As the cousins had a few days in London before we met up, they have achieved more sightseeing than the rest of us, so this morning we split up to see different sites.

Isaac is better than yesterday after sleeping from about 4.30pm right through the night, but we left him at the hotel for the morning to sleep in. We weren’t aware when we booked this hotel that they provided a complimentary breakfast, but today we made the most of it. Zac didn’t feel like eating any more than a few bites of an apple, so I encouraged him to go back to bed and Uber to Westminster to meet us at 12.45pm.

The cousins spent the morning touring the Natural History Museum (which Ollie now says is his favourite thing he has done on holidays – even more than the Harry Potter experience they did last week), while the rest of us toured Westminster Abbey. This was on Jarrod’s list to do because he has been to London several times and not been able to get in (I know, I know, it’s a first world problem he has there….).

The Abbey provided an audio guide and headphones, which was helpful but not comprehensive. There were many people there at the same time as us, which meant sections took a while to see due to the queues, such as the tombs of Mary, Queen of Scots and Elizabeth 1. It struck me that the sisters, one a staunch Catholic and the other the head of the Church of England, were interred next to each other, to show that at their core they had a common cause and similar goals.

It was also interesting to see how many famous people are buried there or have monuments/plaques erected to them, and the coronation chair (now that we have been alive for a coronation!).

We finished our individual tours at exactly 12.45pm and found Zac looking brighter and waiting for us at the exit.

We caught a tube out to Stratford then to have some lunch and meet the cousins, ready to attend an EPL (English Premier League) game. Sam tells me there are five EPL teams in London, and West Ham has the largest stadium (it seats more than 60,000). We chose this game to watch, not for any scientific reason or because of their standing on the table but because we could get 14 seats together!

There is a Westfields near the entrance, so we stopped for some lunch there and met the others at the stadium, where Uncle Luke had already had a beer and they were patiently waiting for us in our seats.

West Ham v Brighton seemed to be a slightly friendlier game than the one we watched last week, perhaps because both teams are close to relegation or because it wasn’t a local derby? The excitement was too much for the fan sitting next to Jarrod – he couldn’t stay awake! It ended in a 1 – 1 draw, which was great because we got to see how the fans behaved when each team scored.

After the game we walked back through the Westfields to the tube station and caught the underground back to Pimlico where we are staying. There are quite a few restaurants near our hotel, and we found a little Thai restaurant willing to take 14 of us to eat in with no prior booking. After a delicious meal, we walked back down the street to our hotel, making plans for tomorrow as we walked.