One of Teddy’s preschool classmates who heard about our upcoming trip to England loaned us an adorable book called Katie in London by James Mayhew. In it, one of the lions in Trafalgar Square (oh how I love those lions!) comes to life and takes Katie and her little brother Jack all around the city. They see all the sights you’d expect – Saint Paul’s, the Tower of London, the Globe Theatre, Buckingham Palace – and also take a ride on the London Eye.
So we read the book together a bunch of times and talked about the pictures and what Katie and Jack saw. It was generally agreed that the Tower Bridge would be a lot of fun to see and that like Katie and Jack and the lion we wanted to enjoy an ice cream in St. James’s Park. Then we asked Tommy and Teddy to choose what they’d most like to do while we’re in London. The verdict was unanimous: The Eye was by far the coolest thing and not to be missed.
Now, the Eye is not the type of thing I normally would go for. It’s a manufactured attraction with no particular history (although I was shocked to realize that of course it’s celebrating its tenth anniversary – remember when it was called the Millennium Wheel?). Also, it’s not cheap, although you can save money by booking tickets online and purchasing them for the entire family. It’s likely to have a long line, especially during the height of tourist season, which is when we’ll be there. And finally there’s the fact that the London skyline isn’t exactly one of the world’s greatest, hardly worth the trouble for a view of it. But I completely understand the appeal to the kids – what child in his or her right mind wouldn’t want to ride on the world’s tallest Ferris, er, observational wheel?
Also, since the boys are going to get their fill of churches, museums, and historic sites on this trip, I’d like to let them pick one attraction that’s all about pure frivolity. I’m thinking I’ll plan our visit to the Eye toward the end of our London trip. We went to the Eiffel Tower on our last day in Paris when the boys had a real sense of ownership of the city and it was really fun for them to pick out landmarks we had visited. Today I’m dreaming of their excitement and wonder as we rise high above Big Ben.
On another note, I’m also of dreaming that my planning for our England trip is done. Because frankly, I haven’t really started it yet and it’s weighing on my mind since we leave in 36 days. And typing that sentence just made me realize that’s in 5 weeks. Yikes! Time to get serious. Guess you’ll be seeing some travel planning posts coming up.
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I've taken with my children and those I want to take. Explore and you'll find family travel tips, information about vacation destinations, and lots of stories about our adventures! 
I recommend that you time your London Eye trip at the end of the day if possible to see the sun setting over London. That was worth every penny for us…I am not going to lie…we loved it!
.-= Jen´s last blog ..Monday Dreaming – Mobile Bay Jubilee Phenomenom =-.
My fear of heights would make that ride tricky…Hope you make it there and hope you get your planning time. I know the feeling.
.-= Carolina´s last blog ..My Room With a View =-.
Yes, I think of all the attractions on the South Bank, the London Eye is the one I would pay for on a family trip – it’s become a bit of an authentic London Experience like the Eiffel tower – and wasn’t that supposed to be a temporary attraction that became so popular that it never got taken down?
.-= Heather on her travels´s last blog ..Tiny Campsites guide of Great Britain by Dixe Wills – review and giveaway =-.
I must admit I was totally underwhelmed by the London Eye, but my five year old boy loved it! And he got some great photos of London while he was up there.
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The one problem we had – he HATED the 3D movie you can go through before going on the Eye. He found it too loud and cried/screamed through the whole thing! (It was so loud no-one heard him screaming. We were in the middle of the group and just couldn’t get out. Poor kid
.-= Natalia´s last blog ..While Mum might not have much influence, Ninjas do. =-.
I love the London Eye – I must have been on it three times when we lived in London. I think because it is an engineering feat, just like the Eiffel Tower. I enjoy the fact that someone’s vision and knowledge became reality, for my own entertainment.
Southbank itself is definitely worth the visit, particularly on a nice day. There’s my favorite museum in London, and probably my second most favorite museum in the world, the Tate Modern. You can take a ferry ride across the Thames from the Tate Modern to the Tate Museum – great ride. Also, there’s the British Film Institute (BFI Southbank), which has one of the cheapest bar/cafe thing going on in the immediate area. Beautiful glassed-in building, decent coffee (for London) and comparably good prices (very, very important!).
We were in London 10 years ago with my then-8-year old daughter and 4-year-old son. The highlight of the trip for them was the London Transport Museum at Covent Garden. It had London double decker buses you could climb on and there was an exhibit were you pretended to drive an underground train. I’m sure they’ve added on much more since we were there.
Wow – what fabulous suggestions! I feel like I should post about every detail of our trip to England as I plan it so that you can all tell me what you think. Jen – I wouldn’t have thought of that, but it would be a perfect way to end the day. And Rachel – thank you for reminding me about that ferry. I had forgotten. Evelyn – I love the Transport Museum, and like you can’t wait to get back and see how they’ve changed it (it’s been redone since we were there six years ago).
Who needs travel guides with comments like these?
Don’t have much advice about London, but just had to say how much I LOVE using kids books to pre-jazz a trip. How great that you found one that you have been able to read over and over again.
.-= Lora (Tripping with Kids)´s last blog ..Where to see the Wild Things in Los Angeles =-.
I am a little bit embarrassed to be giving you of all people London 101 travel tips, but I’m really enthusiastic about the Tate-a-Tate ferry…
Also, oh, I have a second personal mission for you, should you choose to accept it. It involves the OXO Building.
Just a small correction. The London Eye was the world’s tallest Ferris Wheel for about its first eight years but now has dropped to No. 3. Nanjing, China has the second tallest and the Singapore Flyer is now the one that goes up the highest (which is as it should be since that place does have an excellent skyline and you can see both Malaysia and one of the Indonesian islands in the distance. Starting June 23, the Skypark on top of the Marina Bay Sands, which actually extends way out from the building itself about 30 floors up, will open. That will be THE wheel for sure when that comes). Both Berlin and Beijing are planning even taller ones that would make the London Eye No. 5 but the economy has put those projects on hold.