why we came to London:

reason #1: to take pictures

reason #2: to eat great food at places like...

the best family owned little pizza place down in Brixton with a jug of honey infused lemonade to wash it down.

OR

the most wonderful cookbook shop that has a tester kitchen in back.  come in, read a book, eat great gourmet food for almost nothing.
and it was right down off Portobello, why did we not discover this earlier!


OR

can you imagine the best lamb chops you've ever had with a whole jug mango/ banana smoothie goodness to go with it?
i can. i ate it. don't worry, it was delicious.

{ special thanks to Rachel's cheap eats in London book for making sure my trousers were a little too snug while we were abroad } 

at court

{Hampton Court} to be specific.
 

a really great place where a lot of English monarchs lived and entertained their guests.

also a really great place to take pictures.

mostly in the gardens.

 Dorm 4 family photo

Back view of the palace

nice scenic view of the river

 this is where we met our friend the swan
who would not stop cleaning himself so i could get a decent picture

{ there now, was that SO hard? }

 to the gardens.

with bushes that look like Hershey kisses

the most quaint little garden paths

the loveliest roses

oh and of course an English garden maze, because, well, we're in England.
our record time to the middle: 5 minutes tops
i think

the end.

star sighting

hey look who popped by the center a while back to sing a little ditty and speak to us?

alex boye.

kind of the best.

the way to feel english

how do you do this you ask?
simple, you either:
1.) get tea at the Orangery in Kensington Gardens

OR

b.) find a little tea room like this one in Canterbury or the like and be served your tea by a sweet red-faced little English woman who looks like Mrs. Pots:

if you choose the first you can be sure to look forward to a rich cup of hot chocolate:

a lovely place setting:

and happiness:

if you choose b.) you can look forward to delicious window displays:

a quaint little front room:

and strawberry tea on pink laced flower patterned china:

both options are completely acceptable, enjoy.

p.s. and when all else fails remember to get clotted cream, lots and lots of clotted cream.

the place to find husbands

well, at least according to Pride & Prejudice

I call it 

Brighton

 

first we hopped on a train at Victoria Station and rode it down to the coast, but I couldn't resist snapping a shot of these two gents waiting for their train:

After getting a little lost we picked our way down to King George IV's Indian/Oriental inspired pleasure palace, more commonly known as the Royal Pavilion:

The outside was fabulous and if they had allowed photos inside I might have dedicated a whole post to this place,  I've tried to find some adequate pictures of it online, but unfortunately no one really does it justice.  Feel free to google it anyway.

Next we wondered down to the beach, well "beach" is probably more appropriate, because I came and went from this place without a speck of sand on me:

can you see why?

Aside from the lack of sand it was completely and utterly wonderful to be in a bathing suit, laying on the coast and listening to the waves.

The sun was shining, I got some vitamin D and I took a nap.

Pure happiness looks something like this: