and More Family...

By: Ellie

Today is the last day of work for both Kelly and I. Tomorrow we leave for Northampton to meet Merlin's infamous little mum, and then before we know it, it will be Wednesday, and we will be well on our way to Prague!


Anyway, in the last hour of my work, I decided to not work, and instead make a blog post for you about MY family's visit. We actually did a lot of the exact same things that kelly and her mom did the week before, so I'm just going to post lots of photos of all the fun things we did.

They arrived at 11pm on monday. I met them at the airport then stayed at their hotel for some mini-bar drinks and talk of upcoming plans.

Me Lexi and Aunt Sandy


The next day kelly and her mom met us at the hotel and Kelly's mom spent the day with us while kelly went to work.


Tour guide Ellie setting the pace for the day


sister's first red london phone booth


First ride on the tube... They stayed at Glouster Road, in South Kensington, a very posh part of London

That night we met up with kelly and had quite a few happy hour drinks (even lexi, who can drink in a restaurant legally) before going to the Tower of London to see the Ceremony of the Keys, which is a very historical and a little creepy event that happens every night at 10:00 since the 1700's. We followed a real Beefeater through the dark castle gates. we couldn't take photos of the actual ceremony.


Day 2
Went on the same tour that kelly and her mom went on. It was great and so informative. Lexi even laughed once in a while at the tour guides corny jokes.







I actually did pinch his butt. just kidding... but I did make him laugh!

more tour photos..




The Fashion Tea was so good with Kelly and her Mom, I knew I had to take my family there. They loved it!




We didn't do nearly as many side trips as kelly did with her mom, because my fam could only come for 6 days. We were able to go to one of my favourite cities in England though: BRIGHTON!

On the one hour train there.


unlike kelly's trip to Brighton, ours had perfect weather. It was warm, bright and sunny. It wasn't till our final hour that it got a little breezy and clouds started to roll in.





In the North Laines Lex found a restaurant called Breakfast at Tiffany's which happens to be her favourite movie and Mom and Sandy came across a cute store named Toby Tiger like my uncle Toby (their brother)




mom took this paper around all day because there is a section in the St. Augustine Record that puts up photos of people who have traveled and brought their Record with them.

We went to the Royal Pavilion, which everyone loves, but we spent most of our day enjoying the beach and pier. Where we ate fish and chips and lexi ordered her own pint.








BANKSY!



During the weekend we explored the markets in London.
Borough Market:



walked over London Bridge on the way...




Camden Market (the old horse stables)

(with the paper of course)

We also took a beautiful canal cruise.

mom and sandy watch as our boat lowers itself through the lock.

we had to keep our fingers in the boat or they might have been smooshed.




At night we went to the southeast side of london to see the O2 arena (formerly known as the millennium dome) It was built in 2000 for the millennium celebration and now hosts all kinds of great restaurants, concerts, and some shows like Strictly Come Dancing, and Africa! Africa! We ate dinner at the amazing Pizza Express








On our last night together we all went to Brick Lane for great Indian Food and free bottles of wine before embarking on a riveting Jack the Ripper tour through the East End of London, one of our favourite places to go out at night (and the scariest place for mom and sandy for some reason). Then Kelly and I took Lexi to a few pubs in our neighborhood, Camden Town.


The Tower of London looks much less scary during the day.

Good ole Camden Town


The next morning we had planned to meet the adults for a ride on the london eye, but the 3 hour line seemed a little overwhelming and it was a rainy cloudy day, so we skipped the Eye and went straight to Primrose Hill for a traditional Sunday roast and a better view of the city.

notice the massses below the Eye.

Primrose Hill



Our favourite pub to get a nut roast and a pint and listen to live jazz on a sunday.


After Primrose Hill, we went to George's mom's house on the outskirts of London because it was Greek Easter. She made us even more amazing food and we had drinks with George's girlfriend and friends. My mom is even considering doing a house swap with one of his aunts. It was nice to be relaxed at the end of this whirlwind experience.


In the evening I dropped off everyone at their hotel and we said our good byes.
I'm so happy they got to come and see a little bit of my life here.