Kids in London - London Bridge(South Bank)

:) After lunch with a friend who lives in Borough, we decided to explore the South Bank. We walked to London Bridge.

There was a long, long queue outside The London Dungeon so we gave that a miss and popped into Hays Galleria instead. There is a fantastic Christmas Shop there with some lovely gift ideas - and not all have a Christmas theme. We had a look at the amazing roof and the huge pirate ship sculpture made of metal and browsed the stalls showing crafts and tee-shirts and jewellry. We didn't stop for coffee here although there were lots of places for that.

As we came out, we decided to give HMS Belfast a miss to continue our walk along the rainy riverside. We stopped to look at The Golden Hind - which was sadly closed to visitors but interesting to see that they offer overnight stays during the summer.

We paid the £5 (£3.50 for kids) entrance fee to visit The Clink prison museum which is near Vinopolis. It's quite small and not suitable for really young kids although you are encouraged to take photos and touch exhibits (mostly torture and restraint stuff so again be careful with very young kids). It was iteresting to learn about London's first prisons and about life back then. There's lots of stuff to read.

Then we continued our walk to The Globe. We stopped at Starbucks nearby for hot chocolate. We wandered round the reception area of The Globe but were sadly not allowed in to see the theatre as there was a production in progress. Still, there was a good model showing what the theatre looks like. We didn't go into the exhibition area though - something for another day perhaps.

Then we continued our walk along the river towards Waterloo. We passed the Tate Modern (see previous blog) and the Oxo Tower but didn't go in today.

There were various pubs and cafes (Gabriels Wharf is well worth a visit) and there are nice sculptures to look at as you walk along. Parents with very small kids should do this walk as it is buggy friendly and has great views and has lots of other people out strolling.

Finally we arrived back at Waterloo - amazed that we had walked so far. But we saw a lot of London history which was very interesting.