London/Day Four

Keira's 1st Birthday Celebration continues...

We spent the morning wandering around in search of City University. For those of you that don't know, I spent the spring semester my Sophomore Year in London. It took us a while to find the University but once we did, it looked exactly as I remembered it. Of course we snapped a few pictures and then it was off to the London Google Office for lunch.



As we suspected the food at Google was quite good and Keira enjoyed walking up and down the halls making friends with all the distracted employees. :) After lunch we headed over to Buckingham Palace so that Keira could check out Queen Elizabeth's digs, but unfortunately Keira fell fast asleep. We did manage to get a family picture so at least we have proof that we took her there!


After a beautiful stroll through St. James Park, we made our way to the Rose Garden in Hyde Park for Keira's Birthday Cupcake. Of course we were the dorky parents who had on party hats and sang "Happy Birthday" in front of a bunch of stranger but Keira loved it and we were able to take some fun pictures.


The day didn't stop there. With our sugar high we thought it might be a good idea to motivate and make our way down to see the London Eye. This tourist trap was not here back when I was studying in London and we heard from a few reliable sources that it was actually pretty cool. It is basically the equivalent of taking an elevator up to a really high building. The pods are made of glass and you have spectacular views of London during your very slow rotation. A bit pricy but worth checking out if you are ever in London.


And after that we were officially done for the day. Keira was ready for bed and we were happy to get some food for "take away"

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London/Day Three

Day Three... April 8th... Keira's First Birthday!

The sun was out and the three of us spent the day at The London Zoo. As we thought, Keira loved all the animals. The big cats were her favorite, but she also enjoyed the Petting Zoo. Every time she heard the sheep "baaa" she would scream and they would all run as far away as they were able. During lunch we noticed that Keira was mesmerized by the Carousel and she throughly enjoyed her first ride (on the tiger) with her dad. The animal show was a bit hit as was her first taste of ice cream.

For dinner we went out to Churchill Arms where we had *amazing* Thai food in the back of this very busy Pub. Getting back late, poor little K was exhausted from her busy birthday. We decided to hold off on the official birthday cupcake until the next afternoon. She had no trouble sleeping through the night tonight!

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London/Day Two

Our second day in London was a bit chilly and the forecast called for rain so we thought a trip to the Tate Modern might be a good choice. Keira loved checking out all the people on the tube and made it her personal mission to say hello to just about everyone. With "hi" being her new favorite word she certainly was in a great position to practice saying it over and over again. It was amazing to see how many people would take time out of their busy day to say hello and give little K a smile. She was our "goodwill ambassador" for the entire trip.

The museum was as spectacular as I remembered it from ten years ago. So much art. It was fun to share the afternoon with Naveen and Keira. We had lunch up on the top floor of the museum in the Cafe - something I would not have been able to afford as a student when I was there last!

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Arriving in London/Day One

The overnight flight to London with a baby was a new experience for us. The good news is that once you arrive at your destination you quickly forget the long uncomfortable flight with a semi sleeping baby balanced on your chest. :)

We landed in London on April 5th (Naveen's actual Birthday!) The driver took us to Sharon's flat and after cleaning up we headed out for a celebratory pint and yummy Italian dinner. We all had a bit of jet lag and that first night was a long one since Keira felt like she should be up for the day at midnight. We had some quality family time trying to keep our newly walking daughter from crashing into walls and corners in the middle of the night. Luckily, Keira decided that more sleep was a good idea and we all got some much needed rest.

Our Official Day One consisted of finding a latte, walking around Kensington Gardens, which included afternoon tea at, The Orangery, taking a little siesta mid-afternoon and ending our day with the obligatory stop at Piccadilly Circus for Fish and Chips at an English Pub. Yum! Keira enjoyed the mushy peas before falling asleep in the Ergo.


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