UK Trip: Day 7

 Family Photo in front of Tower Bridge.

Our final day in London took us all over the city.  We started out going to Borough Market, which was a great experience.  It was huge, and it was delicious (more on that later).

Here's the gem of my market experience:  RACLETTE.

Many of you know that I would say my favorite food is cheese.  I walked past the raclette stand in the Market, and noticed that a woman was broiling huge wheels of golden cheese, then scraping the melted surface onto a plate of boiled potatoes and little cornichion pickles.  I ordered a plate and thoroughly enjoyed my Swiss "snack".  It was a very cultural experience.

Then it was off to Abbey Road:

And then a bus ride to Portabello Road, Portobello Road, street where the riches of ages are stowed.  Anything and everything a chap can unload, is sold off the barrow in Portobello Road...

Then we were off to a celebratory dinner (thanks, Grandmom and Pop Pop!) at an upscale restaurant.  We chose Jamie Oliver's fifteen.  It was an amazing splurge, and I'm so glad we did it.  I think that we appreciated each delightful bite all the more because it was so completely far above anything we'd ever consider eating at home.  I can still taste that risotto. And the salmon.  And Steve's scallops.  And the wine.  And the sticky toffee pudding. 

For those who are wondering about Matt's flat in Canada Water, here are some shots I grabbed while we were packing up:

Niner

Nine months old, she's not really an infant anymore, and I'm not sure how that happened so quickly.

Third children grow up so much faster than their older counterparts.

Avery is a professional army-crawler and she just yesterday learned how to climb up one step.  She can point to a person's nose, mouth, and chin.  I claim that she said "Mama" and pointed to me in a photo the other day.  She can feed herself her bottle and little pieces of food.  She gives neck squeezes and slaps faces when she wants to show affection (love it!)

'Twas the Night Before Christmas...

and that means matching Christmas pajamas!

Two out of three of them ended up peeing in these cute jammies at some point during the night, so there are no Christmas morning matchy-matchy photos.  But a mom's gotta try!

Merry Christmas!

He's Home for the Holidays!

 This is what was happening at our house an hour and a half ago:

UK Trip: Day 6

Friday was a busy day.  While those back in America were doing their 6am Black Friday shopping, Steve, April, and I were back to checking off our list of places to see in London.  First up was the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, which occurs at 11:30 am.  Every day during the summer, every other day in the winter.  It was quite the spectacle.

As we approached the palace, we saw that a crowd of thousands had gathered and the road was closed off.

We began to think that maybe something bigger than the guard change was about to happen.  We immediately texted Matt (at work) to let him know that Pippa Middleton was leaving the palace and the whole town knew about it.  Matt has a thing for Pippa, but I don't think he fell for it.

Turns out, all of this was for the changing of the guard.  The new guard came marching down the street (you can see the bearskin hats moving past the crowd):

The ceremony involved a lot of marching, shouting of orders, and the musical accompaniment of the band playing tunes from My Fair Lady:

And the old guard moves out:

When it was over, we walked across the street and strolled through St. James' Park.  This is a cute little 19th century cottage built for the bird keeper:

Next was an audio tour of the magnificent Westminster Abbey.  Thanks Aunt Becki for providing for the tickets!

Photography was not permitted inside, but we spent a long time in there.  It has been the coronation church since 1066 and 17 British monarchs are buried there.  If you want more information, you can follow the Abbey on twitter or Facebook (I'm not kidding!).

Then we wandered around trying to find the Imperial War Museum.  Mom and Dad paid it a visit during their trip in 2008, and Mom said it would be worth seeing.  I don't have any photos, but Mom wrote a bit about it on their blog/journal here.  I spent the whole time in the Children in War exhibit, and wished I brought along some tissues.  Now that I'm a parent things like this get me much more emotional.  While I was wrapped up in reading about black-outs and evacuated children and the Home Guard and rationing and torpedoed ships and gas masks and Anderson Shelters and having my mommy heart ripped out while I read childrens' letters and journals, Steve was able to walk around the tank/war vehicle display and the Holocaust exhibit.

Matt met us there after work and we traveled together to the Southbank Christmas Market on the Thames river for some dinner, Bavarian-style!


Incredibly big Bratwurst, anyone?

Hot mulled wine, beer, burgers with cheddar and chutney, cinnamon "chimney" bread, candy, a little holiday shopping...

Merry Christmas!