Goodbye London

3 Pleydell Street #18.

In a little hidden entrance on the back of a building located in the center of the famous Fleet street, lived a little family of four for 10 weeks. They laughed, they played, they went on adventures, and they fell in love with their summer in London. They shopped at Sainsbury's and Tesco, always filling their fridge with chocolate milk and fresh fruit juice. They walked through the Victoria Embankment gardens and made friends with the statues, especially Nemo the fish and Pavarti the elephant. They were so grateful for the elevator at the Blackfriars tube station because they used it almost everyday. They always had chocolate bars and sand in the stroller. Their dad left at nine thirty, their baby took a nap at ten, and they left on adventures by noon. It was almost the same everyday. They made friends at playgrounds and got lost in the beauty of an English summer.

Oh, how I already miss that little flat that I hated so much haha. No toys to play with, but so many amazing memories that I wouldn't trade for the world.

Our door

The elevator

Our stroller was piled high outside our summer home

Goodbye 3 Pleydell Street

On our last day we said goodbye to our friends, visited the Disney store and ate crepes in Covent Garden, and played at the park on Drury Lane. It was such a bitter sweet goodbye to our London life, but we were excited for the time that we were going to get to spend together the next week.

Ellie and Sleeping Beauty

We had planned a road trip all over western Europe. Crazy? Maybe. But we figured that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and we had to take full advantage of being in Europe. So, as soon as Leon got home from work, we packed the stroller with all that we owned (ok we took most of it to Robyn's house via taxi the night before) and we made our way to London Bridge station. The kids both fell asleep so we enjoyed our journey hand in hand through the streets of the city. We could both feel the excitement of the unknown in the air and it was thrilling. We were to rent a car (mind you this is an English car, meaning Leon would be driving on the wrong side of the car on the right side on the road) and drive to France that night.

Ready..Set..Go

Tower Bridge

We made it to the station and got some time to sit and talk while we waited for the train. We talked about our trip, setting expectations and laughing at how crazy we were to do this with two babies. We talked about the job offer Leon had just received earlier that day and how excited we were to be so lucky but worried if London was the right place for our family. And we talked about how much fun we were going to have spending time together for a whole week straight.

At the London Bridge train station

The train ride was about 30 min and after our two mile walk with a backpack, a baby, and a computer bag, all I wanted was a seat. Unfortunately, we had to stand the entire way and then when we got to the rental car place our reservation couldn't be found. Bah! What a way to start off our trip? I was already annoyed and then I had to deal with this along with the stress that we needed to get to Dover in time in order to make our ferry across the channel. Thankfully, it was all sorted out and we met our little silver stallion shortly thereafter. At first I thought we would be traveling in a Mercedes, but it was in the wrong spot. Psych! We loved our little hatchback. It was very comfortable and economical with a touch of sporty. It was also manual. So, picture this: manual car, left sided steering wheel, right sided road, right sided toll booths, ect. It was fun.

We threw our stuff in the car and headed to the coast. We had about an hour and a half to make an hour and a half drive. There was no time for even the smallest driving error and we both knew it. Then as we pulled out of the car lot, Leon stalled the car. I looked at him, he looked at me, and we both laughed at this crazy start of our crazy awesome trip. Then we tried again, and pulled into the port with no time to spare. We hopped on the ferry and walked around a bit then decided to get some dinner. Leon ordered some Bangers and Mash while I got some tomato soup. Not the best meal we had ever had, but it did the job. Ellie thought that fairies were going to take us across the channel. She was sorely disappointed when we told her Tinkerbelle wasn't coming. Both of the kids stayed up the entire ferry ride. And thankfully they fell asleep as soon as our tires hit French soil.

dinnertime