THe Sun came out!, the Eye, London Tower, Canary Row

It was so nice to have a sunny day today.  We started at the Tower of London, took a short cruise to the Eye, had a nice, quiet lunch at the Canary.  I stress quiet b/c the Eye was a zoo of strollers, kids, crowds, pushing, jostling.

 

on the eye

 

Tower of London

 

 

Brandon and Bob had a little bit of a heights issue

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Canary for lunch - a nice, quiet piece of the financial district

 

View of Westminster Abbey from our hotel window

 

lobby of the hotel - lots of tea consumed here.  It's lovely.



Tour on the Thames, Vicotria & Albert Museum, Discovering S. Kensington,

Bob and I start each day with a divine breakfast:  the Europeans know how to do breakfast.  One should always start the day with eggs and smoked salmon.

If anyone is wondering if we are going to visit the Downton Abbey venue........unfortunately, no.  They are closed during the two weeks that we are here....darn it!! 

So, I have been making due with "castle-ish" visits to places like the Aspley House (Dukes of Wellingtons lived here - current Duke and family still do).  Also, the Victoria and Albert Museum is about furniture and fashions of Europe throughout time. (No, I didn't subject the boys to these tours.  They were off doing football/soccer things).

Gentleman's wedding attire

formal table service

 

Dinner for 40 @ the Duke's home

 

Here are some views from the Thames cruise:

 



2012 Olympics Bridge

 

Big Ben

 

 

London Tower

 

 our resident "party girl"

 

Pork belly and mashers for dinner

 

Chelsea and S. Kensington area really cool

 

 

 

Harry Potter, Westminster, BuckPalace, Football, Harrods

 

Harrod's Food Court is the bomb.

Nick had a "Harry Potter" day.

 

I covered quite a bit of ground yesterday.  It continues to rain...not a lot of rain, but enough.  The skys are gray all the time.  Anyway,  Westminster Abbey is so beautiful!.  It caught me by surprise. I started with the Apsley House, crossed Green Park to Buck Palace, accidently tripped into the Westminster Abbey, Parliament, Big Ben, Thames, the Eye, Trafalgar Square...

 

Gates of Buck Palace

 

The Guards at Buck Palace

 

 

Green Park

 

WestAbbey

BigBen

 

 

Harrods:  Salmon Packages

 



Our little Soccer Boys from Wembly

Day 1 - always a "throw away" day

'

So we weren't at CVG for 5 minutes before the kids ditched us....


Thanks to a scotch (ok, maybe 2) + a 1/2 an ambien, I slept the entire flight to London.  For the first time in maybe forever, the weather gods and the hotel gods were not smiling upon us.  It was raining hard, when we got off the tube.  And it was a cold, driving rain that chills you to the bone.

 

 

Because Bob and I have a tendency to not ask directions, we wandered around in the rain for 30 minutes.......totally soaked to the bone.  Found the hotel via taxi, only to find out our room wouldn't be ready until 5:30.   Great.  So we went to lunch.  Here's a nice picture of the drowned rat pack:

 

Chicken and bacon, salsbury steak and ale pie

We then trudged over to the # 6 bus, and took the city tour up-top a double decker.  Front row seats.  If you are watching the PBS mini-series, "Selfridges"(about the first department store in London), it's real.  Know for it's elaborate windows.

 

 

 

 

Trafalgar Square

 

It is so incredibly green here.  And the flowers are gorgeous.

 

famous hotel: Dorchester

 

Neighborhood behind our hotel

 

Hyde Park

 

Behind our hotel is a cool little neighborhood of local shops, pubs, little cafes.  There is every kind of food imaginable.  For dinner, we went to a little local place (tiny) that brought all there food up from a downstairs dumb-waiter.  It was lovely and wonderful and warm.  so far so good:



 

 

 

 

 

 

Time for a good night's sleep.  Tomorrow is Harry Potter, a soccer game, the Apsley House (for moi).