{"id":5269,"date":"2019-02-16T18:27:27","date_gmt":"2019-02-16T23:27:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/themaddlife.com\/?p=5269"},"modified":"2019-02-16T18:27:27","modified_gmt":"2019-02-16T23:27:27","slug":"london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themaddlife.com\/?p=5269","title":{"rendered":"London"},"content":{"rendered":"

My sister has lived in London for 8 years and I had never visited until this past week.\u00a0 That is crazy to think about\u2026. while not an excuse the last 8 years flew bye for me\u2026. I had three babies, then three toddlers and by the time we were ready to make an international trip with our family, we went to Sweden last year for Lauren and Gabo\u2019s wedding. \u00a0When my sister told me she was pregnant, I knew I would finally be making the trip to meet my little nephew.\u00a0 Two months after booking the flight, the time had finally arrived!\u00a0 I stocked up on food and home supplies for the family, created a schedule, coordinated logistics and while cold temperatures and school closures altered it some; Justin and Larissa handled it just fine.\u00a0 And off I went to London!<\/p>\n

The purpose of my trip was to meet Noah and help my sister.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t too sightsee; however, being a first timer in London, I definitely wanted to see some sights as well.\u00a0 Flying overnight with the time change is the way to go.\u00a0 I basically got a full day in at work and almost a full day in London.\u00a0 I slept for two hours at most on the plane, but I pushed through\u2026. I knew sleep would come later that night.<\/p>\n

I met Noah; we cuddled; I smothered him with kisses and called him Harper fairly regularly.<\/p>\n

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I walked! We walked! \u00a0Noah slept in his “buggy”. \u00a0<\/span>We saw sights! \u00a0We took selfies.<\/p>\n

Buckingham Palace\u00a0<\/strong>to meet the Queen:).<\/p>\n

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Big Ben<\/strong> under construction…maybe I will have better luck next time! \u00a0And by the way, it was cold in London! \u00a0This particular day, I was wearing 2 undershirts, a heavy sweater, and two jackets…thus, the hefty look! \u00a0But I was warm!<\/p>\n

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Westminster Abbey<\/strong> and a double decker bus.<\/p>\n

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A visit to London wouldn’t be complete without a picture in front of a Red Telephone Box<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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The London Eye\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

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My first time on the Tube<\/strong> on the way to Bourough Market.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Notice the Paddington Station<\/strong> route….<\/p>\n

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The colors, the smells, the samples, the livelihood…was ALL amazing and my imagination and senses were running wild as I was tricking my senses into believing that I was tasting each and every amazing smell.<\/p>\n

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You just wait little man….one day soon, your senses will be awakened and you too will experience all the goodness. \u00a0Speaking of goodness, Lauren and Gabriel bought cheeses, salamis, and mushrooms, and Gabriel whipped up an incredible dinner. I knew he cooked; however, I did not realize he had such a passion for food and cooked with such love and deliberateness. \u00a0Right up my alley!<\/p>\n

We had several delicious meals at home!<\/p>\n

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And we visited a\u00a0Pub<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

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We ventured to The Columbia Road Floral Market.<\/strong> \u00a0Beautiful flowers at reasonable prices equated to insanely packed crowds.<\/p>\n

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With our purchases.\"\"<\/p>\n

A quick stop at “J.C. Penny” after the floral market, a.k.a. Ottolenghi, a delicious cafe we visited three times during my entire stay. \u00a0One of the locations had a blue wall behind us…thus the J.C. Penny backdrop.<\/p>\n

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Exploring Kensington Gardens<\/strong> on my own on a beautiful sunny morning.<\/p>\n

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The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Gardens.<\/strong>\"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

My walk through Hyde Park<\/strong>\u00a0was glorious! \u00a0The sun’s beams glistened on the lake and with the swans dogs running around freely, it was simply blissful.\u00a0\"\" \"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

A quick stroll stopping for a view of The Shard<\/strong>, the tallest building in Western Europe.<\/p>\n

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An awesome view at dusk of the Windsor Castle<\/strong>, the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world.<\/p>\n

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Fun at The Tower Bridge!<\/strong><\/p>\n

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A stop at Paddington Station<\/strong> on the Tube.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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A visit to Trafalger Square<\/strong> on a rainy afternoon.\u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

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And since Noah spent much of his time on our outings sleeping contently in his buggy much like this…\"\"<\/p>\n

…I decided it was time for him to join in so there was proof that he was with Lauren and I while I played tourist.<\/p>\n

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And the visit wouldn’t be complete without a quick stop in the National Gallery<\/strong>. \u00a0I explored some really amazing exhibits while Lauren fed Noah.<\/p>\n

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Thanks little man for being such a trooper (most the time:)) while your mommy took your auntie on a week-long London expedition!<\/p>\n

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I wasn\u2019t expecting it to be a vacation, but it was!\u00a0 I was \u201cpresent\u201d and enjoying every moment of the time spent visiting another country, the time spent with my precious little nephew – feeling his soft skin and smelling his baby smell, spending quality time with my sister for a week straight, and the time getting to witness Lauren and Gabriel\u2019s love for life, each other, good food and wine in their environment. \u00a0Saying goodbye to the little man was hard.\u00a0 The tears flowed knowing that the little guy would be close to five months by the time I see him next.\u00a0 And the reality of the situation as I said my goodbyes was that this would likely be the norm\u2026. me knowing my nephew, the girls knowing their cousin through FaceTime and week-long visits a few times a year.\u00a0 Noah will be raised on another continent saying calling my sister his \u201cMummy\u201d.\u00a0 I\u2019ll cherish each and every visit, each and every snuggle, and pray that one day these cousins might may be raised in close proximity to one another and be cousins that love and respect each other with great admiration for one another. \u00a0And while the future is unpredictable, one thing is for sure…this was a week, I will forever remember and treasure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My sister has lived in London for 8 years and I had never visited until this past week.\u00a0 That is crazy to think about\u2026. while not an excuse the last 8 years flew bye for me\u2026. I had three babies, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/themaddlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/themaddlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/themaddlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themaddlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themaddlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/themaddlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5269\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/themaddlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themaddlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themaddlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}