We drove to Calais, France and then drove the car onto the train to go under the English Channel to get to England.
What an amazing invention!
Our flat in Cranley Gardens for the week
First things first... Let's figure out how to cross the street! We couldn't get this right!
Walking around our neighborhood in Chelsea.
Paddington statues all over the city dressed to match the locations - here he is in Chelsea garb
Walking around the Chelsea soccer stadium- they LOVE their football here!!
Sunday afternoon- watching soccer in a pub eating fish and chips
I stayed for a bit and then found my way to a nearby salon...open on Sundays!! Unheard of in France!
Woohoo!! It has been a LONG time!
We finished the day by seeing a movie in English!! It was such a treat- we saw Night at the Museum
Then the next day we did the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Tour- here is Henry wearing the sorting hat
The audio guide for behind the scenes info :)
It was an amazing tour of the actual set!
The Great Hall
The Gryffindor Common Room- the set designer said she wanted to make
something that actually felt like a home since Harry had never really had one- it sure looked cozy!
Dumbledore's office
Hogwarts Castle
Cheers! It's Butterbeer- YUM. Cream soda with butterscotch
Then walking around London a bit....
Bibendum restaurant - have you ever seen a stained glass tire man?
Our favorite lunch spot- we think it might actually have been French, but it was more of an American French! Chopped salads etc. We haven't seen those in France!
A bookstore- what do all of these books have in common? They are in ENGLISH!! Ha! NO English books or magazines in France much less a whole store!!!
The next morning we took a Panoramic Tour of London and saw St. Paul's Cathedral and Buckingham Palace with the changing of the horse guard.
St. Paul's dome- no pics allowed inside - it was so beautiful and much warmer and brighter than many we have seen in Europe. Many of you probably saw Diana and Charles' wedding that took place here. In the front of the church there was an American sanctuary dedicated to the American soldiers who fought with Britain- there is a book of all of their names and the page is turned each day to be sure all of the names are shown. It was a moving tribute.
Outside St. Paul's
The entrance to the cathedral- the doors read " This is None Other Than the House of God- This is the Gate of Heaven"
The Queen's guard- we walked onto the grounds and watched the changing of the horse guard...
DON'T SMILE!!!!
Buckingham Palace- I think Hen was done with the sight seeing for a while!
London streets decorated for Christmas
In the Ralph Lauren store- beautiful!
The next day we walked around the Notting Hill neighborhood. It was really quirky and had an offbeat feel- it was so fun to see.
In a Scottish shop, Stumper Fielding, with a lot of tweed!
We stopped for lunch at a place called Honest Burger and had to get this drink in honor of our friend Ginger!
New Year's Eve- Big Ben chimed at midnight and the greatest fireworks show we have ever seen began!
They shot out of the middle of the London Eye - it was beautiful!
New Years Day- we parted ways! The guys went to a football game and I went to do some shopping.
In the denim department in Selfridges- LOVE the button on the wall.
A popcorn department??!? My kind of store.
The guys at Chelsea vs. Tottenham- they were so sad by the upset! Chelsea was favored to win, but they still had a blast.
Looks like they had great seats!
Last day- the Museum of Natural History
And the beautiful old theater where we saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory- it was such a great show!
And back to France! We just showed our Passports as we got back on the train with our car. I held them out the window and said, "Hello". The man said, "Bonjour". Oh, right! French! Oops. Our brains enjoyed the break for a week!
