England with sistahs

For a week in May, I was lucky enough to spend time with three of my fours sisters in the land across the Atlantic. We flew the 9.5 hours to England with ease and even got some sleep (thanks to my brother's comfort tips for a plane ride). We hit the ground running and had the opportunity to visit a great many things. Lots of photos of our adventures below.

We stopped at Kensington Garden to find the Peter Pan statue. Right afterwards we heard the parakeets and stopped to feed them peanuts, apples, and walnuts right out of our hands! Jess, Oliver, and I tried to find this spot when we visited last year but couldn't see it. Needless to say, we had only missed it by a 3 minute walk.

The next day we visited Oxford. This was on my bucket list, and I loved it. The Bridge of Sighs and the streets were as cool as I had imagined.

From there we visited the Cotswolds. While checking out a church in Bampton that was used in the television series Downton Abbey, we were interviewed by the BBC about tourists visiting small towns and how that affected the citizens there. I used the word "visceral" and thought I had nailed the interview. My sisters said some much wiser stuff so I may not make the cut for the show :).

The Arlington Row of cottages was perfectly picturesque.

The next day we ventured to St. Paul's Cathedral and went up the 500+ stairs to visit the top. This was a highlight for us, even though we almost skipped it.

We then visited the Tate Modern. I sent this photo in a text to Jess saying I liked this Matisse. He replied with, "I can make one of those for you when you get home." Haha!

That night we went to Hamilton. This was history told to you in lightning speed. Wow! There is no way anyone could fall asleep during this play. 

We hit the ground running the next day with a whirlwind visit of the British Museum. 

And then we were off to the Chelsea flower show. I tried to buy some iris bulbs but my sisters informed me that there was no way that they were going to allow them through customs. Good to know!

We relaxed at afternoon tea and I loved the English Mess (the dessert in the mini glass cup). 

Then off to Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery.

We found the Holbein that Oliver loves because of the neat 3-D skull at the bottom. If you view this painting at different angles, the skull looks different. My sister was a great tour guide in this museum with a wealth of knowledge.

Then we visited Westminster. This stop made me realize how confused I am about English royalty and the history of the nation. Mary, Elizabeth, Henry, Edward: names I've heard and thought I had a hold on but I need to seriously review.

The day after that, we visited the London Olympic Park and took our best 'Boy Band' photo next to West Ham United stadium. This spot was a stop off of the tube and very open. There were a lot of families here with their kids riding scooters. It was fun to see the contrast from the busy streets of Covent Garden where we stayed.

Here we rode on the longest slide in the world, the ArcelorMittal Orbit, conceived by one of my sister's favorite artists, Anish Kapoor. Its a 40 second ride and at some points you go about 15 mph. I was kind of scared, but it was all fun!

Our last day was spent enjoying St. James Park and then we were off to the Charles Dickens Museum. This stop was a detour from our original goal to go to Hampton Court (due to a disturbance at Waterloo station), but it did not disappoint.

It was such a fun trip with three of the best people around. Everyone got back home safely to finish up all of the end-of-school stuff with their kids. I told Jess I could do this very thing once a year. I mean, why not? 😉