London Day 7

The late last night coupled with the Tube strike resulted in a late start for us this morning. Breakfast at our hotel was even pushed back an hour due to the strike. We didn't get out of the hotel until 11:30ish. The goal of today was to tackle the Victoria and Albert Museum primarily because it was in walking distance of our hotel. Our route to the V&A took us through Hyde Park and past the Lady Diana Memorial. We had a picnic lunch outside of the Natural History museum and then headed over to the V&A. The museum has everything: art, sculpture, decorative arts, clothing, jewelry, and even pop culture items like rock guitars and costumes. My favorite part was the room of plaster casts of famous European sculptures. There was a life size replica of Michelangelo's David and Trajan's Column. Like many of London's museums there was not enough time to see it all (plus we were all tired). We went back to the hotel to rest before braving the chaos and heading back out to see "Phantom of the Opera." Phantom was enjoyable, but a little confusing for the kids. It only took us an 1 1/4 hours to get home tonight. The bonus was walking past 20+ police officers keeping an eye a large group of youth out having fun. This city is never dull! We off to Manchester for the weekend tomorrow.