A 'Shrektacular' Adventure

10:15 Leila Gunn 0 Comments

I've been neglecting my blog a little bit this week, I've been so busy! Between results day and practically living in a building site at the moment, I'm afraid I haven't had a lot of space (or peace!) to sit down and write a post. Nevertheless, I have found a little free time now, which I shall use to tell you about my family's trip to London, and why you need to go on the new 'Shrek's Adventure!'

Usually when we go to London, we like to visit places with a bit of character, lively places where there's always something to do or look at, such as Borough Market and Camden. This is usually because not only do we love them, but they're also always interesting places to visit (a bit of a safety net for people like us who are always too last minute to book things!) However, this time was an exception, as due to building works, we could plan out our week in advance (to get away from the noise), making it into a bit of a 'staycation.' So, we booked tickets for the Shrek's Adventure Tour, which we'd heard lots about from other people as a 'do-not-miss' trip. It's quite handy actually, because if you buy the tickets online here, they're 2 for 1, so you can also get a free ticket to another London attraction such as the London Dungeons or Madame Tussauds. We decided to visit the SeaLife Centre as it's just next door.

Now those who know me know that I'm not too keen on SeaLife Centres and Zoos. Don't get me wrong, some centres do amazing conservation and rescue work. But to me, there's just something not quite right about keeping an animal in a cage or tank its whole life. I understand the argument of the animal being born in captivity so it doesn't know anything better, but I'm just not convinced that's quality of life for a creature which is designed to live in the wild. Take the SeaLife centre for example, I think the work they do at educating people about the dangers of waste disposal and global warming is great and I believe some of their breeding programs do allow creatures to be released back into the wild. But for many creatures, I think it's sad that once the offspring are born, they just spend their lives being transferred between centres, going from tank to tank. But I've gone a bit off-track here on a rant - it's just something I feel quite passionate about. Nevertheless, for us, it is great to be able to see these beautiful creatures up close... or not in the case of this fish!

















We then had a stroll along Southbank, which is always a fantastic walk. This view never gets old.



We also had lunch in Giraffe, which we've never eaten at before, but we had the nicest meal (you get so much for your money!) and will definitely go again.








And then it was time for the Shrek Tour! I was surprised at just how excited we all were about the tour, just standing in the queue ready to go in we couldn't quite contain ourselves! The whole tour was so authentic, and I must say it's a brilliant place to take kids if you have a free day over the Summer holidays. I can't say too much about it because I might ruin it for those of you who haven't had the chance to go yet, (besides, we weren't allowed to take photos) but I really recommend you do - it's not everyday you get to meet Shrek. As we were asked to repeat about 500000x whilst on the tour - it was 'Shrektacular!'


We finished off the day with dinner in the OXO Tower Restaurant, which was a bit of a bank-breaking meal, but incredibly delicious!














And look at the view from the terrace.


0 comments: