Another Summer Trip

 K worked at New Horizons again this summer, a camp for underserved children.  She really enjoys it.  She also wanted to attend a drawing class so we decided on a class at Oxford.  We flew to New York and spent the night and took a morning flight to London.  Best decision ever!  We got on the plane, had breakfast and watched movies all day and arrived in London in the early evening.  We got to our hotel and had dinner and woke up the next day feeling great!  It helped that we were in the upper deck of a 747 so it was almost like having our own plane.  I'm so sad that those planes are going away.

It was so hot in NYC.  We walked around a bit and ended up having dinner at Gramercy Tavern, always one of my favorites!

Living the dream

I decided to try a kind of hipster hotel.  What can I say?   I am definitely not a hipster!

Dinner at Sexy Fish.  Disappointing.

Hotel basement.

Hotel bowling alley.

Hotel movie theatre.  

 Rooftop garden.  Now this I liked!!!

White garden at Kensington Palace.  So beautiful.  We saw the Princess Diana dresses.  I loved the exhibit.  We also saw the Queen's gifts at Buckingham Palace.  The Queen gets a lot of gifts!  

While K was in her drawing class I took a walking tour of Oxford.  Amazing architecture and history.

I also went to the Oxford Botanical gardens which were lush and beautiful.  

Dinner one night at a restaurant on the river where the punts launch. It was really fun to sit and watch them.  We finally had decent weather.

On our final day in Oxford we went to Blenhiem Palace.  I would love to go back and spend more time.  It is truly beautiful and the grounds are amazing.  We took a tour in a covered gold cart and learned so much about the Palace and the grounds.  

We went back to London and the went out to Richmond to spend the day.  We had lunch at Petersham Gardens which was just amazing.  The food was wonderful and the setting was stunning.

On our return trip to London we stayed at the Berkeley Hotel.  We loved their stunning afternoon tea.  

Then we made a stop in Paris for four nights.  After being in cold, crowded London it really seemed like we were on vacation.  The weather was perfect!  Although the summer vacation had not started yet the city did not seem at all crowded.  We did try to go to the Catacombs and the line was hundreds of people.  Next time will will get tickets in advance.

We stayed at the Bristol, an oasis of calm.

K loves the hotel cat.

Fabulous food!

Love this sculpture.

I want to live here!

After a long layover in NY our flight was delayed because this "emotional support" dog did not want to sit in coach.  Can't say I blame her!