Summer Vacation - Week 3 - London Day 9

I think this blog is the only way I can keep track of the days anymore.  Ugh.  I have been on vacation way too long already.

Today was a big day.  We headed into town ready and dressed for afternoon Tea at the Ritz.  We had to make reservations months ago and we were all very excited.  I must say that we were NOT let down in the slightest.

We made a stop at the museums before our 3:30 tea time.  The Museum of Science was cool, but not nearly as cool as the Perot Museum was in Dallas so it was a quick visit.

Next we popped into the V&A museum, but the girls seemed not interested at all.  So off we went to do some shopping around Picadilly and Oxford Street.

V&A Museum

Joker's chillaxing before tea

And when in London, you must try on some hats

Or just give Mom some love

So tea at the Ritz was absolutely amazing.  Not just the food and tea, but the entire experience.  The Palm Court was absolutely gorgeous.  The staff was amazing.  Even the bathroom was a pink explosion of fun.  We had three courses.  Well we actually had two courses and passed on the third.  More macaroons, finger sandwiches, scones and many other little desserts.  Oh and the tea was amazing.  Of course Lily seemed a little amped up on caffeine after.  I should have opted for the non-caffeine version for her.

Entry Hall at the Ritz

 BFFs

 Yummy desserts (and a fake little hand... it's a thing now)

Summer Vacation - Week 3 - London Days 7&8

Macy and Ahren arrived at Heathrow just in time for more fun in London.  The first day was spent mostly local to our home away from home.  We ate at a traditional English pub (The Fox and the Hound) which had an amazing outdoor patio.  We tried Scottish Eggs for the first time.  Very interesting.  Then we did some window shopping in the local shops and hit the hay so the girls could get caught up on sleep.

Lily and Macy at the Fox and Hound pub

The next day we headed into downtown and did the bus tour again for Macy's sake of course.  We also stopped at Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards for the second time during our visit.  It happens to be much more of a spectacle with carriages and such at Buckingham more so than Windsor, but it was a bit rainy and the people were all over.  We put the girls up on a wall so they could see better. 

Then we hit a restaurant called Wagamama that Macy heard about from a friend and had some tasty ramen, pad thai and teriyaki.  After Wagamama we walked around Covent Garden and got some more macaroons form Laduree (the famous French macaroon joint).

Our course, we tried making a call on one of the famous red London booths. 

There are tons of interesting sites on the bus tour.  And a few sleepy kids.  I wish I could say the weather was still sunny, but the typical London summer weather is back and we are getting rain every day now.  Bummer, but nothing can stop us.

Oh and we also visited the food halls at Harrods again.  More cupcakes for the girls.  And we even bought meat pies to warm up at home for dinner from one of the Harrods food stalls.  They were actually quite tasty.  While we did not purchase any fish, I thought this picture was kind of fun.

Summer Vacation - Week 3 - Day 6 in London

It was a super fun day.  No tube stations today, only buses for transport so we felt like true locals.  We headed to Kew Gardens first thing in the morning and spent most of the day there.  Having lunch at the Orangerie and walking around all the fabulous gardens, palaces, etc. in the 330 acre garden.  This is were King George III stayed after he went crazy (yes, truly crazy).  They speculate he was bi-polar.  The palace is the smallest of all the palaces in England, but interesting none the less.

After spending nearly 5 hours at Kew, we headed south to Kingston where we met Aniela & Stefan for dinner at one of Jamie Oliver (famous British chef) restaurants.  We had a super great meal and even better conversations with friends.  It is so fun to catch up with old friends.  Today I was reminded that we have known each other for 23 years.  How lucky I feel to have friends all over the world to visit and catch up with just like it was yesterday.

Oh, and I forgot to mention in the middle of all of that we popped into a Monsoon store and found Lily the most beautiful dress ever!  Normally I would not have paid so much for it, but it was one of the prettiest dresses I've ever seen and has scenes from all over London on it.  This girl really has been a shopping queen here in London.  This is going to get really expensive if we continue like this.  Maybe just a few things in Paris.

Treetop canopy tour at Kew Gardens

 Feeding ducks, swans and other feathery friends in Kew

 Hanging out at the Park at Kew

 Kew Palace Gardens

 Palace at Kew - this is where King George III was sent when he went crazy

 The Beehive Installation at Kew

 They even had peacocks at Kew

 One of three glass pavilions at Kew Gardens (this was the Palm House)

 Lily loves the front seat on the double decker buses

 Kim, Lily & Aniela on the River Thames in Kingston (after dinner at Jamie Oliver's restaurant)

 Very old houses (circa 1492) in old town Kingston

Summer Vacation - Week 2 - Day 5 in London

Today was the end of our second week of summer vacation and it was truly an amazing day.  We started the day off at the V&A Museum, which I must say is one of the finest museums I have ever experienced to date.  It is chaotic, amazing, beautiful and has more stuff than I thought could be put in a museum.  They say it takes at least 5 days to due the museum justice.  Even thought we had just a short time, it was a great introduction to the museum and I can't wait to go back.  The effort they make for kids is awesome as well. 

After V&A we headed to Harrod's, the famous department store that has over 200 departments.  Harrod's even used to have a department for exotic animals (think lions, tigers, etc.)  While they got rid of the exotic animal department and only sell them online... they still have the most amazing food hall I have ever seen.  Fresh food, packaged food, caviar, meat, chocolate, teas... and the list goes on and on.  I got suckered into a $5 cupcake for Lily, but it was worth it just to experience the food hall.

After Harrod's we a restaurant called Seafresh which was rated to have the top 5 fish and chips in all of England.  I must say they were pretty darned good. 

Our final stop of the day was the Museum of Natural History.  Again, an amazing museum.  And again, a little chaotic of a layout, but definitely awesome.  Lily thoroughly enjoyed the oversized gemstone exhibit (she says she wants to be a gemologist when she grows up - or a chef).  We definitely didn't have enough time or energy left to see all the exhibits so a return visit is definitely in our cards.  And we didn't make it to the science museum yet.  Oh, so many things to do and so little time.

Some pictures from the day.

The V&A Museum exterior

 Room and room full of ceramics (just like this one)

 Beautiful British artifacts

 Lily trying on a hoop skirt and petticoat, just as they wore back in the day

 The fish market in the food hall at Harrods

 Museum of Natural History - escalator into the volcano

 Enjoying her last day with both cousins - Roslyn leaves tomorrow for California

Summer Vacation - Week 2 - London Day 3 & 4

Day 3 of our London adventure was a little interesting.  Lily woke up as normal at 6am, but quickly hugged me in bed (yes I have to share a bed with that stinkin' teeth grinder), then she rolled back over and went to sleep.  Around 8am Roslyn and Raquel were getting ready to head out for the day, but still no Lily... two hours later... still no Lily.  The little bugger slept for over 14 hours and finally woke up around 11am.  Needless to say, we stayed local mostly for day 3, ran some errands, did some laundry and pretty much acted like local Londoners. 

Day 4... well we were 100% back to being tourists.  We took an all day bus trip to Windsor Castle, Bath and then Stonehenge.  These may sound like they are close, but absolutely were not and took us at least 3 hours away from London.  The country side was beautiful and seeing the sites were amazing.  We even got a front row seat to watch the changing of the guards at Windsor Castle.  The Queen was in residence at Windsor as well.  Earlier in the week we were at Buckingham Castle and the Queen was in residence at Buckingham that day as well.  Today was also the last day of Ascot (Royal Horse Racing) and we got to see loads of people in fancy clothes and hats that really took the cake. 

Of course Bath & Stonehenge (both World Heritage sites) were fantastic to see.  It was a late night, but very much worth it.

Windsor Castle - The Changing of the Guards ceremony

 Bath - The Roman Baths in the fore ground & Bath Abbey in the background

 Artifacts found in the Roman Baths

 Roslyn, Lily and Raquel in the Roman Baths

 Lily and guy pretending to be a Roman Bather

 Stained Glass inside the Bath Abbey

 Bridge & River Avon in Bath

 Stonehenge

Summer Vacation - Week 2 - London Day 2

Today was another sweltering day in London (yes, topping the 90s and apparently the warmest day in June since 1976).  But heck, we made the best of it.  We did some more double decker bus touring and in between we hit the National Gallery of Art, Buckingham Palace and Covent Garden.  We even cheated and had a Macaroon from the most famous macaroon shop in Paris called Lauderee.  They have a shop in London at Covent Garden and of course Lily wanted to buy the whole shop.  We settled for two macaroons for her.  And we plan to have many more in Paris.  She tried to convince me while in Paris we should buy 3 days worth at a time since the lines will be so long.  Hmmm..... am I convinced this is a good idea?  Probably not.

Trafalgar Square

 A Serrat from the Naitonal Gallery of Art

 ??? I'm forgetting right now???

 St James Cathedral (tallest building in City of London)

 Tower of London

 Buckingham Palace

 Another Queen Victoria Statue (this one in front of Buckingham Palace)

 Macaroons from Lauderee at Covent Garden