Our trip to London to see President Bush!

Yes, you read correctly, the children and I went to London to see President Bush over Thanksgiving weekend! That is President Freda Bush, my mom. She is president of the Federation of State Medical Boards and had a series of meetings in London the 1st week of December, so I decided to meet her and my father the weekend before the meetings began. Unfortunately Preston was unable to go with us because of work and of course Daniele is in school, so this was the first trip that I have taken alone with just Maya, Lauren and John.

We decided to take the train from Clermont to Paris and then the Eurostar from Paris to London on the Friday following Thanksgiving. It was reasonably priced for the 4 of us to travel 2nd class, but not necessarily easy. We packed our bags "European style" ie. very lightly and set out on our voyage. The train from Clermont left at 6 am and arrived in Paris at 10 am. We then had to change stations by metro in order to take the Eurostar to London. This was our first time passing through the Chunnel and honestly, it was not as exciting as I thought it would be. The entire ride from Paris to London is only about 2 hours and the only reason I knew we were under the water was because it went from daytime to totally darkness for about 30 minutes and then we were on the other side. The most uncomfortable part of the trip was that we had seats that faced backwards the entire trip! Not good for someone with slight motion sickness issues. But with that being said, I love that travel in Europe can be done relatively easy without a car! Once in London we took the underground to our hotel to meet mom and dad.

Clermont-Ferrand to Paris

Eurostar, Paris to London

Since it was already Friday afternoon when we arrived in London, we decided to keep our activities light. Our first stop was afternoon tea at Fortnum and Mason, a department store that specializes in teas and has several beautiful restaurants.

Mom and Me

scones and finger sandwiches

English Tea!

John and Dad

Beautiful holiday decorations

Afterwards we walked to Hamley’s Toy store and purchased a few souvenir bears celebrating the 250th year of the store. And finally we walked around Piccadilly Circus to take in a few more sights and sounds of Christmas.

Cute animated display

John's favorite toy...Lego's!!!

Piccadilly Circus

Saturday morning, we started with going to Westminster Abbey, the sight of the April wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. On the side of the church is a statue of Martin Luther King, Jr. along with nineteen other 20th century martyrs that are honored.

MLK in the middle

Next, we walked nearby to the Palace of Westminster House of Commons and saw Big Ben. Across from the London Eye, it overlooks the Thames River. Now this trip was a few days before the big snow storm in Europe, so it was pretty cold outside. Fortunately, there were boat tours available that were enclosed and served hot wine and hot chocolate. It was a great way to see lots of sites while staying warm and without walking!

We got off at the Tower Bridge and did a tour of the Tower of London. As I mentioned before, it was really cold, but the highlight was to seeing the crown jewels. Since it gets dark and colder around 4pm, we headed back to the hotel to eat in a local restaurant. There I had real Shepherd's pie with lamb and a glass of cider. Surprisingly, they were both very good. I am not a big lamb eater, but it really hit the spot to have a bit of comfort food on such a cold evening.

Sunday was our last day in London, but also the day that my parents were most tired with jetlag, so we slept in. We made brunch reservations at a wonderful Indian restaurant, Bombay Brasserie. Now I normally don't really care for Indian food, but this was the best Indian food I had every tasted!  The staff was very attentive and helpful with explaining the food and what we should expect. It was a great experience for all of us.

After the wonderful meal, we went to see my Christmas gift to my parents…The Lion King musical!!! I know this was Maya's favorite part of the trip. A lot of the lines and songs were just like the movie and the children loved that, but my mom and I loved that the original music written for the musical had a more African feel to them. And the costumes and staging were fabulous! I think my children are hooked on seeing live musicals.

Our weekend was short and certainly sweet.  There is so much to do in London, but the best part was spending time with my parents over the holiday.