Europe...and other things more pressing

What can be more pressing than reporting on a two-week, four-country adventure in Europe? Well, I'll tell you:

1) My mom turned 50 (happy birthday!)

2) My sister is getting married!

So, to honor chronology I'll start with Europe and keep you waiting (all 12 of you who read this blog) for an update on the my mom's 50th birthday party and my sister's exciting news!!

London

We stayed with Christian's cousin and her family (her some of her adorable children are pictured below).  They lived about an hour away from London city center, so we rode the train to the city each day--except Sunday, when they drove us around to see count

ryside and villages.

Favorite things about London (if I HAD to choose)

1. The accents, of course. (brilliant, rubbish, mind the gap, mummy) 

2. Seeing Oliver at the Theater on Dreary Lane (sorry, no muffin man there--just a fabulous

 show with tons of little boys singing and dancing).

3. Portobello Road--the antique store was my favorite--3 pieces of jewelry for 5 pounds! I wished I was more of a jewelry person at that point.

4. The Architecture--Big Ben and the Parliament House...or is it House of Parliament? Westminister Abbey, Buckingham Pallace, and the modern business buildings.

5. Feeding the birds at Busy Park (we didn't even have to use our toppins!)

6. Going to Harrods--where else can you find Prada and gelato in same store? We partook of only the latter of those two, mind you!

7. Seeing little towns/cities that look like Mary Poppins and/or Peter Pan should be flying across the sky (ok, so Mary Poppins more like floats...).

8.  The fish and chips--even though it really wasn't as tasty as I was hoping, we ate at a place called The Red Lion, and it of course has been around 100 years because EVERYTHING in Europe has been around at least that long.

9. Red Bus Tour (hop on hop off)--this kept us out of the rainy, rainy, rain, and still allowed us to see all of the major sights we were hoping to see. This was especially helpful after our umbrella broke.

10. Hyde Park--we walked the entire thing and saw everything from scandalous lovers to whistling old men (I wanted to take him home with me he was so adorable...or at least get a recording of his tune), and people of all ages rollerblading.  It was truly entertaining.

OK, stay tuned for much, much more...next up...Paris!