It's our last day in London and we were set to cram as much in as possible. by 9am we'd done three loads at the laundromat and were heading off to Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guard. Parental failure: after 20minutes of waiting Emerson asked why we were queueing for the 15th time - I told her there was a big parade with Fairies and Mickey & Minnie starting soon. No matter how impressive the band and marching was it was never going to live up to my poorly set expectations :)

We took a lazy stroll through Birdcage and the Horseguards Parade, past the back of Number 10. No kidding I'm actually orientating myself by memories for Yes Prime Minister. There's one episode where Hacker complains about the noise from the Horse Guarding practicing outside, Humphrey dryly replies that it is the Horse Guard parade afterall. We snapped the photo of the kids next to the statuesque Horseguard before heading out onto Whitehall. So the front guards are about to change, I'm studying how this is happening, how is one horse going to replace anohter in a narrow gatehouse? I walk around the front of the gatehouse to take a look, importantly, to my left I have a bank of people. All of a sudden there is a massive horse making a sharp left out fo the gatehouse and straight for the kids and I, the kids have the good sense to move out of the way. Thinking I have a crowd behind me I assume he can't be wanting to go straight ahead so I have a little amygdala hijack and stop doing anything sensible, I froze. "STAND CLEAR OF THE GUARD" shouted God, oh its just the guard on the horse, s*** he's coming straight for me! I barely ducked out of the way in time to escape punishment and injury.

My loving family were so overcome with relief that I'd escaped uninjured, they laughted their heads off at me for the next 5 minutes. I dragged them down Whitehall to escape the scene. As we get to Number 10 I notice Mayor Boris Johnson leaving with a small party, pushing a bike - Rob had commented about a "Boris Bike" (what they call his rent a bike scheme) previously. I snapped a few pics of Boris before he sent an underling off with the bike, photo opp was clearly over.

We went on to Westminster Abbey where there is a strict no photo policy - b******s! Obviously an amazing place, though I didn't look at any of the architecture or art - the tombs are just all consuming. Past all the monarchs, hundereds of nobility you don't know, some you think you know and then Shakespear, Lawernce, Dickins, every turn someone else you know. Of course I was looking for Darwin, I finally found his commemortaive floor stone, a few feet from Isaac Newton, both Gab and I had our iPhones out for a sneaky shot when one of Gods helpers swopped on us :(

A quick bite before we headed to South Kensington (got the tube sussed by now) I take the kids for a museum afternoon while Gab has one last stint in the Knightsbridge shops. They are genuinely beside themselves as we get into the Natural History Museum. The birds got them excited - they had photos with almost everything in there - Dodo, peacocks, etc. They even did one pocking fun at the Kiwi. As we turned into the fossil display Max said "Oh My God! A moment's silence please - look real fossils!" and it went on like that through most of the displays. We tuned back into the main hall where I noticed the white margle statue of Darwin seated on the landing. I asked the kids if they knew who that was - Max replied "Easy one Dad, thats Jesus" golden!

On to the Science Museum where again it was all too awesome. Model of the moon lander, a Cray, a Difference Machine, rockets, and the pattern display which kept them entertained for half an hour. Just time for Ice cream outside - are there always this many ice cream guys in London? Nearly as many of them as there are souvineer shops.

Finally back to bayswater for a late pub dinner to finish off our London hoiday in London style. Sticky floor, Jamie T on the jukebox, fish 'n chips for the kids and Nachos for me :)

Over dinner we quizzed each other about where in Europe you'd want to go. Kids were hands down London fans - I'd like to think it was Fergus and Heston, but I think it was the museums and M&M world that won them. For Gab is undisputedly Paris, for me - I'd have to visit both Paris and London again, I'd holiday in Paris first, but live in London if I could.

Off to New York at stupid o'clock tomorrow.