This trip marks a new start in travel for me. I decided I couldn't carry my prized 3.5lb, 6D Canon camera around with me all day anymore and invested in a FujiX30 instead. I was very nervous about switching so close to our departure - nervous I might compromise the memories I was responsible for collecting. A friend of mine with deep, digital intuition, heard my concerns and came over to help me navigate my latest *screen*. Within an hour, I felt ready for adventures in pocket photography. So far, I'm very happy with the results!
Here are some shots from our second day in London, starting at the famed Regency Cafe, said to have the best English Breakfast in the whole of London.
I don't know if I would agree this is THE BEST breakfast, but it is certainly worth a stop. Regency is an English version of what we Americans would call a *greasy spoon*, only it's the cleanest greasy spoon imaginable. Not a spec of anything anywhere, and the 50's wall tile sparkles! Clair was behind the counter, bellowing out people's orders like an old man, only she was adorable. (How does she do that with her voice, we wondered?) The food was delicious and cheap, the clientele was entirely comprised of old, single men, construction workers in reflective vests, and clean-cut taxi drivers. We loved it!
After breakfast, we hopped on a double-decker tour bus and drove around the city center for a while, before jumping off at Harrods, just for look, then maybe some tea.
Lucky, lucky, lucky us! We came for tea and discovered a Laduree! Beanie and I first enjoyed L's macaroons last year when we went to Paris with the girls in my family. We were SO EXCITED to stumble on one in Harrods!
After Harrods, we jumped back on the bus for a bit, before getting off for one of my favorites, Churchills War Rooms. This was my third time to this museum, but my first since its add-on of the modern, interactive wing. We read about Churchill before taking off for London, so the kids had a basic understanding of who he was, the 11yo more than the others.
By the time finished our audio tour, the kids were wiped-out and begging to go back to the apartment for a night in. We grabbed some cheap Tesco dinners and headed down into the tube. Our night in was perfect. It was still warm enough to sit on the deck with the pigeons. The kids played and read. It was a good reminder that I need to give some stuff up, and maybe take it a little slower with them than I would with myself. ;-)