Tiff and Teresa's Terrific Trip 2

Remind me, if I ever go on a totally fun vacatoin again - to go with a friend whose husband travels a lot, and has a lot of 'miles' we can use. Because this is exactly what happened for Tiff and I in London. Mmmm. It was wonderful. We stayed at the Intercontinental Park Lane at Hyde Park Corner. A wonderful five star hotel with an oh-so-delish breakfast buffet the next day. (and when you live where I do - good food is hard to find!) The flowers below were to lobby floral display. Lovely, aren't they? The hotel was so nice, the location perfect and we completely enjoyed ourselves. ( Thanks Rich!) We took the early Chunnel from Paris North, arriving London St. Pancras around 8 a.m. We made our obligatory Harry Potter stop to take pictures for Tiff's kids, then onto the Tube to Picadilly to buy tickets for a show. Rush hour was a piece of cake with only the two of us, remember last fall with nine? Not so easy. London's public transportation is wonderful, BTW. After Picadilly, we were heading for the Tube. Really, I swear. But we got a liiiittle caught up shopping. Remember, I live in the desert - in more ways than one. There's no where to shop where I live, so I went a little crazy. Ever been to Hamley's? It's a a seven story, 250 year old toy store; and I went nuts! It was so fun. I spent waaaaay too much and had a great time doing so. My kids were thrilled! Tiff was drooling over the many H and M's, and all of the other fabulous stores. We really had a fun time. And I don't even like to shop. :) We finally made it back to the hotel to deposit our goods, change and head out again. This time we were going to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Which I enjoyed, but Tiff could have done without. But she was a trooper and only complained a little. (threast of poking her eyes out and what not - I'M TEASING) Anyway. Fish and chips at a near by pub, a fun night of fancy people watching, and off to the show. Yeah. We went to Wicked. No big deal. HA! Just kidding! I have been dying to see Wicked for years now and I finally got to - IN LONDON! It was wonderful, fun, amazing. All of those great things it should be. Tiffany had seen it, but I think she enjoyed it the second time just as much as the first. (not sure how she'll do with the third time in May, but I appreciated her coming with me anyway!) Some how, I seem to be missing photos from most of day two in London. What the heck?! Sheesh! The day consisted of a very uneventful Changing of the Guard in the morning, and museum in the afternoon. I have seen the Horse Guard change before, and it was wonderful. The actual Changing of the Guard? Snoozer. I'm just sayin'. Glad I got to see it. But if you get the chance to go - make an effort to see the horses, it's much more exciting. And the museum of the day? Ahhh. Be still my heart. The Tate Britain. Truly in my top five fav's. Some beautiful well known works, including the Lady of Shalott. There is a lot to see here, from many different time periods, but it was awesome. I love pieces about everyday life, and there was lot of that here.