A Half Pike Across the Pond

I know my mum and Randy had been looking forward to their trip to London for a long time... I know because we started planning for it almost a year ago! I can only hope the spreadsheets and emails resulted in a trip that was unforgettable and you two had a blast! I know we really enjoyed having you here :)

The first day they arrived... they were troopers! I know Jeff and I are always a little jet lagged, so Mum and Randy had to be tired as well. Regardless they ventured out to conquer the tube and saw a little bit of Camden town. When Jeff and I got off work, we met them in the flat to head out to grab some dinner. We went to Roxie's Steak and Wine down the road and started their holiday off proper British style with a glass of bubble for the ladies :)

The next day the itinerary took them to the other part of London and they grabbed some lunch before heading back to the Tower of London! This was one of Julie's favorite things during her visit and I think Mum and Randy enjoyed it as well. I was able to take a half day and we experienced it together...

We got a cool view looking out over the bridge which was our next stop!

I don't go to this part of the town much...
so it was pretty cool to see it open and close

The next day everyone was up bright and early, as Mum and Randy were off to see Windsor Castle, Oxford, and Stonehenge - It was one packed day! Here are a few pictures they took...

Then it was TGIF... and what better way to spend it than going to the Zoo :) So the London Zoo stays open late on Friday evenings for a few weeks in the summer. It is adults only and there are food trucks, beer stands, and all things fun related for adults, such as silent disco, face painting, fancy dress, etc. I heard a lot of great things about it last year, so I thought this would be good to go with Mum and Randy. The tricky part we figured out was trying to see the animals we wanted for they went to bed!

We saw everything from penguins swimming around, to tigers taking a 'cat nap' to giraffes getting scared by the handler in the barn!

Mum and Randy were working hard to perfect the selfie...

and I think they got it down pat before they left - It was a fun night!

On Saturday we made it out to Ascot. Royal Ascot is typically compared to the Kentucky Derby for the English, everyone dresses up with dress codes enforced that include head fixtures for ladies and coats and ties for men. Royal Ascot is in June, so we went to the next big race in July for King Williams Race Day at Ascot.

It drew quite the crowd!

Jeff and Mum made some bets... Mum didn't fair to well but Jeff was pretty good at picking the winning ponies! At least he picked the first few winners and lost on the last 2 races.

I love this picture!

For lunch, we ate at bangers and bubbles!

For the big King George Race we got a front row spot for the winner circle. We saw the helicopter fly in earlier with Prince Charles, so this was our only hope of seeing him.... and we SAW HIM! Do you see him in the winner circle....

On Sunday, we were quite tired after the long week at work. We started the day with some typical Sunday Roast! It was tasty as always... and put Jeff and I in a full food coma. Mum and Randy still had some energy so they took a wonder over to the nearby park and enjoyed the sunny afternoon by the river.

Monday Mum and Randy went to on a walking tour that came with their trip to Stonehenge/Oxford/Windsor Castle and seemed to really enjoy it. They were full of fun facts that I didn't even know about. One of them is that no pets are allowed to be buried inside the city limits, however there is one dog that had joined the prime minister club and was secretly buried in the city walls. The tour guide also mentioned a cat and owner Hodge that was later buried in the city 'A very fine cat, indeed.' What I didn't realize was that this cat statue was right around the corner from my work! Glad to know why the statue is so special now...

In the afternoon, we met Mum and Randy for our tour of Buckingham Palace. It is only only for about 6 weeks in the summer and it had just opened when they got her. No pictures are allowed in the palace, but we did get some when we came out the back (which is really the front of the palace.)

Afterwards, we went to Gordon's Wine Bar to rest the feet and experience one of my favorite wine bars in London.

Later that evening, we did a home wine tasting. I had arranged for someone to come to the flat and let us do a tasting of 8 or so wines. We had grapes and snacks to go along with it. No pictures though... we were too busy enjoying each other's company and tasting the wine!

Tuesday morning they headed off to Paris and celebrate Mum's birthday in style! Here are a few of the highlights...

They got back from Paris on a Friday afternoon. We went to a place around the corner, Fulham Wine Room for dinner. It is pretty cool there. You get a card, put money on it, and then can taste as little or as much as you want of a whole range of wines on the wall. The wines are in cellars and pour directly into your glass.

Saturday we stated out by going to the Borough Market. This is one of our favorite markets, because you can taste and find so many different things here. My favorites are the cheeses and Jeff's are the meats. Mum and Randy seemed to like the pumpkin seed oil! For lunch we tried a new place on the outside of the market, Arabic. I later found out that this was named one of the top 100 rising restaurants in London (not sure i would go that far, but was tasty and different).

After the market, Mum and Randy went back to Buckingham palace to see the stables. Jeff and I headed to the other side of town to see a triathlon that some people in his work were in. We met back up in our old stomping grounds of Shephard's Bush. I was dying to take Julie to our favorite restaurant, Havelock Tavern, but it was under renovations at the time. We hadn't had it in a long time and were craving it, so we thought it would be good to take them there. It didn't disappoint either... good menu, wine, atmosphere and the best company a girl could ask for!

Sunday, we topped the trip off with a classic afternoon tea! We hadn't been to this place but it had all the classics... scones with clotted cream, savory sandwiches, brownies, and cupcakes. We took our time and had 2 pots of tea and really explored some different flavors :)

After tea, Mum and Randy got to wonder through St. Pauls. Always an impressive church! Afterwards, we headed to Hyde Park to soak up the last bit of sunshine that was left. They were headed back across the pond the next morning, so we kept it easy going on the last day, savoring those last minutes of holiday time. oh and how I wish they were still here! There is nothing like having your Mum around to give you a hug whenever you want. I love you guys! I hope you had a great trip and a fantastic birthday Mum!

We are really looking forward to Phyllis and David coming for her birthday in December! I am already working on the things we will do and suggestions for the trip.

Dad's it is time for you to start planning your trip... we would love to have you come visit too!

After the cronks left, we headed off to Brussels for a weekend get away. This was one of the most relaxing weekends we had away in a while - we loved Brussels!

We arrived late on a Friday evening, so we got up at a decent time on Saturday to make the most of our trip. We headed toward the Grand Palace area and ventured into the Belgian Beer Museum.It was located at the bottom of a building in the Grand Palace in an 18th century artisanal brewery.

Turns out it was not much of a museum but we enjoyed it anyways!

The Grand Palace was pretty cool and had a lot of different architecture.

We did a quick stop to see the famous peeing boy - Manneken Pis!

This little guy was installed in this very spot in 1618 - 1619. This outfits change multiple times a week.... but I think we got to see a cute one!

We had lunch on the Butcher's Street. It is a romantic cobbled street lined with restaurants, bars and cafes.

We had dessert at one of the most famous chocolatiers in Belgium, Pierre Marcolini.

It turned out to be a great afternoon for people watching at the Little Delirium Cafe. They had a great tasting menu with over 30 beers to try.

We saw some horse drawn carriages...

Throughout the day we saw several instances of the city's creative... later on we realized that there is a cartoon museum.

Not sure if you can see the skate boarders on the leopard printed building...

A fun and interesting statue!

The Next day we headed to Mimi Europe! I loved this place as any little kid could. In the short version, they took the big attractions from the European Union countries and made models at proportions of 1/27 (at least for most). The guide book provided background to most of the countries as well. It was great to get some specs on the places we have been and where we hope to go.

It was very tempting to take pictures of everything, but we were able to limit it to some of the places we had been! Here are the highlights :)