Ben and Jane Trip to England 2018, Day 4

It's not really a surprise that we went to Staunton Harold the first day we were with Marie.  It is definitely one of our favourite places to go.  What is a surprise is that I didn't buy anythng there.  I guess we have been often enough that I've bought everything that I need (or even want!!).  It was a beautiful day though, still very warm and dry.

There were lots of people around.  England is always crowded anyway, but this year there are so many people around with the perfect weather

Ben and I outside my favourite store.  They always have perfect arrangements of plants in pots.  I try to replicate at home every year, but they are never anywhere near as good as these are!!!!

Ben and Jane Trip to England 2018, Day 3

We picked up our rental car from Hertz at noon-actually closer to 2pm because we had a 2 hour wait to get the car.  Ben had been to Windsor Castle on his trip and he wanted to go back there, so we decided to go there on our way up to Loughborough.  It was so nice to walk along the river and escape from the hustle and bustle of London.  It was a beautiful day, very hot by England standards

The Canada geese and the swans were fighting over attention

Queen Victoria looking very serious....

Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to go inside, there was a huge line of people waiting to get in and they had so many visitors that day that they had already sold all the day's tickets by the time we got there.  So, we just had a quick walk around the outside.  It had been years since I'd been to Windsor, I think I was still at school!!!!!

Ben and Jane Trip to England 2018, Day 2

Day 2 in London. I told Ben we needed to go to Harrod's and have coffee. I hadn't been to Harrod's in years, but it was on the way between our hotel and where we wanted to be that day, so we got off the Underground at Knightsbridge and went into Harrods. You can tell how big it is from the outside

It really is an absolutely massive place and it's so easy to get lost in there. The food courts are by far the best place to go, so we spent most of our time in there.  In some ways it's like stepping back in time.  The details on the walls are amazing

You can tell that Ben is already tired of me taking his photo!!!!

Of course, Harrods has to do a much better job of coffee art than anyone else!!!!

After we had coffee and a chocolate croissant, we wandered round the food halls and gazed at the foods in there (well, at least I did!!!)  Ben was very good and hung in there for as long as I wanted to look around.  I wish I could have brought home a loaf of bread with the H on it!!!!!

Donuts-I resisted!!!!

Also resisted the Danish-much easier to do for me!!!

Stacks of preserves-you can probably get them in other places, but they are so well presented here

Wonder how many calories are in these cupcakes?????

Seafood!!!!

Beautiful flower display

Last, but definitely not least, chocolates-yummy!!!!

After we left Harrods, my fashion adviser and I went clothes shopping in Knightsbridge.  We went to get a quick coffee in Starbucks-quite possibly the worst cup of coffee I had on the whole trip, maybe even ever!!!!!  Ben spilled coffee on his shirt, so he had to go back to the store and buy a clean shirt!!

We walked through Hyde Park on our way down to the river

 Constitution Arch in the middle of Hyde Park Corner

 War memorial at Hyde Park Corner.  

Ben had wanted me to go and see The Globe, so we got on the Underground and went down to Tower Bridge.

I don't think I had ever walked across Tower Bridge before

We walked down the river and past the Tower of London

Traitor's Gate.  Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.....

One day I will actually think far enough ahead and take the time to go in here

When we were walking down to The Globe, we walked past this random ruin, which I thought was really cool.  They have essentially just built around it!!!!

Well, we finally made it to The Globe-somewhere else I had never been before

Saint Paul's Cathedral

Ben, again!!!!

We ate dinner in Chinatown

My dinner companion

After dinner, we got the tube back to the hotel, bought some chocolate from the station and watched Benidorm-Ben's favourite show!!!!  We had a great day, very busy, hot and tiring.

Ben and Jane Trip to England 2018, Day 1

After Ben had been in England for 10 days, I met him at Heathrow airport.  Luckily, my flights went as we had planned and we got to the airport about the same time and managed to find each other pretty easily.  The bathrooms on my flight stopped working and so they didn't serve us breakfast, plus Ben had been up since 4:30 and hadn't eaten anything, so we grabbed a pastry and coffee at the airport and got caught up with things.  This is what a conversation with a 17 year old can look like!!!!

After we were caffeinated, we headed off to find our hotel.  We dropped our things off and caught the bus back to the airport to get the underground into London.  For anyone who knows me well enough it won't come as any surprise to know our first port of call was Covent Garden and the Punch and Judy!!!

 Yes, you can look at the menu....

 ...but when in England

 You've just got to have fish and chips!!!!!

Covent Garden had some really nice barrows this year, definitely reminiscent of when it was a thriving market

 Ben wanted to go down to Buckingham Palace, so we headed off on foot (unusual for me cos I usually rely on the underground to get around-much easier with Google maps now!!)  We walked past St Martin in the Fields church to Trafalgar Square

 Lots of tourists around this year with the beautiful weather, plus we were there at peak tourist time

 We made it down to Buckingham Palace, took a few pictures of the gates, etc

 Then, we headed over to the river.  We walked past Westminster Abbey.  I don't think I have been over there in a very long time

 We didn't have time to go in and look around, but I definitely need to go back one day

 We made it down to the London Eye.  It really has turned into a massive tourist attraction

 We walked across the bridge by the Houses of Parliament, Ben was very disturbed that Big Ben is getting cleaned and was surrounded by scaffolding

 Looks like the Houses of Parliament are getting spruced up too!!!!

We lasted until the middle of the afternoon and then just had to go back to the hotel and rest.  It was a long day for both of us.  We ate dinner in the hotel because we were too tired to go out again!!!!