Buckingam Palace & London Touring

We had breakfast at the famous place again—McDonald’s then grabbed an Uber to our Buckingham Palace tour. I kept saying we were going to have tea with Queen Elizabeth but it turns out she was out of town so we just showed ourselves around with the others. ;)

It was so interesting to see inside one of the last remaining “working palaces” in the world. They had so much art! Prince Charles recorded a lot of the information for the tour and he sounded like an alcoholic to me. It was so strange to hear his voice. He was nothing like I expected. I think the palace hid his drug addiction. You were not allowed to take photos and there were so many employees around that I didn't even try to sneak any! That may be a first!! 

After the tour we had a lovely little dessert break at their garden cafe. 

Cappuccinos (surprise!), water in a can and desserts
that were really good!

I had a strawberry shortcake said to be favored by the Queen (I'm always willing to try something if they tell me the Queen likes it- ha!!). It was quite delicious. Mom tried the vanilla slice and didn't love it, sadly.

Mom behind the Palace

Teaching Mom to selfie

They had a little store built behind the castle where Mom did some damage buying gifts for people. I got Jackson a pair of socks with Corgis on them (the Queen's favorite dog) and MacKenzie a little tartan for her collar.

The Queen's love of dogs makes me love her

A better view back to Buckingham Palace

We left the tour just in time to catch a changing of the guard. I don't find this to be all that impressive and prefer the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery myself, but it was still something to see and I was glad to get Mom out there to see it!

The changing of the guard

We’d booked a hop on/ hop off tour so we grabbed our ride and headed out to see the city. It turns out that Saturday traffic is awful in the early afternoon.

Touring!

After a frustrating hour we finally hopped off and grabbed a taxi back to the hotel. We took a little break to let traffic calm down a bit.

We eventually headed back out and took the boat part of our tour. It was hands down the best part. We even saw a boat crash into the Tower Bridge! We decided to walk across the Tower Bridge.

Touring from the Thames

St Paul's Cathedral

The Tower Bridge

Crossing the Tower Bridge

I love this shot looking up at the Tower Bridge's
second level

A lot of building going on!

The Shard

Touring!

Then we grabbed a quick bite near the Globe Theatre at my favorite place: Nando’s!

Nando's for dinner!

Shakespeare used to drink here!

We caught another tour bus back to our area of town. The idea of touring later in the day was a good one!

Also, Heidi sent me this adorable photo of little Jocelin going to a tea themed birthday party that day back home in Fishers. I loved it!!

Jocelin having tea with the Queen, too!

Bath, England

Friday was an early morning as we had reservations for the 9:00 train from Paddington Station to Bath Spa. I took mom to a famous restaurant for a quick breakfast—McDonald’s! HA! We needed quick and easy so it worked. We were too early for our train (most Americans, Mom included, like to be really early to things...I don’t share this desire!) so we had to wait around a bit before boarding. Mom slept the entire trip and I read a book. It was a quick 1.5 hour ride and we were deposited right into the city center of Bath.

How adorable is this little store?

Wow—we owe Susie for the suggestion for a day in Bath. It was a gorgeous town. We strolled around soaking it all in. We had about an hour before our appointments at the thermal spa so we went for an iced coffee and just explored.

A gorgeous cathedral really adds to the charm

Amazing.

How much is that doggie in the window? Arf, Arf!

We got to the Thermae Day Spa and checked into paradise. It was so nice! We changed into our “swimming costumes” and soaked in the thermal waters. Then I had the Aroma Massage & Body Scrub . IT WAS INCREDIBLE. Mom had a hot stone massage. We had an excellent lunch in their cafe which was included in our package. We got access to all of the facility for four hours, a massage and lunch for $125 each! What a deal! You spend that much for just a massage sometimes!!!

Then we went to their rooftop mineral pool and hung out on their balconies. It was just lovely. We spent far too much at their store buying all the serums and brushes because we are suckers, but it was an awesome day.

Enjoying a cappuccino...again. 

Mom tried one and loved it, too!
Cappuccinos for everyone!

Lunch in a robe? OK!

I had the pan-fried salmon Served with chilled quinoa and tzatziki. Mom had Chicken breast Creamy dauphinoise potatoes, hazelnut roasted baby vegetables and sweet apple jus.

Assorted sorbets for me and a lemon posset for Mom

We spent more time exploring the quaint town of Bath.

I just liked this building

Sally Lunn's Restaurant

The famous Sally Lunn bun

We stopped at their oldest building in town which is a restaurant and had their famous dessert—a cake/bun with strawberry jam. They claim it is a favorite of the Queen. It was decent, but nothing to write home about. We did enjoy chatting with a nice couple from London seated next to us, though.

All of this brand's stuff had little schnauzers on it.
We were obsessed.

We did some shopping (but no additional buying!) and then grabbed the train back to London. We just hung out in the room the rest of the evening and rested up for another big day of adventuring. I'd return to bath and the spa everyday if I could!

London with Mom

When Indianapolis got its direct to Paris flight the excitement I had was evident. This easy (though a tad long) flight inspired my Mom to finally dip her toe into international travel. We’d been to Mexico when I was in high school and she’d been to some islands for vacations here and there, but those were mainly at resorts. This was not a resort trip!! I don’t do slow trips. She was still willing to go so I booked tickets (I got her an excellent deal on her flight and was able to secure a free checked bag for her thanks to my status with Delta...winning!) and the plans were set. Note: We initially wanted to fly in and out of Paris but she also wanted to see London so it was much easier to just fly to London (with a quick stop in Detroit) and home from Paris.

We left on Wednesday afternoon and got to London early on Thursday their time. It was a pretty easy flight then we waited roughly 799 hours to get through passport control there. We eventually made it through, grabbed mom’s bag and caught a train to Paddington Station. I’d booked a hotel near the train station because we’d need it for a trip to Bath, England on Friday morning.

We got to the hotel at about 9 a.m. local time and our room was not ready for us. We did not sleep at all on the flight over so we were bummed, but such is life. We just did a little freshen up in the hotel restroom before heading out to explore the city.

European cappuccino? Yes, please. 

A modified English breakfast!

First, though, Mom wanted breakfast. We found a little cafe that looked fine and we had two eggs, toast and chips. Yes, French fries with our breakfast. I’m not a huge fan of fries so I only had a few. I guess we all like potatoes in some form in the morning! Mom subbed her chips for hashbrowns. She also took her coffee with milk (not cream!!! They do not call it cream!). I started on the first of 900 cappuccinos I’d be consuming while in Europe. I love their cappuccinos.

After breakfast we strolled towards Kensington Gardens which were gorgeous!! I learned then that Mom uses the restroom more than any human. We had to search the area for a place for her to go so we ended up at a Starbucks. I stood outside and bummed their WiFi. Whatever works. Then we were able to get back to exploring. At the time, since someone did not read her guidebooks, we were unaware of who lived at Kensington Palace. We later learned it was HRH The Duke of Cambridge & HRH The Duchess of Cambridge (William & Catherine) as well as HRH The Duke of Sussex & HRH The Duchess of Sussex (Harry & Meghan). Diana had lived there prior to her death, too.

We wandered all around the park, taking in the monuments and enjoying the gorgeous weather. We walked to Hyde Park and saw a Diana memorial—a splash pad. I couldn’t believe it. Lame.

The official homes!

They had a nice, large backyard!

Golden gates to Kensington Palace

A gorgeous monument to Prince Albert

A bed has never looked better!!!!

We finally were just too tired to continue so we headed to the hotel and hoped for the best. Fortunately, they had a room for us. Thank you, Jesus!

Marble Arch

A delicious dinner!!

We took quick showers and crawled in for a good two hour nap. We decided we couldn’t waste the whole day sleeping so we headed out to explore more. We walked down to Marble Arch and just all around. We decided to have dinner at a steakhouse in our new neighborhood. It was excellent. Mom had a chicken, chips, cheese sauce, bacon and mushroom dish that she enjoyed. I had an amazing steak salad. We shared sweet potato fries (hey they were a shock to see on the menu so we had to try them) and their garlic bread. The bread was amazing. The meal was not cheap, but it was delicious. We made it until about 22:00 before we just needed to go to sleep. Not bad for girls who didn’t sleep the night before.

Off-Broadway

To say we had a rough morning after that wild night Jackson had would be another understatement. Eventually, though, he rallied and we left the hotel room in search of lunch. One of my favorite things about NYC is how walkable it is and how really anything you can wish to eat is a reality. I wanted Mexican and not two blocks away was a phenomenal  restaurant fitting the bill! 

Delicious.

We took it pretty easy during the day and got dressed for the play that evening. Remember when I said we went for the weekend because Justice Ginsburg was going to speak? Yeah, well, I booked our flights and hotel before I saw that the show she was speaking after was SOLD OUT. I'd intended to just go and try to scalp tickets beforehand, but once Jackson was ill that was out of the question. We just attended the night's show and didn't see Justice Ginsburg at all. TEAR! Bad planning on my part!

Cultured Petefish

So big city of us to catch a show!

After the EXCELLENT show, we walked over to our favorite Italian restaurant in all of NYC. We've eaten there each visit since our first one back in 2008! It did not disappoint!

Bruschetta and calamari!

I'd read about a gelato stand nearby that was supposed to taste like a slice of Italy so we wandered over there (I was still in heels!) to try it out.

They lied. Good, but not amazing.

We wandered back towards the hotel but had gotten pretty far away and my shoes weren't reasonable so we gave in and grabbed an Uber. There are not enough words to explain how much better visits are to NYC now that Uber is a thing and you don't have to deal with cabs!

On Monday morning we decided that we wanted an authentic New York breakfast so we went to a little dive diner. You guys, this was the funniest place I've ever eaten. We sat down and the waitress put waters on the table along with menus. Jackson moved his water out of his way so he could look at the menu. She returned with napkins and dumped his water EVERYWHERE. Luckily I did not get wet and he barely did, but the waitress proceeded to blame Jackson for moving his water and made us move tables. It was priceless. The waitstaff carried on about for a good 15 minutes. It appeared to be the first time anyone had ever spilled anything in this diner. One must love the good folks of NYC who blame the customer for their mistakes! :)

Legit breakfast

Showers aside, the food was excellent and the price was fair. From there we took the subway over towards the 9/11 museum to finally pay it a visit. We'd been meaning to come for years and just never made it during previous trips.

Artists were asked to paint the color of the sky
that September morning- it was STUNNING.

An original beam from the towers

We spent a few hours in the museum. I didn't take many photos because it was more of an experience and it felt almost disrespectful to photograph much. The museum got really crowded as the late morning moved towards afternoon and we decided we'd seen enough. The museum was really well done and quite touching, while it was not as emotional as I expected (I'd carried tissues with me) there were still some really amazing tributes to the folks who lost their lives that day.

Looking up at the Freedom Tower

Another view

We wanted to see the High Line Park, too, so we left the financial district and headed for Chelsea. We saw that there was a special on CitiBikes so we got bikes and made the trip across town much more fun and quite quick!

CitiBikes!! 

I have to say that riding bikes along the Hudson River is an absolute blast. We had so much fun ringing our bells and taking in the sights. You only get the bikes for 30 minutes at a time so we took them back with 1 minute to spare, but we'll certainly get them again next time we are in town. The High Line Park was really cool, too. We walked it in its entirety before grabbing an Uber back to the hotel to get all checked out. We headed to Grand Central to have lunch at Shake Shack before heading out to catch our flight home. Yes, it turns out the restaurant had a location right by our hotel and we could have saved 6 miles of walking the first day! Oh well, it was a great time both days.

Our driver to the airport was a lovely man with whom we chatted easily until we'd arrived. One of my favorite things is having a chatty driver! I'm not sure many people share that love with me, though- ha! We had an easy flight home and both went back to work on Tuesday morning. 

It was a great trip and a wonderful way to close out the drama of the car accident. I loved the sailing adventure, the play was amazing and the museum was well done. Thank you, Jackson, for making my dreams come true no matter how nerdy you think they are.

Cuteness at the pizza shop!

Tuesday evening we were exhausted so Jackson ran to the new Noble Roman's with a coupon we'd received to get dinner. There he ran into the Porterfield family and sent me this adorable shot of him and Jocelin. Is she not the cutest?! I just had to share! Also, the new Noble Roman's is amazing and some of the best pizza around. The reinvented themselves!!