This was one of the two biggest days planned (along with yesterday) and we had planned to see four attractions. However in the end Oscar didn’t last and we had to cut Churchill’s War Rooms. We did still tick off three big attractions, and we made extensive use of the Hop On Hop Off bus, each trip coming with great commentary of the surrounding location.

After we caught the 88 again into Westminster, we then jumped on the colourful tourist bus to the London Transport Museum, just north of the river and north east of the Westminster area. This was a real highlight, up there again with the best attractions that we’ve seen. The exhibit covered London transport in all forms, from around 1800 until the present day.

There were steam engines, old buses and horse-drawn carriages, old and modern tube carriages, audio-visual presentation, heaps of stuff for the kids – a real hit. All the museum pieces were meant to be explored, and we enjoyed it so much we did stay longer than expected, putting us a bit behind schedule.

The next stop was Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, the recreated 1990s version of Shakespeare’s original thatched roof theatre house, which burned to the ground during a cannon stunt gone wrong in a 1613 version of Henry VIII. Unfortunately we weren’t able to visit the actual theatre itself, as there was a production in progress for the whole of that afternoon. However, there was still an excellent display of the life and history of the Globe, of Shakespeare, and acting in general. The big kids most enjoyed reading lines when prompted in a mini interactive version of one of Shakespeare’s acts.

We didn’t leave until after 2.30pm, and we still wanted to also see Westminster Abbey before it closed at 3.30pm. So we downed the remaining snacks, abandoned lunch and Hopped On our familiar bus back to Westminster to make the most of our last day of the London Pass.

The gothic style Abbey is truly awe-inspiring, with its height, depth and width, interred remains of famous kings and queens, stained glass windows and memories of grand weddings and funerals. I’d always thought of the Abbey as just one church space, however there are at least a dozen smaller chapels off to the sides, complete with additional stone gravestones and each conveying a sense of beauty and majesty. As the Abbey is still a live church, no-one was allowed to photograph anywhere inside the Abbey proper (hence the absence of my photos).

After our Abbey visit we headed back to one of the lively restaurant districts for an early dinner, and then managed to work out how to make our way home by tube.