London Continued...

On Sunday morning we jumped off at the South Kensington tube station to visit the Natural History Museum (free entrance at all public museums in London).  We checked out the Dinosaur Gallery and the Mammal Gallery with its huge blue whale model (the length of three buses). 

Before our trip I had told the girls that I wanted to treat them to 3 English treats that were my favourites when I lived there as a kid.  Here they are about to try the Double Decker chocolate bar which received 2 thumbs up.  Tasted just the same, although I think the original red wrapper was more fitting. 

We were so lucky to have such pleasant weather.  Here the girls are playing at the Diana Memorial Playground located in Kensington Gardens. 

A must do on my list was to sit down for a "proper tea".  Scones with jam and clotted cream are my all time favourite treat that I hadn't had in decades, so I wasn't going to let this chance to indulge pass me by.  Must admit that that I had to sweet talk Grace into the idea as she was voting instead for an ice cream, but a taste of the delicate cucumber and soft cheese sandwich strips on white bread with no crusts (Grandma style!), and some of the clotted cream, and the ice cream was quickly forgotten.  That's my girl!

A close up of my high tea at "The Orangery" at Kensington Palace.  When I look at this picture the word "perfection" comes to mind... must be my English roots...

 As much as we love living amongst the French language and hearing it spoken all the time, I think we've been underestimating how tiring it can be.  It hit us in London with how at ease we felt hearing English so regularly.  A much needed break for these 2 middle aged brains!  Of course, it also helps that so much about the city seems familiar to me even after all these years.

The London Eye, a 135 metre ferriswheel allowing for expansive views of the city, was voted the top attraction by Grace and Lily.  Being wary of heights I was a bit nervous, but I found it a piece of cake in comparison with the Eiffel Tower elevator.

A trip down the Thames and great views of the Tower of London and London Bridge.

Great photo, Lily. 

 Grace and Lily finally got their ice cream here; British style. Soft vanilla ice cream with a Flake chocolate bar sticking out.  Usually, Lily likes her ice-cream straight up.  In France, they tend to stick a wafer or thin cookie in the ice cream  much to Lily's disappointment.  She always quickly removes it and hands it to Grace to eat so she can concentrate on the ice cream in a bowl, no cone needed, thank-you.   But, a flakey, milk chocolate stick?  Ice cream and chocolate, her favourite foods in the world (with red peppers a distant third) in one go?    I think she felt it had been invented just for her.  

Our last stop of the trip was Harrods, the famous (but not as famous as the Mona Lisa Grace decided) London department store.  I was on the lookout everyday for a sweet shop like the one I would pass on the way to Hainault High down Manford Way (remember Lois and Brian?).  I told the girls I was looking for Kola Kubes, Kop Kops and any sort of white chocolate treat.  Unfotunately, we didn't have any luck and settled for a white chocolate lolly from Harrods.

So, you can imagine our delight and surprise on spying a "Mr. Humbug's Sweets" store at the Stansted airport, with its ceiling to floor canisters of sweets.  Kop Kops, yes! Kola Kubes, yes! Fish and Chips, yes!  Certainly it was an experience for the girls to see their Mom so excited about candy.

Piccadilly Circus, Westminster and Hyde Park Corner

We have just returned from 4 exciting days in London.  The girls are fast asleep and I'm drinking a nice cuppa tea while I sit down to share the first bit of our trip.  Barry and I made the decision to make this visit all about the girls (a Roman and ruins free itinerary!) by taking advantage of all the city has to offer for kids and let the girls make some of the choices about how we spent our days.  Lily still can't quite get over the fact that there is a country in Europe where people speak English, and with that great accent she recognized from the tapes used by her English teacher at school.  Grace has informed me that she will be moving to London when she gets older and hopes I can make it out to visit her...I think her first taste of crumpet soaked with butter helped seal the deal!  

Here the girls are in Piccadilly Circus heading towards the top secret desination on our first evening in London: "Mamma Mia"!

The girls were thrilled!  There was lots of discussion on how the play differed from the movie.  Afterwards we headed back to our Kensington hotel neighbourhood and ate Indian food in a nearby restaurant - what a treat.  Indian food is much harder to come by in Southern France.    

The first sight on Grace's "London to-do-list" was Big Ben.  I think the girls had seen it on the kid's show "Are We There Yet?" - a family favourite when we are in Canada.  This is were we headed on Saturday morning. 

From Big Ben we headed across the road to Westminister Abbey as Lily wanted to see where "the prince and princess are going to kiss on lips".  We were given clipboards and a children's questionnaire to fill in that was so much fun to complete as a family and took us to many of the most interesting sights.  Upon completing them, the girls headed into the gift shop and were rewarded with a large chocolate coin.  Among the throngs of tourists in the Abbey, there were also crews of technicians getting geared up for the big event.

That afternoon we met up with a friend that I hadn't seen in 20 some years (hard to believe!) who lives in London with her husband and young son.  We played in Hyde Park and then headed to a pub for a drink and a visit.  A memorable first 24 hours in London!

More London news to come...

Carnival Parade

With two Avignon policemen on bikes and a percussion group leading the way, Lily's school closed down a main street for their carnival parade on Friday.  It was a spirited school event and Barry and I enjoyed tagging along.  The parade stopped briefly in Place de l'Horloge before heading back to the school for snacks and drinks.    

We're Not in Mission Anymore

2 forecasts for the week of April 10th:

Camargue

Yesterday we drove south of Arles to the Camargue region of Provence to see the flamingos, bulls and horses (a little "cowboy" culture French style!) for which the region is famous, and to visit the beach front at Stes.-Maries-de-la-Mer.   We got a little off track just past the little town of Mas-Thibert and had to stop to get directions.  A lady kindly pointed out the road to Stes.-Maries-de-la-Mer, but then added that there was a festival happening in town and we should hang around.  So we did for a few hours.  

Biding our time while waiting for the bull run during the provençal day in Mas-Thibert.  Our presence there would have pushed the town's population to just over 1500.

Here's the pre-bull parade.  

The couple of guys standing beside us were eager that the Canadian lady get a real good picture of the running horses followed by the running bulls and pulled me from behind the barriers.  You can understand why I didn't quite commit to the middle of the road for this photo.

Flamingos at the Parc Orthinologique

We were lucky to see some Camargue horses in the marshland right by the side of the road.  These semi-wild horses have been in this area for possibly thousands of years and are said to be descendents of the pre-historic (Paleolithic period - around 15 thousands years ago) horse of France.  Quite the lineage!

Beach time along the waterfront at Stes.-Maries-de-la-mer.