Hi Guys! I’m back from our trip to England and France and have to apologize for not posting while I was gone. I fully intended to as we had wi-fi at all of our hotels, but the service was a bit in and out so it was difficult to upload photos. To be totally honest, it was a blessing in disguise as it was nice to put the laptop away and fully enjoy the vacation! Today I have a few pics to share from our time in London, tomorrow I have a post on our day trip to Brighton and then I’ll have a gajillion pictures from Provence for you–it was seriously the most beautiful countryside.

The first day Mike and I bounced around the city for a day and explored the South Kensington neighborhood, visited Buckingham Palace, and did a little shopping!

We had tickets booked ahead of time for Buckingham Palace (as we were told it can sell out). Unfortunately we couldn’t take pictures inside, but it had every bit of grandeur that you would expect. The expansive rooms, gorgeous chandeliers, beautiful paintings and lovely gardens left nothing to be desired. I would highly recommend a visit. If it’s not open when you’re in town, a visit to Windsor Castle is an excellent alternative. Buckingham Palace is a bit more grand than Windsor, but they are both enjoyable experiences.

After a royal visit we skipped our way into Sketch to splurge on a fancy lunch.

Since this was our belated first anniversary trip it only made sense to start with champagne… right? The meal was several courses and everything was unique and beautifully presented.

We popped into Liberty, a small department store that I’ve always wanted to visit in Oxford Circus.

And they had the cutest Christmas section on the top floor. I couldn’t resist one of these ornaments of the Queen!As I mentioned here, this wasn’t our first trip to London so for the most part we spent time with friends in their neighborhood in South West London. Apparently this area is known as Nappy Valley. Which is basically Diaper valley for those of us from the states. And it was so true! Everyone walking around had a few young kids in tow or a baby on the way. Even the train was filled with women wearing “baby on board” buttons to let other commuters know they were pregnant.

We settled in quickly making ourselves at home. And someone else took a particular liking to my husband!:)

Mike and I love to do curry dinners when we visit because it’s a pretty inexpensive meal for London and Indian food is really good there. My friend Emily suggested the Tooting neighborhood for this outing because they have an abundance of Indian restaurants. And since I have the sense of humor of an eight-year-old I couldn’t stop giggling over all the signage like “the tooting Italian” below. Apparently “tooting” does not mean the same thing over there since no one knew why I was laughing so hard! Like I said, the humor of an eight-year-old.

We followed up an amazing dinner at a bar back in their neighborhood. The boys helped close the pub down, while Emily and I headed home to relieve the babysitter and catch up over wine. It was so nice to have some quality time hanging out!

Since the two-year-old of the house didn’t go out for drinks like the rest of us, she was ready to play at 7am. We all stumbled out of bed and tried to soak up the night’s mistakes with tea and rolls. But the early wake up was good because we were off to explore the English seaside! Tomorrow I’ll have all the photos of our day-trip to Seven Sisters and Brighton! See ya later London!

Happy Travels!

xo, Jenny