Our Summer Travel Destination Will Be...

Europe! Yes, we are taking the boys on a 9-hour flight at ages 18 months and 4. Austen, who has difficulty with sitting still for all 10 minutes of circle time at preschool is probably going to love sitting in his seat for an entire day but what can I say. We're gluttons for punishment.

The plan is to spend a chunk of time in Italy somewhere in Tuscany. We will be having a little reunion with some dear friends we miss so much from our time in Singapore. We'll also be finishing our travels with a week in London. Nothing is booked yet, no dates are set in stone but the wheels are churning.

New Years in London

_MG_6493, a photo by coach_stacey on Flickr.

After a week in Paris we took the Eurostar (the chunnel) to London where we had one last night with Joel's parents. After that we had a great visit with all my second cousins (my mother's first cousins and their kids). The weather allowed us to walk the heath and take in some views of the city we'd never seen before.  Cheers to all of you who came out to see us! We wish we were in the UK more often to visit. 


We spent New Years with our long time friends Ben and Jess in the Camden Town area where we visited markets and laid out a spread of food and had an evening of great conversation and fun with their circle of expat friends. We trekked up to a park just before midnight to see the fireworks downtown. You can't get more jovial than the Brits when it comes to any holiday or Sporting event (or really any occasion with alcohol involved). 

The trip to the UK was far too short to really fit in more than that. I know we'll be back before long. London is one of those places in the world where we feel very at home and this being my fourth trip through I was very aware that I need to spend more time here.

London and QM2 Day one

We arrived back in London on the 20th and celebrated Joel's 27th Birthday at dinner with Heather and Angus. I managed to get a candle on his dessert but we really haven't had a proper Birthday for him yet avec cake. I did notice a couple stealing a cake last night from the 24 hour buffet, making note of that idea.
We had tickets to the Terracotta Warriors at the British Museum on the 21st which was really fantastic. If you are in London in the next while I'd recommend it but make sure you do the Audio Tour. It was a really good way to be lead through it all.
That evening we went out to see Fiddler on the Roof at the Savoy Theatre (at the Fairmont Savoy Hotel). Excellent! I'm really glad we got out to a show while we were here.

We arrived on the Queen Mary 2 yesterday. Were in the spa straight away, Joel had a massage and I had a much-needed facial and we spent some time floating around the hydro therapy baths beforehand.


Dinner was at the Britannia Restaurant was lovely. We are seated with two very friendly couples who we will sit with each night we eat there.

After dinner we watched the Queen Elizabeth pass in her way into port - apparently this is a big deal here. And spent the rest of the evening trying to keep up with Joel who was determined to inspect every inch of the ship. Should have packed running shoes - stupid.

Today he still has ants in his pants, he's like a kid at Christmas. Up at 6, again at 7 and 8 and 9... checking on the 24 hour buffet every so often to make sure it's still there. Finding things to poke and prod, asking me every so often what I think the spare anchor weighs. He might join the crew before we got off. Anyway, we are both enjoying ourselves immensely. Me at a stroll and Joel at a run.

London Part 2

On Tuesday we began at Tottenham Court Road and walked down to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard. We spent the afternoon at the British Museum and then headed home for a delicious dinner with Heather and Angus.

Key learning moment: Pret a Manger makes great soy lattes. I'll even venture a statement risking my furture entry to Victoria BC, that they are on par with Cafe Fantastico.

Wednesday we went on a tour of Westminster Abbey. Again I would say the audio tour was very much worth it. What an amazing place.

We went to the Maple Leaf in the evening in Covent Gardens to meet up with our friend Matt. We had a great time, drank the world's most expensive Sleeman's, ordered Rye and Ginger and debated the possible culinary benefits of mushy peas.

London

We arrived in London mid day Sunday. My second cousin, Heather and her husband Angus have been our home base in Islington. They have a great London terrace right by the Tufnell Park Tube station.

As soon as we arrived there was a party here with all the cousins and kids and Great Uncle Donald (Grannie's younger brother). I hadn't met most of the cousins so it was a lot of introductions for both of us. We showed the DVD of the wedding which I'm so glad we brought - thanks Keet!

Yesterday we walked from Trafalgar Square to St. James Park and Buckingham Palace. We actually did the tour of the Palace which is really worth it. It's an audio tour which made it really easy to just zone out and get immersed. At £15 a ticket it's not something I would have usually considered but really of anything I've done here I'd say bite the bullet and do it!

Today we caught the changing of the guard and shopped at Harrods (Nancy, next time we'll do this. I'm still daydreaming about the shoe gallery). We just spent a couple of hours at the British Museum and now we are geeking out on the interweb before heading home.

For the record Joel ate scones with clotted cream today and has been drinking tea. The conversion is almost complete.