Joseph was reading a paper at a conference in Edinburgh, which gave us the perfect excuse to visit Dave and Georgia in London! Joseph had to catch a train up to Scotland almost as soon as we got in, but Evangeline and I were able to relax and enjoy their hospitality. Oh yeah, we saw a few things, too. :)
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| Parliament and Big Ben |
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| It's been renamed the Elizabeth Tower, but we refused to comply |
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| Yay, Westminster Abbey! |
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| The view in St. James's Park--Whitehall, Horse Guards, The Eye |
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| Evangeline just loved all the ducks and geese (not pictured)... |
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| ...and all the green space! |
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| Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guards |
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| They successfully changed :) |
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| So excited! |
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| Fish and Chips with Chip Butties for the non-fish eaters |
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| Happy face |
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| Every night after dinner, Dave and E treated us to a concert |
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| The Diana Memorial Playground in Kensington Gardens, the most fabulous playground ever! |
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| The theme is Peter Pan, with a huge wooden pirate ship surrounded by sand... |
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| ...teepees, water play, and Neverland-esque trails and hideaways |
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| Boarding the pirate ship |
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| Below decks |
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| Making music in the "woods" |
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| At the water pump |
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| It was hard to tear her away |
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| The formal garden by Kensington Palace |
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| Lovely ladies |
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| The nice gardener who let us in as long as we promised to leave with the tour group |
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| Victoria's memorial was nice and understated... |
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| ...compared with Albert's in Hyde Park. Yikes! |
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| A beautiful day |
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| The Diana Memorial Fountain, which was more a place for wading |
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| If E hadn't been sleeping in her stroller at this point, I'm sure we'd have been in there, too |
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| The Serpentine - fun to see Olympic events here a few weeks later |
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| We checked out the Museum of Childhood |
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| Great sandbox |
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| Tea party |
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| Our little wizard! |
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| Quite pleased with her babyccino (yes, that's a thing) |
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| Making pizzas at home |
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| Borough Market, south of the Thames |
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| Now THAT'S some cheese! |
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| Tower of brownies |
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| Meat pies |
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| G getting our grilled cheese--seriously the best ever! |
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| Chilling by the Thames |
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| The Globe |
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| Tate Modern |
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| Letting off some steam by running up and down the ramp |
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| Millennium Bridge and St Paul's |
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| View from the bridge |
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| London Bridge looking festive |
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| St Paul's, where I resisted the urge to sing "Feed the Birds" |
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| This one could not resist an open piano, though |
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| Bus stop fun |
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| Conference over, Joseph rejoined us and we went to the Hackney City Farm |
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| A nice rural feeling in the middle of East London |
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| This fancy fellow was positive he was pecking a rival |
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| More playground time, of course! |
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| At Dave and Georgia's local |
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| Covent Garden |
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| Big smiles |
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| Trafalgar Square, which she loved, obviously! |
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| We had a hard time getting her away from those lions |
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| Jones Fam |
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| Horse Guards |
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| 10 Downing Street, what we could see of it |
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| Pub lunch! So much delicious cheese on the sandwiches... |
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| Hanging around the Barbican, a very unique housing development |
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| Quality time :) |
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| Making friends on Hampstead Heath |
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| Fortifications at a tea shop--my lavender cake was awesome, by the way |
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| Naturally, the cow creamer was irresistible |
A few summarizing thoughts about London:
- We were surprised by how multicultural it was. I always think of London as being more homogeneous, but that was definitely not the case. I think it helped that we were based out of East London, but it was still very impressive.
- Another surprising thing was that it made us more appreciative of Hong Kong public transit. London's was so much more expensive, especially the tube. And the stops seemed to be further apart; we had to do a lot more walking to get to the stations. And they don't all run as often. By where Dave and Georgia lived, there was ten minutes between trains during non-rush hours. In Hong Kong, you practically throw a fit when the trains are four minutes apart! I guess we are just spoiled.
- We loved, loved, loved the playgrounds in London. There was so much variety, space for creativity, and potential for risk. You couldn't help but draw some (unflattering) comparisons about cultural values when you contrasted London and Hong Kong.
- People were generally very friendly and helpful. Every time we were struggling with the stroller or luggage, someone immediately stopped to offer to help. Another pleasant change from Hong Kong!
It was a wonderful trip in every way. Great to spend time with family, great sights, great food. We didn't even come close to seeing everything, which gives us another reason to go back!
