Story time at the National Gallery

Of the several things we were waiting to do with Grandma was to visit the National Gallery.

Sundays the National Gallery hosts a story time for kids! 

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/whats-on/magic-carpet-sundays/

So we bundled up Sunday morning and recreated Grandma's first day by walking down to Trafalgar Square.  The usually bustling London streets were more quiet as we made our way there.

The Floating Yoda's seen before on prior trips were just setting up (and we saw the apparatus of their "floating" stands disassembled in front of us, which was like looking behind The Great Oz's curtain).

Apparently the Yoda's have been there for several months.  The particular Yoda in this link was still going strong when we were there.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3131086/Yoda-Wars-break-Trafalgar-Square-Romanian-street-performers-dressed-Star-Wars-character-battle-best-spots.html

We made it inside and were on time for the early story time!  The boys ran around a bit before the story started.

It was a great experience.  The woman in charge made all the kids feel comfortable, asking them questions about angels and getting them ready for this adventure.

We all trooped up through the the Gallery until we arrived in front of Pietro Perugino's "The Virgin and Child with an Angel" which is part of a three part panel.

You can see the three panels here:
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/pietro-perugino-three-panels-from-an-altarpiece-certosa

The kids loved unrolling the carpet.

Then they learned about angels and were taught a song as well.  Sammy and Joey were pretty transfixed since the woman was so engaging.

 Lanna found the stories and singing to be very soothing and was blissfully asleep dreaming of angels of her own.

The story was about a half hour, an ideal amount of time as you could see a wave of fidgeting grow stronger amongst the sitting children.  They helped roll up the carpet as well and then we explored a little of the gallery.

Joey and Sammy were introduced to the impressionists primarily, seeing Monet again and learning a little about Manet, Cezanne, Seurat and Van Gogh.

We got a shot of Joey with the Sunflowers since he liked them so much.

Before we had a Louvre repeat, we left the National Gallery for home.

The afternoon was laid back.  The kids played with their costumes, often bending genres like ninja-Beefeater (not pictured), pirate-soldier (not pictured), and legionnaire-Spiderman (pictured).

We planned to experience the Sunday Roast and left the apartment for dinner.

Let this be a lesson to you:  book Sunday Roast in advance.

The following 90 minutes were pretty unenjoyable walking a few miles in northwest London searching for a place, any place, that would take us.

We ended up at a chain of children's restaurants that do not serve Sunday Roast but have a fantastic collection of crayons and hamburgers for tired, hungry children.

After dinner we made the slow amble back to the apartment and the children slept angelically.