Happy Christmas from England

We just got back from a week in England and it was a doozy! We packed a lot in and yet when I wrote down what we did it didn't feel like very much. Needless to say, I cannot wait to go again someday and do about 1,000 more things. I really fell in love with the place and, yes, some of it had to do with the luxury of being able to understand people when they spoke ... for the most part. ;)

While in London, we stayed on a little road called Pear Tree Court. How fitting for the week of Christmas. A partridge in a pear tree?  Yesiree.

For the first couple of days we hit up the free museums (which ask for a donation, so they really are not free at all), the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum. The Science was meh, the NHM was great! Noah, a regular stinker when it comes to all-thing-touristy, drank up the NHM. He did not complain or whine for the solid hour (or two?) we were in there and instead asked nonstop questions and delighted in every exhibit. 

 Along that same street is a very prominent LDS church. Surprise!

We walked our legs off to Kensington Gardens. The first day I swear we walked about 5 miles. The wind was stiff and it wore us out but otherwise it was a pretty warm week there, mid-50s for the most part. We couldn't really complain about that!

The architecture in London was giving me strong heart palpitations. 

 Behold, a gold Prince Albert on his throne. King Albert? I can't keep these royals straight.

 Kensington Palace with Queen Victoria in statue.

Our walk across Kensington Gardens was rewarded at the end with the Princess Diana Memorial Park which has a playground inspired by the story of Peter Pan. It was a great break for the kids.

Buckingham Palace disappointed Adam because it was overall not impressive enough. I do declare that I thought it was made of red brick. We have apparently never seen pictures of Buckingham Palace. The royal guards were cool to watch and Noah did a great impression of them later.

Adam had the not-so-bloody-brilliant idea of walking around the Buckingham Palace. Seventy-five percent of it is high walls with spikes at the top. Don't do it, there's nothing to see. Inside the Queen's gallery foyer, however, was this tree with the best crown ornaments ever. I wanted to snatch one off and take it home for a souvenir. Instead I took a picture.

 I do feel bad boring the kids with so much looking at buildings and historical monuments, so we thought the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park would be a fun treat for them. We spent 20 pounds on rides and it filled an afternoon with Christmas fun.

After that we tried on Harrods for size.

Inside was a panic attack waiting to happen (too many shoppers in very tight - although beautiful - quarters). Outside, the holiday window displays were delightful!

On Christmas Eve morning, I took off alone to Notting Hill. I'm a sucker for that movie and I wanted to see the colorful houses for myself. They did not disappoint!

Can you freaking even?!!!

 The famous Portobello Road market was happening, but the weekday version is a much smaller scale than the weekend. Fine with me! It was raining and quiet and I was in heaven!

 This was Hugh Grant's blue door in Notting Hill. He makes aloofness hot in that movie, am I right?

 A Christmas-time green, red, and white.

In the afternoon we were going to go to some really expensive caroling event at Prince Albert Hall but ditched it after realizing the kids wouldn't care for it. Instead we stopped by to see Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. We were staying in the Clerkenwell neighborhood and I was delighted to find one morning that I could run to the River Thames and Big Ben/Westminster Abbey. The more I travel the more I realize my traveling style: I tend not to plan very strictly or study guidebooks beforehand because I like to be surprised. 

We interrupt this Tour of London to bring you Christmas in an Airbnb. I don't know WHAT I was THINKING when I booked this trip over Christmas. Leaving behind my beautiful Christmas tree and the comforts of our home on the coziest day of the year?! I am truly an idiot and I will not do that again. It stressed me out at first thinking of what a mistake that was. But then I got over it and we did the best we could with what we had. 

Sienna finally got her Christmas letter out to Santa on Christmas Eve. She added doll house on there. Too late, sister! 

This is Christmas morning. See? Kids don't need no Christmas tree. They just want presents!

 It was a success after all, and they were very happy with what they got. My personal favorite was the binoculars.

 Christmas dinner brought to you by Waitrose grocery store.

We finally know what a mince meat pie is. What a relief! And what a relief that I don't have to eat another one again! Here's our very dignified Christmas day meal including Adam looking very dapper in his dinner jacket (my present to him).

The morning after Christmas, Adam took off on his own to use the bike share system and he biked all over London! What a great idea! He loved it. I took the kids to a park near our apartment and I think that was the most fun they'd had all week. 

That afternoon, we rode a bus to Bath. The next day we took an all day tour (I guess this was just yesterday) of Southwest England which included stops to tiny, quaint villages like this one called Castle Combes. Dr. Doolittle was filmed here.

The door situation in that town elicited all the heart-eye-emojis from this gal.

There was this little snack bar of home baked goods in front of some lady's cottage. Adam bought some coffee cake and put his 50 pence in the slot in the door. Can.Not.Handle.The.Cuteness.

 Kids? I know you won't remember this, so we'll take a lot of pictures and pretend that you do.

 This was a stop at Avesbury where they have a stone circle thing going on that expands throughout the town. Very mysterious stuff; Adam loves this kind of thing. Poor Noah's sneakers and socks soaked through early on in the day and he was pretty miserable.

 All of that lush green you see on Downton Abbey is real! It's its own hue of green, I believe. The hue of heaven.

 We stopped in Lacock for lunch. I guess Pride & Prejudice was filmed here? And other films, too. I forget now what they were. Oh, maybe some Downton Abbey? I'm a terrible tourist. #imjusthereforthearchitectureandfood

 I took away a hefty square of exquisite shortbread from Lacock Bakery. Yum!

 Last stop was .... drum roll ... Stonehenge! Very cool stuff. We had audio guides around our necks but the kids were losing their marbles and I gave it to them as a distraction. Hence, I didn't learn a lot, but I enjoyed what I could.

 We tried to get a decent family picture but it just did not happen.

But the more I look at these, the more I love them. I mean, we got Selfie Stick Guy in our shot! Like five times over!!! Also, #asiantourist ! How lucky are we?!

 Crikey, she's a beaut!

And that was that! I'd love to have spent more time in Bath itself but we simply ran out of time. Gives us plenty to look forward next time 'round. (Can you hear the English accent? It's part of me now.)