A Lovely Trip to London

We just returned from a lovely trip to London.  Since Adalyn had school off last week, we decided it would be a perfect time to visit London.  Chris studied there during college, but the girls and I had never been, so we were very excited!

We arrived last Thursday and after finding out apartment, we headed out to explore Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens which was within walking distance from our place.  It is a huge open park (625 acres), and has many different sites to explore.

Entrance to Kensington Palace located in Kensington Gardens

The girls loved playing at the Princess Diana Memorial Playground- 

The girls and Chris love the movie Peter Pan, so we had to visit the statue.

The statue was built in 1912.

Once we were done exploring the park, we walked to the Science Museum.  We had heard great things about the science museum in London, so we definitely wanted to check it out.  The museum was founded in 1857, and still is one of the city's major tourist attractions.  It was crowded, but we were still able to attend a bubble show, learn about space and Neil Armstrong, and about how household items work.  The girls were very interested in how a toilet works!!  We would have loved to see more, but with the crowds and the girls getting hungry, we decided to save the rest for another trip.

Friday, we took the underground to central London.  Our first stop was the London Eye.  The girls love Ferris wheels, so we knew we had to ride it.  The London Eye is 443ft tall, the largest Ferris wheel in Europe.  You are enclosed in a capsule and it goes very slowly, so you have time to take in the views.  

The London Eye  

The view from atop- Chris pointed out Big Ben to Eliza and her response was...

"Where is Uncle Chad???" 

We then toured Westminster Abbey.  It was an amazing church to visit and would highly recommend to anyone visiting London.  They also have a kids activity packet to answer questions along the way that kept the girls very interested throughout the tour, and they got a chocolate coin at the end.  The Westminster Abbey was founded in 960 when monks would come and worship.  Since then, 3,300 people have been buried or commemorated in the church, Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin are both buried in the church.  It has also been the setting for every coronation since 1066, which the girls thought was very cool since they related it to Princess Elsa's coronation.

Westminster Abbey

From there, we walked along St. Jame's Park to get to Buckingham Palace.  Unfortunately, we missed "Changing the Guard" but we were able to see fancy people exiting the palace by horse carriages, which was pretty cool!  Adalyn and I kept creating stories about what the Queen was doing in the palace.  

Buckingham Palace- 

Next up, we walked to Piccadilly Circus. which is a well-known area in London's West End.  It is a very busy area filled with people, street entertainers, shops, and restaurants.  

Piccadilly Circus 

After a busy day of touring, we settled in at a pub for dinner.  Adalyn was SUPER excited to try "Bangers and Mash."  

Apparently walking eight miles made her very hungry!  

I have no idea how she ate it all- a proud daddy moment!

On Saturday, we visited the Natural History Museum, which is also a very popular attraction, especially with kids.  The museum is filled with specimens within five main collections: botany, entomology, mineralogy, paleontology, and zoology.  We were able to learn about volcanoes, experience an earthquake, see many dinosaur skeletons, and see an enormous blue whale model.

Adalyn being our tour guide throughout the museum-

After the museum, we went back to the apartment and got ready to go see "The Lion King."  While planning this trip, we debated going to a play, mainly because Eliza is an unpredictable toddler!  We hoped that the show would be entertaining enough to keep her attention, and thankfully it was a success!  The show was amazing- the costumes, singing, acting, everything was beyond our expectations.  It was definitely a highlight of our trip and we hope the girls will remember it!  

Ready for it to start!

Enjoying the theatre with my girls- 

After the play, we ate at another pub and the girls tried minced meat pies and fish 'n' chips.  They clearly enjoyed the food in London!  

We had a great time and we all decided London was one of our favorite places we have visited.  One surprise for me was how pleasant and helpful the people were.  It was a nice change to be around people who enjoyed kids in public places!

Lovin' the pubs!  

We had told the girls London is a rainy city- 

thankfully for them it rained a little-

 they were so excited to use their umbrellas!

City girls on the underground tube- 

Grandpa and Grandma Pothen visit!

We spent the last ten days hosting Chris' parents.  It was a wonderful ten days filled with many memorable moments.

They arrived on a Friday and we spent the night celebrating Bev's birthday and an early birthday celebration for Eliza.

The next morning, we packed up the car and headed to the mountains for the weekend.  We went to Megeve, which is a ski resort village in the French Alps.  We spent the day walking through the village, shopping, and enjoying the amazing view of the Alps.  At night, we ate at a restaurant that served traditional food from the Haute-Savoie region: fondue, raclette, potatoes, and dried beef.

Horse carriage ride through the village of Megeve-

Cheers to a great time in Megeve!

On Monday, we traveled to Gruyere, a popular destination we take visitors.  We love Gruyere because the setting of the village is what most people think of when they picture Switzerland, rolling hills, mountains, castles, and cows.  We first visited the village and toured the castle.  After that, we drove to the Gruyere cheese factory and enjoyed lunch dishes made from fresh Gruyere cheese.  Of course, we had to end the day by visiting the Callier Chocolate Factory.  The girls took grandma and grandpa on the tour and enjoyed the chocolate tasting room!  It was a great day!

Gruyere village-

Callier Factory

On Tuesday, Chris was fortunate to work half a day, so he was able to spend the day with us. We went to Chamonix, France.  Bev and Randy had been there on their first visit, but really enjoyed the village, so we went back and explored some new areas.  With our visitors in Chamonix, they have either taken the cable car to the top of Mt. Blanc, or taken a train along the mountain to a lookout point of glaciers.  We recently heard of a third option that some of my friends had done and highly recommended.  It is a different cable car that also goes up to a tall peak and looks over to the top of Mont Blanc.  The advantage of this option is that it is not as high, so visitors with a fear of heights (and me!), have a way to enjoy the mountain view without the anxiety of the Mont Blanc cable car.  So, we headed up the mountain in the cable car with a very nervous grandma, but we made it, and she ended up loving it!

Above the clouds-

We spent the rest of the day walking around the village and ended the day at my favorite restaurant in Chamonix.  We had a memorable dinner, ending with all of us having a shot with the server!

On Wednesday, Randy and Bev traveled to London for a mini-vacation.  It is so easy to get to London from here, so they figured it would be a good time to check out the big city.  While there, they visited the main attractions and enjoyed a play in the evening, Les Miserables.  They had a bloody good time!

They got back Friday night and everyone was eager to see each other!

On Saturday morning, the girls were so excited to go skiing with Grandpa!!  Randy had not skied in over 15 years, but he was brave and took on the challenge of skiing in the Alps!!  While the girls were in their lessons, I skied with Randy while Bev took pictures of everyone skiing and enjoyed some spiked hot chocolate.  It was an absolute picture perfect day for skiing.

Who would have ever predicted we would all be skiing together in the Alps??

He was a pro!  

Chris and Randy-

In the afternoon, we went down by Lake Geneva.

Sunday, we went to Annecy, France.  Another popular place to visit and walked along the cobblestone streets and enjoyed some vin chaud (mulled wine).

On Monday, we had to say good-bye to them as they headed back to Minnesota.  Good-byes are never easy, especially for the girls.  They loved every minute while their grandpa and grandma were here.  They loved baking with grandma, learning how to play rummy, and Adalyn especially liked reading Junie B. Jones with grandpa.

Excited to try their cream puffs they made with grandma- 

Preparing Adalyn's favorite meal... meatloaf and corn!