London Travelogue

My husband, daughter and I returned home on Wednesday from our spring break trip to London. First things first--the weather was awesome. I fully expected lots of rain and packed for it. We had lovely spring weather, didn't need the umbrella once (not going to open it for the tiny sprinkle we had on Monday), and had to sleep with the hotel windows open! So nice to see lush green grass and daffodils, tulips, apple blossoms and other spring flowers. Here in Colorado it is still dull winter brown, so the parks filled with color and plant life were especially pleasant.



Our trip was a balanced fare of sightseeing, shopping (my daughter was thrilled to find a TopShop as she loves the clothes she finds online but her mean mom won't spring for overseas shipping), eating, and exploring how the natives live. Here are some impressions and favorite bits. Signage is always fun, whether it be to confirm that Londoners do have a way with pub names...








...or to enjoy different ways of expressing commonplace stuff.



While we never rode the London Eye--a bit pricey and while I'm sure the view was breathtaking, we didn't want to invest our very short time in London on waiting in lines and moving achingly slow. My daughter is not blessed with a remarkable amount of patience, so maybe next trip. However, it dominates the southern skyline and I loved how it kept cropping up in our photos.




People watching is always a huge part of my enjoyment in traveling...this trendy girl shows up a lot in our pictures. Yep, that's my daughter, who now loves London almost as much as she loves New York. She wants to go back next year to see whether she just might love London a bit more!



Loved this image of SuperGirls chatting up the policemen.



London is a city of statues, most depicting statesmen and leaders, some authors, and other notables, but I also really enjoyed the funkier street art, like these:





On Saturday (a week ago now!), we decided to have lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, since it's a family tradition to eat at one in every city we visit that has one. Turns out HRC in London was ground zero for the march that brought 250,000 people to the streets to protest cuts in services, education, etc. I welcomed the opportunity to witness the march and welcomed even more being able to take a picture of Charles II the next day after the marchers were done with him.




Next London post, I promise I'll show pictures of some of the historical sights we visited, but I can't promise that I won't throw in more of my very own princess.