“He who does not travel does not know the value of men.” – Moorish proverb

• I had such a blast on this first overseas vacation with the Kid on this first vacation overseas.  Now, in retrospect, I wish I had started these trips even earlier!!  I'm still a NINNY and get tears in my eyes just over the memory of sitting in the back of a black cab, and seeing snow flurries - Right now, today, I could easily be very happy having the chance to sit on a park bench in Hyde Park and do some people watching!!!

  
  

  Continuation - Part Two

  Thrilled to Have Gone to London

  Harrods, what an experience that is - so fine, so ritzy as my son would say... drooling over the food court, carrying a heavy basket loaded with gifts of tins of everything I could grab, stroking cashmere, $$$$$$ signs lighting my eyes over Cartier jewelry, wishing for the new Kate Spade purse, and then the shoes - I love shoes and I really thought their shoe department looked fun, but with Little Boy in Tow it would not work.....what is wonderfully convenient about Harrods is that you don't have to open doors, the doorman does it for you and you don't have to carry your packages, they are delivered to a door to wait for you while you shop...my kind of place. With bags and bags in hand we got a cab, and this is when the magic of the moment hit me, big force, picture loads of shopping bags at your feet, warm and snugly in your black cab, surrounded by holiday shoppers, pretty store fronts, Christmas decorations everywhere and then you notice SNOW FLURRIES!!! Whoa, the Ninny in me came out, sat there in tears over the true Christmastime feeling....and that my trip has so far been such a joy!!! 

  
  

  Hamleys!! Floors of fun, fun and more fun. Forget the fact your are in a toy store crowded with screaming children, baby buggies, people smacking you left and right with their backpacks (I have decided that they need to outlaw the carrying of Backpacks in crowded and tight, confined areas such as stores - they are dangerous!) - the employees are so outrageously fun to play with - who cares that I am in my mid-30s! I went to every demonstration table and had them draw something with our names and Hamleys's, or I threw and bounced a big ball with an employee, then had lots of fun in the electronics department learning to play a video game - then we made friends with an employee who when he found out it was my son's birthday - well he was extra friendly!! He had my son rolling on the floor with laughter and giggles....and that is our impression of and experience with Hamleys. After reaching the top floor and finishing filling our baskets with Legos, we stopped at the café and sat by the window over looking a grey and wintery cold day...looking at roof tops and just relaxing and enjoying what I saw! (We went back to Hamleys the next day because son forgot to get one more thing with the tiny bit of money he had left over from his birthday; and our friends we made there remembered us and the fun began all over again!) After our trip to Hamleys we were exhausted, but it was too early to call it a day - so off to the movie theater around the corner. We saw Harry Potter - and I like the choice of popcorn - sweet or salted! I chose what was familiar - salted. It was great - a clean theater, lots of college age people that were funny with their silliness, and we loved the movie. After the movie we went to Café Uno for an Italian dinner. It was yummy..... all this time I forgot to mention our very first dinner in London - it was at the Malabar Junction on Great Russell Street, and it became my son's favorite - best Indian food....and I had a Pimms cup which I felt silly with this cup full of cucumber, fruit, and umbrellas, but it tasted yummy....I had been looking forward to experiencing a Pimms in London, though it seems more of a summer cocktail than winter.
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  Next stop Covent Gardens - all kinds of people there! Punk hairdos, tourists, locals, the whole shebang all in one crowded place. Saw some interesting street performers, one with a kazoo that was funny. We went to the Transportation Museum and also bought Underground posters - I happen to already have one from my parents, and the one I bought of course had greyhounds on it! We went into some shops and looked around - found Chinatown. This is such a terrific Chinatown - cleaner than NYC's!!! The pretty store and restaurant fronts trimmed in red - lots of gold - dragons - and I liked that there are no vehicles allowed - just pedestrians. My son liked the little shops with the little knick knacks and gadgets. We ended up having dinner in a very small restaurant per our cab drivers suggestion that was really yummy. There was a table with about 5 or 6 Irishmen drinking, loud and having fun....they were a bit of a hoot, but I expected trouble when they accidentally hit the tiny little waitress in the head with an elbow as they roughhoused each other ..... I thought the table of young Chinese looking businessmen behind me were going to toss them out, so we quickly paid our check and left - with Irishmen in tow, following us...hmmm, they were interesting - well this was enough excitement for the day - now feet are bloody nubs from all of the walking.....so another good soak.

  
  

  My son also found a game shop that sold the Magic cards he collects - he became a regular as we had to stop there every morning - the employees at the store were also lots of fun too. This shop was right around the corner from the British Museum.