A Day Out in Richmond!

Rob and I celebrated the beginning of the weekend with a wonderful day in Richmond. We took the tube from Tower Hill and one hour later we were in beautiful Richmond town! I had been wanting to go for quite some time and in particular I wanted to pay a visit to the lovely Petersham Nurseries where we had lunch and relaxed a bit while wandering around gorgeous flowers and plants. It was incredibly relaxing and we felt recharged and ready to go back home and deal again with the stress of the move! It's hard to believe it took us eleven years to go to Richmond but I am so glad we did eventually; we could have not said goodbye to London properly, otherwise! 

Birthday Celebrations!

It was Rob's birthday last Sunday and we celebrated with a birthday weekend celebration extravaganza! On Saturday we stayed local: in the morning we hit the Unicorn theatre to see Planeta KA, a sensory show specially designed for children under three years old. 

In the afternoon we went to a Farewell Party hosted by some local friends who are now moving to Berlin. There were lots of kids and Emilia had a blast! I struggled to take pictures of her as she couldn't stay still. 

On Sunday, day of the actual birthday, we headed north to Primrose Hill Festival. The weather was glorious and we had a wonderful time just enjoying the festival, wandering around the village,  stopping at Primrose Bakery for a cupcake, climbing to the top of the hill to admire the spectacular views of London, and walking along the serene Regent Canal. We had such a beautiful day, it was the perfect way to celebrate Rob's birthday all together.

And finally, it was time for some lavish celebration! On Monday I took the birthday boy to Bob Bob Ricard for a nice lunch, just the two of us. As expected, the Russian restaurant was full of gold, glitter and glamour. We both had lobster mac and cheese as our main dish and managed to stay away from the *Press for Champagne* button! 

Just the two of us!

It hasn't gone unnoticed that Rob and I have been enjoying the city a lot lately, as we are trying to see and do as much as possible before we finally leave for good. Last Tuesday, Rob took off and we planned a nice day out in London, just the two of us! First, we hit our local breakfast place of the moment, The Breakfast Club, for a yummy brunch. We tried to have brunch here before but the queue was so long we had to give up. This time, however, we were seated in no time and I was very excited for my big pancakes with berries and vanilla cream. The ambience is very cool, it reminded me a little bit of the cafe' at The Standard in Hollywood, the hotel we stayed in during the first leg of our honeymoon. 

 

Next, was Leicester Square for the premiere of A Royal Night Out, an account of a previously untold story of the Queen, then princess Elizabeth and her sister, princess Margaret, escaping the palace on VE night. I don't think I have ever been at the cinema for a show at 12.30pm, it was almost empty but that made the experience even more special for us! 

We then headed north to St. John's Woods to pay a visit to the iconic Abbey Studios and of course we crossed the ever so famous zebra walking before venturing west to Warwick Avenue and eventually stopping at Clifton Nurseries where we relaxed in the palm house with a refreshing orange juice and a homemade slice of cake. Clifton Nurseries is a real gem, so serene and wonderful I could have stayed there relaxing and breathing in all the good smells from the flowers for hours! 

Oh London London, how much do you have to offer that I haven't even heard of yet!?! One lifetime is not enough to discover all your treasures! 

Farewell Party!

Time has come for us to say goodbye to London and everything that comes with it. Needless to say, after more than eleven years in this city, this is hard. Not only is London a truly amazing city but it is also the city we have chosen to call home. 

To mark the event, last Sunday we threw a little farewell picnic party at Potters Fields and we were blessed with glorious weather. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and the Tower Bridge was ever so majestic. Here are some pictures of such a lovely day with our beloved friends. I am not ready to say goodbye to any of this yet! 

Friday Family Day

Last Friday Rob took off work to enjoy a full family day, so I planned not one, not two, but three activities to do together! It was such a nice day and we all loved going around London and exploring new parts we hadn't seen before. 

First, we went to the London Transport Museum, an absolute gem for kids. The museum is housed in a beautiful building (I want to say Victorian!?) in the heart of Covent Garden. The moment you enter you see how special this place is and you are captivated by everything that is going on there, from old horse carriages, busses, trains moving everywhere, wax figurines dressed up in costumes from the 19th century to the sixties and more. We had a peek inside the steam underground, went up to the old double decks and had a go at driving taxis and busses! 

We had a lot of fun and it was tough to convince Emilia that it was time to go. Thankfully, we had more fun on the agenda for the day. So we headed to Coram's Fields, a nice playground close to Russel Square with picnic areas, designated play areas for toddlers and older children, and a little farm. When we got there we first had a picnic lunch and then off we went to play hard! 

Again, it wasn't easy to take Emilia away from all this fun but we promised her to go somewhere even nicer! So we headed to the nearby Charles Dickens' house museum. The museum is a lovely Georgian terraced house in Bloomsbury and is full of authentic furniture, paintings, rare books and memorabilia that belonged to the writer and his family. At the entrance Emilia was given a paper reproduction of the house with all the rooms and she had lots of fun matching the paper pictures with the real rooms. She loved walking around the house, she admired the furniture, the curtains, the fireplaces (one fireplace for each room!) and she really liked meeting the hedgehog in the kitchen - she said hello and bye to him! I thought it was a very cute museum and while I loved wandering around the house to see how they used to live back then, I particularly found the walk in the small back garden very relaxing. 

From there we walked all the way back home, Emilia fell asleep in her stroller, tired but happy! I wish we could enjoy more family days like this during the week!