Travel Diary: Europe 2018 | London, England
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Our Europe 2018 Itinerary:
Winsdor, England for The Royal Wedding
Switzerland (Grindelwald and Lucerne)
Alsace Region, France
Paris, France
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We just had a day and a half in London. The one thing we would change, looking back, at our Europe 2018 trip, is that we would schedule a week in London! It all worked out with our itinerary but we just absolutely fell in love with the city and had a thousand and two more important, historic, beautiful, meaningful and bucket-list sights to see. Lord willing, we’ll find cheap finds someday and be back! Nevertheless, our hours there were lovely.
We dropped our rental car off at Heathrow Airport (we’d had a car the week of staying in The Cotswolds and The Royal Wedding festivities) and then took the London Underground to our hotel! We stayed in Kensington area and it felt safe and was nice !
On our first evening, we had pizza for dinner at a cafe (Weston’s favorite food!) and played at the Diana Memorial Park at Kensington. It’s a magical Peter Pan themed park complete with teepees, a huge pirate ship, so much fun for the littles! Weston loved running around. As we pushed him on the swings, we noticed a very low helicopter flying overhead. People in the park began running toward Kensington Palace and I realized: a royal member of the family may be arriving! Sure enough, we ran over to the residential area of the palace and someone got out of the helicopter and quickly went into the residence. We soon found out… it was Prince William! It was such an exciting moment and just another piece of our Royal Wedding story :) Just call us The American Royal Watchers haha! This time, unplanned!
The helicopter
Exploring and adventuring in London
I’ll never forget being in England during the days surrounding the Royal Wedding. Every newspaper and person, it seemed, was abuzz with chatter about it all. Such a big event and special day and the celebration went on and on!
NOTTING HILL
We began the day at Farm Girl Cafe! Such a beautiful, quaint cafe (I adored the pink tables) — and the food was good!
Beautiful blooms
This little boy saw most of London on his Daddy’s shoulders, and I can’t wait to show him the pictures and tell him the story of that adventure day, someday.
I’ve been a Cath Kidston fan since college — it was such fun to stumble upon a brick and mortar shop in person!
We walked through a farmer’s market in Notting Hill and bought some berries for Weston!
BUCKINGHAM PALACE
We explored London all day, and really, we were so immersed in it all that we took so few photos! But, isn’t that the best? Realizing you haven’t picked up your phone or camera because you’re so in the moment?
I’d seen Peggy Porschen’s lovely bakery pictures all over Instagram, and hoped we could pop in while in London — we happened to have a bus stop nearby on our way back to our hotel, so Daniel noticed it and we stopped by, got a macaron, and took some photos! The flower display was absolutely beautiful. We, happily, happened to be in London during the Chelsea Flower Show, but because they don’t allow children under 5 (I think it was) we didn’t go, but so much in Chelsea area was decorated with flowers and greenery galore — just so lush and stunning! I loved seeing that area and all the high-end shops all decorated. People mentioned that Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton have been spotted shopping in that area, and I see why :) So beautiful!
Fish and chips for dinner in Notting Hill — delicious!!
