well as where people were imprisoned and executed. All very Game of Thrones like (without the deaths as we all make it out alive).

We go back to the flat for a rest break and I take the 3 boys to a British Pub to check-off the local food box. We all get hamburgers but Corey goes more local with the trio of pies (meat, chicken and Shepards).

We wrap up with a Ghost Bus Tour on an authentic double decker necrosis that was formerly used for funerals to transport the coffins not he upper level while the people sat on the lower level as the bus drove to the funeral. I must say it was a clever way to provide an educational tour in a way the kids thought was fun.