March 2016

March 1-6, 2016
Don't know why, but I am fascinated with old prisons. I was all over the chance to visit The Clink, even-though its a bit commercial and childish. We used the 2 for the price of 1 deal so we both got in for £7.50! The Clink was a notorious prison in Southwark, England which functioned from the 12th century until 1780. The manor and prison were owned by the Bishop of Winchester and situated next to his residence at Winchester Palace. The Clink is debated to be the oldest men's prison and probably the oldest women's prison in England. The origins of the name "The Clink" are uncertain, but it is possibly onomatopoeic and derives from the sound of striking metal as the prison's doors were bolted, or the rattling of the chains the prisoners wore. The name has become slang as a generic term for prison or a jail cell. It was a creepy place, and interesting to see some of the prisoners we learned about at the Crime Museum. 

The end of this week my mom and I visited Paris. Josh was left to man the pups, and he did a great job celebrating Remy's 6th birthday. She loved her wet food treat.

March 6 was Mothering Sunday in England. This is their mothers day. Josh snuck a card in my suitcase from Harvey and treated me to a massage when I got home. It was a wonderful treat!

March 7-13, 2016
We went out to lunch to The Churchill Arms. The girls said bye to my mom as she leaves this week. Harvey was well behaved, but mostly because the pub has all kinds of treasures on the ceiling, and someone brought in their dog...all great distractions for a 1 year old.

Josh planned an adult dinner out while we still have a babysitter. It is so nice going out to eat and not lugging all kinds of extra stuff along. We had a lovely night out with the Stones, its so nice to see them again now that busy season is over. Josh won a gift certificate to Carluccio's. I would say it was just ok, I had the lobster pasta. It was an adventure getting there because the Victoria Line closed while I was on it! Public transit adventures!

We were very sad to say bye to granny (yaya or lala as Harvey calls her)

Since Granny is back in Texas, Harvey moved into his own room! We have shared a room for 14 months, and I was ready to have my own space again. He loved it (and so did mommy!) His favorite part is turning off the light at night, and asking for the curtain to be opened in the morning.

March 14-20, 2016
This week Josh was in Nottingham so it was just mommy and Harvey! We met up with Kate and Mary to see some peacocks roaming free. They are located in Holland Park. It was beautiful, and I loved seeing the peacocks so close up. We even saw one with its feathers out and one escaped on the roof of a nearby house!

Josh went to Taco Bell in Nottingham, he bought me back some sauce packets! So naturally I had to immediately make tacos for dinner. Tastes just like America!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Meghan and Michael arrived from Texas! We had a fun night out at Classical Spectacular at Royal Albert Hall. It was such a sight! Great music by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and even cannon, fireworks, and lasers were involved. Thanks to lovely Kate for recommending AND babysitting!

Wine and the Royal Orchestra

Sunday morning we had reservations at Hard Rock Cafe to have brunch with the Easter Bunny. I was worried Harvey would be afraid, but I couldn't have been more wrong! He loved the bunny! He was fascinated with the bunny's eyes and nose. We loved the all you could eat American pancakes too!

Harvey spots the bunny 

He got an egg

Happy Easter!

March 21-27, 2016
We loved seeing the Burlesons...4 times in 2 years is pretty great! We ended our visit at a local pub, The Queen's Arms. Michael wanted fish & chips, and Meghan wanted a pie. Well no luck on the pie, but we tried a new yummy champagne beer, Curious. I'm on a mission to find it again!

Bye Auntie Meghan

Easter weekend means "get out of the city"! We took a train trip to The Lake District, and it was so relaxing and beautiful.

March 28-31, 2016
The days after holiday mean laundry, laundry, more laundry! Harvey and I took a break and met up with friends for a picnic lunch in Battersea Park.

The Lake District, March 25-28, 2016

Easter Bank holidays arrived, meaning everyone flees the city! We have had a crazy few weeks in London and we were ready for the relaxing country with no set plans. I decided on the Lake District, and Josh didn't know what he was in for- but ended up loving it.

The Lake District is about 30 miles long and 30 miles wide. The locals brag on their mountains being older than the Himalayas and once being as tall, but worn down by the ages. Beatrix Potter vacationed here as a young girl, and became inspired to write her children's books. The South Lake District is closer to London and easy to get to, but seen as very touristy while the North Lake District is more pristine and untouched. We spent time in both but enjoyed more time in the North.

We took a train from London Euston to Oxenholme. So glad we had reserved seats and the excuse of having a baby with us. It seems they over sold the train by ALOT! Poor people had to stand with not much room for hours...yikes! We got off at Oxenholem and caught another (little) train to Windermere. This was our stop for the night.

It was a beautiful day, so we had a picnic in the park and caught a boat ride to Ambleside. It was stunning! Love the clean fresh air and beautiful sights.

Ambleside was a cute little area to walk around. We even found a shop owner who had some Whippets. It was fun chatting with the locals.

We got reservations at a restaurant with the best view and location in the city center, The Lighthouse. We tried some of the local brew and enjoyed our dinner and Kendal mint cake.

The next morning we were served a fancy full English breakfast at the hotel. I felt so posh with the floral china set.

Our train was later in the afternoon so we took the morning to explore! We did our first Lake District hike up to Orrest Head. Orrest Head is a hill (fell is the local term) on the eastern shores of Windermere. It is the subject of a chapter in Wainwright's The Outlying Fells of Lakeland, and the first fell he climbed. He describes it as "our first ascent in Lakeland, our first sight of mountains in tumultuous array across glittering waters, our awakening to beauty" and also as "a fitting finale, too, to a life made happy by fell wandering".

It was a short hike, and a great one to start with. After Orrest Head, we had a sleeping baby, so it was a perfect time for lunch. It was starting to rain but we got a great covered porch spot at Cafe Italia.

After lunch we took a stroll through the city to Bowness-on-Windermemre to check out the local shops. Our train arrived, and took us from Windermere back to Oxenholme. Then we caught a train to Penrith. The Penrith Castle (ruins) was directly across form the station. Next was a short bus ride to Keswick. Keswick pronounced KEZ-ick means "cheese farm"- a legacy from the time when the town square was the spot to sell cheese. Interesting fact- graphite was first discovered here centuries ago, this is how they marked sheep in the 15 century, and in 1832 the first Keswick pencil factory opened.

The weather was cold and rainy, typical Spring in England- especially by the lakes. We ate dinner at a highly recommended Chinese restaurant, Golden Hills. Its a good thing we eat (arrived) early, because this place filled up fast! It was really good (for the English version of Chinese).

The next morning was Easter, we had a lovely full English breakfast and headed out for our big hike. There were so many dogs- the Lake District is very dog friendly. Our pups would have liked it for a bit, but they hate the cold and rain. We hiked around Derwentwater lake- fun fact: the lake is believed to be the last remaining native habitat of the Vendace fish (Coregonus vandesius). 

Friars Crag is a promontory jutting into Derwentwater on a stretch of shore about half a mile from the boat landing stages. Ruskin described the view as one of the three most beautiful scenes in Europe. It achieved its name because it was believed to be the embarkment point for monks making a pilgrimage to St. Herbert’s Island, located south west of the crag.

Derwentwater is a place of considerable scenic value. It is surrounded by hills  (fells), and many of the slopes facing Derwentwater are extensively wooded. We came across some obstacles due the the floods they had in December, but nothing too extreme. As hikers we endured hail, rain, and sun. It was such a fun adventure and we ended up making it 9 miles! And Josh was carrying about 22lbs of extra weight!

Since it was rainy weather we were told to check out the Lodor Falls- it is formed by the beck from Watendlath Tarn cascading over huge boulders for a distance of some 100 feet. Robert Southey’s  famous onomatopeic poem 'How does the water come down at Lodore' is written about these falls.

As luck would have it, we stumbled upon a quaint little hotel and restaurant, Mary Mount Hotel right at lunch time. It was a filling lunch, topped off with an Easter cupcake for desert.

For dinner, Josh wanted to try an American style restaurant, Bar Metro (we can't resist!) in the city. It wasn't our favorite but Harvey did get some delicious mac and cheese, and I had my new favorite cider- with kiwi and lime!

The next morning it was back to London. We took a short bus to Penrith, then caught our train right to Euston. The train was much less crowded going home. We had a fabulous time in the Lake District! I'm so glad we traveled around and got to see different parts of the area, rather than just staying in one city.  It was very family friendly, there were more highchairs and baby changing facilities out in the middle of no where than compared to London, crazy! We loved hiking and being out in nature- we hope to hike a lot more in the future. I even got some sweet hiking shoes!

Paris, March 3-6, 2016

One of the places my mom has been excited to visit was Paris. At Christmas we surprised her with a gift of Paris! She was really excited and counted down the day until our trip.

We tried to plan in advance as much as we could since Josh, our tour guide had to work. We took the Eurostar from St. Pancras and arrived at Gare Du Nord. We decide to drop our stuff off at the hotel before lunch. Josh hooked us up and got us into a great hotel! It was so clean and big, which are not very common in Europe. After we got settled, we headed out for lunch. We found a cute Italian restaurant called Zazza.

Since the weather was so nice after lunch, we headed to Notre Dame.

Next stop was the Eiffel Tower. We got tickets in advance to avoid all the lines. It was off season so the lines weren't crazy, but nice not to wait.

Next day was our day trip to Versailles. We looked up the trains online, and it was super easy to get to. Again the off season was great with NO crowds. We walked around the palace and gardens like we owned the place. When the château was built, Versailles was a country village. The court of Versailles was the centre of political power in France from 1682, when Louis XIV moved from Paris, until the royal family was forced to return to the capital in October 1789 after the beginning of the French Revolution. Versailles is a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy of the Ancien Régime. We watched Marie Antoinette before we went so we knew it was going to be over the top!

We planned time for shopping and just walking around the city. We had some places that were highly recommended so we were sure to try them all. We tried eclairs from Storer, onion soup at La Petite Perigourdine, and crepes from Chez Nicos.

We took a Seine River cruise but debated when we should take it. We decided on night so we could enjoy all the beautiful views in the "City of Lights" and it was a splendid choice! 

For our last day we went to the Louvre, its free admission for the first Sunday of the month. The lines were not long at all compared to last time I was in Paris.

The weather was cold but beautiful and sunny. It was a great day to explore Luxembourg Gardens. Many locals were out enjoying the lovely Sunday morning. The ducks were out and so were the mini sailboats. It was quintessential Paris in the Spring. Harvey LOVED looking at the ducks.

On Sunday afternoon we headed back to London. We had a great Paris trip, and it was everything we had hoped for. Au revoir Paris!