Playful Rooted

As I’ve mentioned here a couple times, Ben and I went on a big trip with my parents and brother a few weeks ago. It always takes me forever to post about trips like this one because so much happens and I take so many pictures, and it’s overwhelming to sort through everything and start from the beginning. But it’s finally time!

We started our journey in London, where Ben and I met up with the fam. We were staying at an AirBnB apartment right in the heart of Soho, just off Piccadilly Circus. The location was amazing and so full of life and energy. There were tons of great restaurants and pubs and lots of opportunities to shop! But what really stole my heart was the Whole Foods just a few blocks from our apartment. 🙂 Whole Foods is pretty much my favorite place on Earth, so it felt like a little piece of home. (Though the prices? Forget about it. Whole Foods is expensive enough on its own. Add the London location, and it was astronomical!)

Since it was my family’s and my first time in London, we spent the next few days doing some heavy sight seeing and partaking in Londoner activities (such as lingering in friendly pubs and getting soaked by random downpour).

Ben and I went for an early walk one morning and strolled down to St. James’ Park, just next to Buckingham Palace. At 8 in the morning, The Mall (where lots of royals are transported by carriage for events like the Queen’s Jubilee and the royal weddings) was almost totally deserted.

THE MALL

It was not like this later in the day, when we came back with my family. We randomly happened upon the changing of the guards, which was an unexpected but cool surprise.

Also… OMG A PIGEON.

In St. James’ Park, we spent a long time walking around, eating a picnic breakfast, and enjoying the serene outdoors. The parks in London are fantastic and so well maintained. I wish we had something equivalent here! ALSO… it was apparently baby bird season. We saw babies of every type! Ducklings, goslings, unidentified-lings, and the crème de la crème (for me): SWANLINGS!

Have you ever seen a baby swan?! Google tells me that they’re called cygnets, but I’m going to stick with swanlings. They are just the fuzziest, most gigantic baby birds!

Oh, and there were pigeons there, too.

A lot of the touristy stuff we did involved just walking around and seeing the iconic sights.

Westminster Abbey, which rings the loudest bells I’ve ever heard:

Pigeon pic! at Westminster Cathedral:

The London Eye (this is not a black-and-white photo. That’s how gray the sky was!):

Pigeon! in front of Big Ben (I can’t be normal):

Two Bens (This guy also can’t be normal. Match made in heaven.):

Tower Bridge:

City view from the bridge, including – on the right – ze toweur of London, ze oldest prizon in ze weurld (if you know what movie this is from, I love you):

While out and about one day, we stopped in this great little pub for some brewskis. Ben ordered a demi-pint, and the bartender was like, “Um, a half pint?” We’ve been living in France too long!

Baby’s first British beer! #notimpressed

My mom accidentally bought this umbrella (not knowing what the pattern actually looked like), and it was my favorite thing this trip.

We spent an afternoon at the Sherlock Holmes Museum, north of all the action. I thought we would get there and walk right in, but it was packed! I’m sure a few years ago, before the TV show(s), things were less busy. We had to wait in line for an hour, but it was a good time nonetheless.

Ben and I (okay, just I) really wanted to have Sunday roast at Norman’s Coach and Horses, a cute and popular vegetarian pub. We ended up getting there just a little bit too late, so we went back on Monday for lunch instead. By happenstance, aka understaffing, we got to sit in the tearoom and feel super posh.

Rainy but nice evening stroll around Chinatown:

Pub time!

Too cool for school.

Our last morning in London, we visited St. Paul’s Cathedral. This actually wasn’t at the very top of my list, but I’m so glad we did it! St. Paul’s is a beautiful, progressive cathedral and I really loved it. If you’re in London, go!

Oh, plus, you get this view if you’re willing to climb to the top. 🙂

Lucky for us, we left London from St. Pancras train station, which is right across the street from King’s Cross – ring a bell for any Harry Potter fans??

🙂 (This is not worth making a trip for unless you’re right in the neighborhood. Still, it was fun to see!)

We left London far too soon. I had such a good time in the city, despite the crazy expensiveness and the dreary rain. It’s definitely on my list of places to return – I would love to spend a day at the Tate and see a west end show. Next time!

French expression of the day
Raconter des salades – To tell stories/to spin yarns (literally: To tell salads)