i have thiiiiis (imagine me holding my pointer finger and thumb very close together) much energy to jot a few notes here and then go to bed for my second to final night in europe. what?! we’ve been counting in months for so long now that to count in days (and single digit days no less) is absolutely absurd. enough about that for now.
london is so, so, so great. my biggest and best observations are that the people are soooo friendly, meat pie is delicious, i need more time to stroll notting hill at my leisure (the children’s shops!!), and to eat at every single place that strikes my fancy. traveling with this many (small-ish/not so small-ish) people is not conducive to ducking in and out of these places i see. so, here’s my promise to myself: i will be back, london! you and me, we are not through yet!
even so, we’ve done a lot. tower of london, ridden the tube all over (parker gets super concerned any time we’re not ALL on or off the tube at the exact same time lest the doors shut and someone get separated. “come on mom! come on!” he’s always ushering me off and holding the doors open. it is ADORABLE.), buckingham palace, changing of the guards, diana memorial playground (so great!), breakfast at granger and co. with my friend lauren + family, borough market, saw harry and william get off the royal helicopter in kensington gardens (i’m not fibbing!), and eaten some great food.
this place just has a good feel about it and i am going to be sad to leave it. who wants to house swap london for boston?!
ha. I'm not from london but tell me if you're ever interested in a house swap from orange county! (20mins from disneyland :))
oh I am always interested in a house swap! (email me?)
How about a house swap in Rockford, IL???? Doesn't have the same appeal as Orange County, does it. 🙂 🙁
"this place just has a good feel about it" is the way I've been wanting to describe London, but never knew how. I was there for 48 hours and it was NOT enough time. But the best moments were had: seeing a musical in West End, eating a traditional English breakfast, discovering Cath Kidston, and walking down an empty Abbey Road after sunset.
I use to live in London and I miss it so much!
Love that you and Lauren were together!! What a great way to end an amazing time abroad.
I can't believe you are going back so soon, I don't understand time these days (ok, years to be honest…). And I feel Parker here – I was very concerned about that too which made a trip to Paris extremely stressful for my family.
thankx so much for a fabulous one-in-a-million tour of italy, switzerland, even gracing the blog with this fast departure zoom through london.
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for months now, the scenery, architecture, stones, antiquities, rose geraniums & perched medieval towns have been breathtaking. Have literally stolen the breath. That swinging bridge to civita di bagnoregio …
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the food & the shops were delicious. Who will ever forget anders' introduction to chocolate mousse at such a tender age!
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but best of all were the children, growing up by leaps & bounds before our eyes. Suddenly lindsay was a lucky long-legged beauty, lucky because she's one of those women whose good looks will only improve with age. At 25 lindsay will be a very pretty woman, but at 40 she'll be arrestingly handsome.
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& yourself, bridget. Always so lovely, so brave, cheerful, caring & capable, looking after everyone while somehow managing to be a first-rate photographer the whole time. I can't imagine how you accomplished it all, let alone how you managed to do the laundry that would keep six people including an infant looking immaculate during all those months of intensive travel.
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someone should have made a documentary of this tour, it was that brilliant, it was that unforgettable.
How has it possibly been three months already?! I have so enjoyed following along on these wonderful adventures. Can't wait to see what's next in Boston. 🙂
Ahh, I just moved out of London, but it you ever want to house swap with East Sussex…beautiful scenery & quintessentially English!
I LOVE London! I was there for 5 weeks one summer and it was amazing! I still have dreams about it and ache to go back! I can't believe it was already 8 years ago. 🙁 Also, Parker is right to be concerned! I had the doors of the tube close on me once and it was terrifying!! I was also nervous about it my whole trip and it happened on my last night there! Eek! No, I was not hurt and nothing bad happened other than being embarrassed, but the fact that my fear was coming true was enough to scar me a bit. lol!