Saying London has lots of activities is like saying that the desert has a lot of sand. It’s a city of over 8 million and has stood as the capital of the British Empire for hundreds of years. Having visited London for a quick three-night stay back in 2007, I already knew that we’d have a hard time seeing and doing all of the awesome things the city offers.
First up, and my personal priority, was to take in the musical theatre scene. I’ve loved musicals from a young age and, other than New York, there’s no better a city to visit for theatre. I was pining to see as many shows as I could afford and to share some of them with the kids. We managed to exceed our expectations and I attended 14 theatre productions, 11 of which were musical theatre productions. The kids attended 4 of them with Newsies being a favourite (because a class mate of theirs was in the show and we got to see him perform)! How did we do it on a budget? Glad you asked. There are a number of ticket resale apps which have mailing lists and last-minute ticket notifications. Sometimes it is the luck of a draw and sometimes you can score the tickets by being the first to hit the “yes, please” button. Erik was my champion and he managed to get deals on nearly every show we saw, including scoring two inexpensive tickets to see the six hour-long Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. I was blown away by the talent and production of all of these shows, admired the creativity of the music, and was fascinated by the costume and set designs.
The musical theatre scene may be one of the biggest draws in the city, but it is by no means the only scene for fantastic entertainment. Erik and I attended a lyrical dance show (but we didn’t know at the time) that took place in a warehouse. The guests were all given white Venetian masks to wear and were told not to talk. We were also encouraged to split apart from our friends to experience the show on our own. Once inside, the actors were dancing their stories and we had to try and piece together the plot by watching. But there were a number of storylines taking place at the same time and in different parts of the warehouse. It was dark and the music was loud and we felt like we were walking through someone else’s’ dream. It was incredible and so unlike anything we’d seen before. When it ended and we were shuffled outside, that was when the fun began and we got to try and recount what we’d seen, compare experiences, and try to piece it all together. We talked about it for weeks.
Another fun night out was to an underground theatre (a former subway station turned theatre) to see a parody musical called Stranger Sings. It retold season’s 1 and 2 of Stranger Things with goofy characters, silly songs, and very little props and production. This is only one of many other theatres in the city. In fact, nearly every neighbourhood we visited had one or two community theatres offering a variety of performances. In Hammersmith, our neighbouring community, there was an impressively large charity operating at a modern theatre in the commercial hub. We saw a Jack and the Beanstalk remake that made our sides hurt with laughter.
Less than three blocks away from this charity theatre sits a large event space at which we watched an entertaining circus complete with acrobatics, unicycles, funny hosts, and impressive talent. This same venue was later used to film the semi-finals for the next season of Britain’s Got Talent. We didn’t win tickets to that, unfortunately. Speaking of television shows, there are a number of studios filming all manner of entertainment that require live audiences. In order to fill the seats, they offer them for little money or even free. Again, with the right apps, you can request seats at the filming of shows such as talk shows, late night shows, and game shows. Erik and I attended a filming of a game show called “I Literally Just Told You”. You can see some episodes on YouTube. It’s worth watching!
If theatre isn’t your thing, fear not. There are many other scenes to be found. We managed to find a few unique places, but none more fun than the Pug Café. It is just as it sounds. The café owner is an owner of over 10 adorable pugs. The doggies rotate each day spending time in the café being pet and snuggled by the patrons. We were pretty smitten by the time we left. Had it not been on the far side of the city from us, we’d have been back a number of times. We had high tea at a 1940’s themed cafe and also found a coffee shop with Japanese arcade games. Why not!? Themed cafes, unique restaurants, niche museums – you can find it all!
For the lovers of learning, London is home to many museums – incredibly enormous and grand – full of ancient relics (from many a conquered land), art, and modern technology. The biggest museums are free to visit and we capitalized on this fact, visiting the British Museum four times. The Science Museum captured our intrigue while the Victoria and Albert Museum captured our awe. Smaller museums tended to have entry fees but were very reasonable. The kids walked through Charles Dickens’s home with their school group and visited London’s largest Hindu Temple. We have heard that the Naval Museum is excellent and we also enjoyed the animal exhibits at the Natural History Museum.
Did you say that you’d rather do things than see things? Excellent. There are over 6 theme parks and impressive play areas in the city. We went to Chessington World of Adventures in the fall and had a fun-filled day of thrill rides, zoo animals, and carnival games. We did not go to LEGO Land, although I am sure it is fabulous. Instead, we saved our pennies to go to the Harry Potter Studio Tour which was EPIC. It was part museum and part interactive experience. We learned so much about the making of the movies and got to see original costumes and props. We saw videos about how special effects were done, how Hagrid could appear so large, and how green screens were used for the quidditch games. We drank butter beer, saw the night bus, and had a great time feeling like adoring fans and appreciating the scale of effort that went into this series of movies.
For the outdoor lovers, there are some really big and beautiful parks in the city. Our favourite park to spend time in was Kew Gardens. It is actually a botanical garden that has existed for many years and has hosted a large number of plant species brought to London by colonizers of far-off lands. It has been a royal garden for centuries but is now privately managed. There is a fee to enter unless you’ve purchased a membership. We were very fortunate to have some friends with a membership who were able to bring us inside as their guests. We saw an exhibit on orchids in the spring that was incredibly beautiful, and a garden dedicated to Mexico and Central America (brought about some nostalgia for us having just been there seeing these plants and trees). Kew Gardens also housed an amazing kids’ playground themed around the four elements that is very well designed to be challenging yet safe. Sculptures, rock gardens, and a huge pagoda are other features of Kew. It’s such a large place that even after 5 visits, we still hadn’t seen every corner. Other green spaces in the city are often called “commons” or “greens” and we spent time lounging in the sun and playing on the structures.
Many grounds of former grand estates (houses of Lords and Dukes, etc) have been turned into public parks. We lived walking distance to the Chiswick House and Gardens which were gorgeously kept and provided lovely picnic opportunities. It also hosted a number of markets, festivals, and a dog show that was themed after Harry Potter. Brilliant!
And, of course, for those who love to shop, there are plenty of options in London! Personally, we aren’t much of a shopping family, but we did visit the LEGO store more than once to admire the sets and the statues. Our biggest shopping vice this year was shopping at the charity shops, particularly Fara Kids where we found clothing, puzzles, games, and even shoes at very good prices. There are many charity shops along the “high streets” in every neighbourhood. We aren’t sure how it all works, but we understand that they can accept donations of items, price them to their satisfaction, and sell them in their stores. We had over 10 different charities to shop with just in our 1km stretch of high street: Cancer Research, Oxfam, Fara, Trinity, and Crisis, to name a few. They are a wonderful way to find great items for decent prices!
I could go on and on about the unique programs and the fun outings in the city, but I’ll finish off with just one last program that we loved. For Molly’s Christmas gift, we bought her entry into the Junior Zookeeper program at the London Zoo. For three hours, she got to follow a zookeeper mentor into five different animal pens and participate in some form of animal keeping. For example, at the tortoise pen, she had to pick up their “papaya-sized poop” and help wash the sides of their pond. With the meerkats, she put out some snacks and was able to have one jump onto her lap for treats. At each station, she learned about the animals and saw their behaviour first-hand. Not only did she walk away with a new t-shirt, but she beamed for the rest of the day. What a great opportunity for our animal lover!
I think I’ve made my point; London has so many programs and events to experience that you will most certainly find something fun to do!