It is amazing how much you can cram into a day when a little person gets you up at 6am. By 10am I was meeting a friend for coffee at London’s South Bank and by 2pm had looked around the Tate Modern and was on my way home!
London’s South Bank is a pretty good place for kids. Accessibly-wise I could walk all the way from Waterloo station to the Tate Modern without lugging the pram up and down stairs. Royal Festival Hall has loads of places to eat and events on as well as a LIFT. There is also one leading up to the cafes and restaurants near Embankment Bridge BUT it wasn’t working yesterday (helpful).
Mrs Tiggywinkles and others like her are very much welcomed at the Tate Modern,according to one of the curators there. He came up to us and fussed over Mrs T for a while – commenting on how good it is to get children into art early. I can’t say Mrs T was completely wowed by some of the Picasso, Kandinksy or Barbara Hepworth works on display although she enjoyed some of the video and light installations that involved bright colours. She also LOVED people watching – and were loads of faces to stare at.
Plenty of other Mums were there too with their children, including what looked like an antenatal group walking around with their young sleeping babies in slings. There were also lots of children on school trips.
The good thing about the Tate Modern is, like many galleries in the UK, it is FREE so you can dip in and out without feeling compelled to see as much as possible (which can be hard with baby in tow). We stayed to look at a couple of levels and didn’t even try to get tickets for the Lichtenstein exhibition (£14). To ensure you do get tickets for popular exhibitions, you are advised to get them in advance. I now feel I should make the most of what is on offer in and around London while I am still off work and Mrs T isn’t mobile.
All in all I had a fantastic sunny walk along South Bank, enjoyed bit of culture and it was brilliant to see my newly pregnant friend. Knowing now how wonderful motherhood can be I am super excited for her.
Bank holiday Monday was a bit more chilled out. It was a bit novel to have Daddy back with us on a weekday. Since completing his final round of chemotherapy, Cal has thrown himself back into work so it was lovely to get an extended day with him now he has recovered and without the big C hanging over his head.
We went for a walk in the park, along the river then stopped for something to eat al fresco and enjoyed the sun beating down on our faces while we had a glass of wine. Mrs T had a great day, she loves the sunshine and being out in the fresh air without layers and layers of clothes on. She gave my steak her seal of approval after sampling a chunk. Cal clearly thought I was a bit crazy for sharing it with her, partly because he’s still getting his head around the baby-led weaning thing but, like Joey in the TV series Friends, he also doesn’t do sharing).
