London!
What a great city you are. The whole world is in London. It's beautiful, clean and full of generally amiable (and terribly civilized) people. Plus, it has my favorite city skyline! I had a great 10 day stay and met some really lovely people. Here' s a little run-down on my trip and some favorite spots…
Next I moved for the weekend into Hampstead, which is a perfectly charming little town on the outskirts of London. Busy enough to keep you occupied, quiet enough to give you peace. If I ever live in London, this is the spot I would most likely settle into. Very family friendly, great shopping, GREAT food, beautiful architecture… for first time London visitors, visit Hampstead.
At last, I spent two nights at the Kensington London Hotel off off Queen's Gate Rd. This was exactly the central type of location I had been hoping for all along. We were just round the corner from lots of food, taxis were right outside on the main st., we were one block from the buses and the tube (both of which were shockingly clean and very easy to navigate), and about a half mile walk from the Natural History Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum.
Much to my great chagrin, the costume exhibit I was frothing at the bit to see at the V&A was closed and would not re open until May 19. Then I made a great trek with the baby across town via two buses to see Shakespeare's The Globe theatre, only to have missed the last tour. :( Aside from these two minor setbacks, I did get to see a few other things that were very cool. Of course, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey were on the list. I walked across what the locals call "The Wobbley Bridge" which is actually the Millennium Bridge, walked around St. Paul's Cathedral (which has to be the largest church in London), meandered through SoHo and buried my wallet deep in my purse to keep me from impulse buying, had a visit to local church "Reality London" which meets in a very cool space near Islington.
To cap off the trip, I took in a performance of the new musical Singin In the Rain-- which was SENSATIONAL! It actually rains onstage. It was very, very cool and thrilling at every turn. Bright colors, gorgeous choreography, I thought this was far better than the film. If you live in London or are visitingGO SEE THIS!!!
I'm looking forward to returning to England and branching outside of London next time to see the famed rolling hills and castles!
Look for more about my trip in an upcoming issue of ZOOEY MAGAZINE, where I took Zooey to two fabulous shopping areas… one for vintage, and one for modern, and both are usually off visitors' radar! More details on that coming soon!
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