London & Paris

My favorite thing is traveling and more than that, to travel with my family.  Unfortunately, all of us couldn't go on this trip as I mentioned before, Alyssa is a big girl with a real job and did not get to go.  We missed her!!  We had a good time though...

Days 1-3

We arrived in London and we were picked up by our friend of 25 years, Mark Popple.  We then drove 2 1/2 hours to the country town of Ross on Wye.  Mark's parents have a beautiful country home on 10 acres.  It is so peaceful, you can hear the sound of sheep in the fields and you notice the many different shades of green. The name of their home is Haygrove.

This is the acreage outside the gardens.  Beautiful and peaceful.

The back garden, one of four gardens around the house.

On Sunday, Nikki, Mark's sister came over with her family.  We went out to eat at a great little vineyard restaurant, then back to the house for more visiting.  We didn't mind that it rained the whole weekend because we were catching up with our friends and spending time with them.

From left to right:  Thomas, Kelley, Mark, Sam (spent a week with us when she was 15), Katie, Delaney, Nikki

Me, Sally and Ian

Katie, Delaney, Sam, Kelley, Joe and Thomas

We had a really wonderful and relaxing weekend with the Popple's and now you can see why.

We had to leave on Monday to go to the city.  On the way we stopped at Bleinheim Palace for a visit.  It wasn't raining, but boy was it cold!  The wind was chilling!!!

Honey, I'm home!  The front entrance to Bleinheim Palace.  What you don't see is the most amazing front yard with a lake and a stunning bridge.  Winston Churchill was born here and it is part of the Spencer-Churchill estate.  (Spencer as in Princess Diana!)

The back garden.  Below this is acres of woodland and a lake and stream with a waterfall.  Too cold to visit today.

Freezing cold but humoring their mother, Delaney and Katie pose in the garden with a view of the back of the palace.  Winston Churchill proposed to his wife just down the garden path from here.

Apparently,  Blenheim Palace is hysterically funny!!!!  I love this picture because they are laughing that laugh that you feel in your heart.  It is truly happy!!!

Day 4 - High Tea at the Lanesborough Hotel

After a fun day of riding the tube, shopping at Harrods, and kicking around Hyde Park we attended High Tea at the Lanesborough Hotel.  It is a very POSH hotel near Buckingham Palace.  There were more Rolls Royces' and Bentley's in the parking lot than at a car dealership.  We were met at the door by the doorman in his traditional doorman uniform and shown to the lounge to wait for the rest of our party. The Tea Room was what I would call Manhattan Chic.  It was all crystal, silk and dark wood.  Absolutely Stunning!  Very Sophisticated. It won the 2008 British Tea Council Award for the best tea and that is why we picked it.  We were not disappointed.  The Dowman family arrived and we were enchanted with their children. 

The Dowman children are Imogen, Ethan and Olivia.  They had spent the whole day at the Natural History Museum and they were PERFECTLY BEHAVED throughout the Tea.  They are not only cute, but polite, sincere, funny and loving.  We adored them.

Rob and Caroline Dowman.  We really enjoyed our afternoon with them and their family.  Bob and Rob do business together and have known each other for about 9 years.

Day 5 - Paris

After a really bad nights sleep (major rain with lots of noise, a room change at 3:30 in the morning and no return to sleep) we arrive in Paris via the Eurostar at 9:30 in the morning.  It was a beautiful day. The weather was just right and we enjoyed viewing Paris from the hop on, hop off double decker bus.

Our first stop was the Arc Triumph.  We joined all the other tourist in getting our picture taken.  From here we walked to the Eiffel Tower.  There is no better way to get to know a city than by walking.  We walked down a typical Paris neighborhood street and soaked up the architecture.  Soon Bob had to go to the bathroom and of course, being in a residential neighborhood, none where available. 

 I knew that we were close to La Defense and there would be bathrooms there.  Bob went on an hour long search and found several bathrooms which were all CLOSED!!!!  He asked for help several times from native Parisians and all feigned no English and were rude.  This infuriated Bob and he swore that he would never return to Paris again.  We then headed toward the Eiffel Tower, in view about a quarter of a mile, knowing for sure there were bathrooms there.  We walked at breakneck speed with a lot of cursing of the Parisians when we finally arrived.  Bathrooms CLOSED!!!! OMG are there no open bathrooms in Paris!!  Scouring the premises, I noticed a line of porta potties along the edge of the Eiffel Tower center.  We stood in line for about 10 minutes, but finally Bob was able to use the toilet. He was in a much better mood after that.  YEAH!!  

Delaney and Katie at La Defense, waiting for Bob to return from the Bathroom hunt.  From the Eiffel Tower we hopped on the bus again and took it to Notre Dame.  

The line to climb the stairs and see the view was two blocks.  Needless to say, we went and got lunch.  We ate at a typically quaint Parisian cafe.  It was fabulous, mostly due to our amazingly friendly waiter.  He encouraged the girls to try their french.  They did, using words like: Oui, Si vous plait and Coca, and other words from the menu.  Wow!  See what 4 years of French gets you!

View from bus looking back at the Eiffel Tower along the river Seine.

Katie in front of Notre Dame.

This was around 3:00pm and we were feeling kinda tired.  We had 5 more hours until we had to catch our train back to London and we needed to rest.  We found a park bench next to Notre Dame but it was boring sitting there.  We then headed out for the Conciergerie and St. Chapelle.  

Katie and Delaney along the River Seine heading towards the Concergerie.  The Çoncergerie used to be a palace and then it was a prison for people waiting to be executed via guillotine during the French Revolution.  Marie AAntoinettewas kept her until her execution.  Unfortunately, we did not make it into St. Chapelle.  The line was atrocious, we were tired and it was hot.  So we...

found the tuilleries park and some benches and caught a few zzzz's for about an hour! UMMM - comfortable cement benches.  Our idea was to lay on the grass, but in Paris you are not allowed on any of the grass.  Its just for looks apparently!  We awoke refreshed, got an ice-cream and strolled the park.  We then made our way to the L'Opera to wait for our bus to take us to our train.  We people watched from the steps and it was facinating.  The traffic there is a thriller/action movie in itself!

DAY 6 - London

The weather seemed to be getting better.  We looked out our window and everyone was just wearing sweaters and no jackets.  So we dressed in jeans and light sweaters to tour London on the hop on, hop off bus.  We walked to Marble Arch and boarded the bus.  It felt hot!  Experience told us that even though we were hot now, once the bus started going, it would cool way down.  NOT!!!  We were boiling HOT HOT HOT!  We were on Regent Street were there are a lot of stores and I noticed one store that was not too expensive that I recognized from the days we lived there.  We decided to go in and buy some t-shirts and maybe a pair of shorts.  We hopped off and I found a shirt right away.  Bob took another 20 minutes to find a pair of shorts that fit him.  We then turned to the girls and they didn't want anything to do with the clothes in that store.  Delaney suggested that we take a cab back to our hotel and they would change into their own clothes.  So we did.  It took us a total of an hour and hour and a half.  We caught another cab and rejoined the bus tour at Trafalger Square in our summer clothes.

As we were stepping into Trafalgar Square, I hear Katie say, "I just felt a raindrop".  "No you didn't" I reply.  "Yes, she did" says Bob and at that point it started sprinkling.  We took this picture and then it started raining.  We jumped on the Bus and preceeded to the Tower or London which was our goal that day.  The bus gave us these really stylish rain jackets - Hey, they worked

Katie and Delaney with a Beef Eater at the Tower.

The Tower Bridge in the background.

Day 7 - Seeing More Sights: London

The troops are practicing for the Trooping of the Colour which is the Queens birthday parade.  It was great seeing this group marching down the street.  From here we proceeded to Buckingham Palace. 

Delaney and Katie in front of Buckingham Palace.  The Queen was in residence that day.  You can tell by the flag they fly.

We then went to my favorite Park - St. James' Park. It is beautiful.  The girls got a thrill from feeding the pigeons and the squirrels.  At first they didn't want to feed the pigeons, but the pigeons insisted by landing on them.  So they went with it. 

Feeding the Squirels- Highlight of the vacation.

We then preceeded to the horseguards parade where I took this picture.  While I was taking this picture, someone tried to pick my pocket.  Actually - Purse.  I finished taking this picture and a young couple asked me to take their picture.  As I turned to get their camera, I felt a yank on my purse strap.  When I looked over, the flap was open, the zippered pocket where I kept my money and credit cards was open and the money was half way out.  I think it was a woman who was pretending to take a picture because no way did she have time to escape once I felt the tug.  Thank God she didn't get anything.  After this we went to Big Ben and then back to our hotel.  We then got ready to head home.  It was a fabulous vacation!!!