We finished up our Texas Christmas vacation, and headed back to cold London.
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| Harvey on the plane |
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| The pups missed us so much! |
January 4-10, 2016
January 11-17, 2016
The girls weekly activity was a visit to NY Fold in Soho. NY Fold prides themselves with a secret pizza dough recipe made from a two-part fermentation process and aged for a minimum of 48 hours, a 60-day aged mozzarella harvested daily from an award-winning farm in Caserta, Italy, and homemade tomato sauce. I thought it was really delicious, but the girls prefer another pizza place they have visited.
We stopped at Harrods to check out the sale. Of course Harvey had to buy something, he's such a shopaholic! We found a big TwirlyWoo display, and Granny bought him Chick. He holds him every morning when he watches the show. We needed a little shopping snack, and stopped off at the Harrods Ice Cream Parlour. Oh man, its so creamy and delicious, expensive but worth it!
For mom's birthday we got her tickets to see The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and dinner at Dishoom. We both loved the play. It was very different than our usual song, dance, glitter type shows but also amazing. Dinner at Dishoom never disappoints, and it tasted better than I remember. It is my favorite restaurant in London.
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| Minimal props and background |
January 18-24, 2016
The Museum of London had a special exhibit called Crime Museum Uncovered. The Crime Museum, London's most inaccessible museum, is only open to police professionals and invited guests was opened in 1875. Harry Houdini was on the guest log! Scotland Yard loaned evidence from over 20 groundbreaking cases as well as themed sections on topics including illegal abortion, terrorism, counterfeiting, espionage, and the challenge of distinguishing a real firearm from a replica. Cases included the Kray Brothers, Dr. Crippen, Stratton Brothers, and the Acid Bath Murderer. We really enjoyed learning about the famous crimes that influenced how crime investigators are trained today.
After the museum we went to Burger and Lobster for lunch. They serve 3 items, lobster roll, whole lobster, and a burger (beef from Nebraska). Everything is £20, but oh so delicious! We got the burger and lobster roll and split them.
The vet used Cricket as a guinna pig to test out some new equipment. She spent the day at the vet, but we found out she is healthy with a slight heart murmur, but nothing serious.
The girls outing this week was to the London Trasnport Museum. London Transport Museum explores the story of London and its transport system over the last 200 years, highlighting the powerful link between transport and the growth of modern London, culture and society since 1800. It is one of the few museums you have to pay entry (£17.00), but it is well worth it! We used a 2 for 1 coupon and got a pass that lasts for a year. They have tons of activities for children and so many interesting facts for adults, as well as great gift shop.
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| That lil guy behind me is not Harvey |
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| I found a penny press! |
After the museum, we went to lunch at Meat Market, a recommendation by Rachael. She never disappoints! We all loved our burgers, fries, onion rings and fried mac and cheese...yum!
Mom, Harvey, and I headed to the Hunterian Museum by way of a recommendation from Rachael. This museum is not well known, and is hidden in the Royal College of Surgeons of England. The museum is free, and very well done. We got the audio guide for £3.50, and it was well worth it. There is so much to read, and the audio guide pointed out the important and interesting items.
In 1799 the government purchased the collection of John Hunter, a Scottish surgeon who had an anatomy school in London, which they presented to the College of Surgeons. This formed the basis of the Hunterian Collection, which has since been supplemented by others including an Odontological Collection (dentistry), and the natural history collections of Richard Owen, an English biologist and paleontologist.
The Hunterian Museum displays thousands of anatomical specimens, including the Evelyn tables and the skeleton of the "Irish giant", Charles Byrne, surgical instruments, and paintings and sculptures about medical individuals and medicine.
January 25-31, 2016
The Evelyn tables: a set of four anatomical preparations on wooden boards that are thought to be the oldest anatomical preparations in Europe, they are made with real human veins, and arteries directed and glued on a board. The anatomy is not all correct because the creator was following a textbook even though what he saw in the body with his own eyes did not match, he still went with what the text said.
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| They used criminals for dissections, this was a thief |
Charles Byrne the Irish giant: viewed as a freak in London during the 1780s, he stood over 7 feet tall, he asked his friends to bury him at sea so he would no longer be an attraction, but as you can see...he didn't have good friends.
The cabinet of curiosities...so many specimens in jars. This was so interesting, and right up my ally (or street as they say in London). I loved this museum!
After the museum we headed to Top Dog for lunch. This is a restaurant owned by Marissa Hermer, she is on the Bravo reality show Ladies of London. The hot dogs were great, I had the Beef Chili & Cheese, mom had the Plain Jane, Kate tried the Garden, and Rachael had the Pulled Pork and Slaw. They were works of art! And then it got real exciting...Marissa walked in! I was so excited! Rachael started the conversation and Marissa was so sweet! She invited us to Bumpkin her other restaurant in London. This was my first celebrity spotting, and such a positive experience.
This weekend Josh was working so mom and I took Harvey to his swimming class, and then we hit up some of our favorite weekend markets. On Saturday we went to Duke of York Market by Sloane Square. There was so much delicious smelling food we had a difficult time deciding. We had fresh ravioli, olives, hummus, bbq sandwiches, beef pie, cannolis, and ginger juice. Our yummy trip around the world.
On Sunday, we went to my favorite market, Spitalfields. It was a warm day for London winter.
Josh is off to Luxembourg this week, so we planned a relaxing week. Harvey tried some new play groups. He had a blast! My favorite was him eating snacks with friends. He looked so grown up!
Kate, mom, Harvey and I had lunch at Bumpkin, another restaurant of Marissa's. We were greeted with champagne and got 50% off our bill. Kate tried the chicken pie (that was beautiful), and mom and I got the burgers. It was such a cute place with a very warm atmosphere.
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| Greeted with champagne |
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| Kate's chicken pie |
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| Burgers |
The girls outing this week was at Franco Manca. They specialize in sourdough pizza. We all enjoyed our selections.
Harvey tried gnocchi for the first time at Spaghetti House and loved it! The restaurant was so welcoming to us, and we will definitely be back. They are all over London.
Harvey tried out a fun song group called Monkey Music. He had a blast, but loved the bubbles the best!
On Sunday, we went to Abbey Road, and checked out some of the Beatle Shops. Mom had been wanting to walk this zebra (a crosswalk where cars must yield to pedestrians) since she first arrived in London. This was Harvey's first time walking across a street, and it happened to be a very special one!
