A4 Update - August 2015

It's almost back to school time!!!

Two of our very best college friends visited us for a week!  We showed them just about all there is to see in London.  

Holly and the kids took a day trip to Brussels with another mom and her kids.  We did not do a ton, per se, but we saw the highlights and ate frites, waffles, and chocolate.  

Matt spent a few days in America, but not too many. 

Holly and the kids went to a production of Bugsy Malone.  My kids loved that children made up much of the cast.

Several sites from the must see list were seen: Kyoto Garden in Holland Park, Primrose Hill's view of the city, the houseboats of Regent's Canal, and the Magnum Ice Cream Pop Up shop in Covent Garden.  I'll let you guess which spot the kids loved the most.

We had a great picnic in Hyde Park with quality people watching.

Summer is just about over, but thankfully the weather has been great to be outside!  The month ended with a day trip to Cambridge.  

R&R in Ranco - Touring Tuesday

Summer started on 17 July for this expat family.  It seemed to take forever to arrive since our US friends started their holidays at the beginning of June.

Our summer holiday options were dictated by the amount of vacation time Matt accrued, which was zero.  He used all he had on our previous trip to Florence & Rome back in May.  That presented us an interesting situation - How do we go on vacation when there's no vacation time to be had?  

Airbnb to the rescue. 

When not traveling, Matt works from home; the rules never said whose home.  We scoured Airbnb for places in France, Spain, Germany, and Italy that fit our simple vacation home criteria: pool, sunshine, great scenery, good food, and a strong wifi signal.  This was the easiest way to get around the lack of vacation days.

He found a great home for a great price in Ranco, Italy situated on the bank of Lake Maggiore in Northern Italy.  The house was more than we expected.  It had two bedrooms, a huge living/dining room, and a compact yet functional kitchen.  The house had two terraces, one off our bedroom and the other from the living room.

The weather in Ranco was unseasonably hot, so we were very thankful for the air conditioning in the living room.  Although the bedrooms were down the hall, we determined if the kitchen door was closed the cold air would find its way to the bedrooms.  A few nights were a bit uncomfortable, but really no one complained.  

What did we do?  A whole lot of nothing!  The kids played a bit in the morning before breakfast.  We were at the pool by about 10:30 until lunchtime.  Matt would sneak down to the pool between calls and splash at the kids.  On either side of that, this is how much of the day looked.  #thestruggleisreal

Matt took many of his calls from his al fresco office

The complex had quiet hours from 1-3pm so that's when the kids played on their technology and I read.  Sometimes a certain Kiddo had to wait for his time to start.  

  

Then it was time for dinner.  Yes, I cooked while on vacation, but that made life super easy.  We ate when we wanted to and were not tied to the late, late dining schedule of most Europeans.  We had two grocery stores within a ten minute drive, and the fresh produce and meats were amazing.  Plus, our host provided a basket of Italian staples that got us through until we made our meal plan for the week.  Let's just say, there were a lot of meals that looked like this.  

No one complained.  

We ventured out for gelato and dinner a few times.  Ranco is a pretty sleepy town so the choices were slim.  One night we ate with a former colleague of Matts and the other was for pizza by the water.  

Matt's al fresco work schedule gave us a few opportunities to venture out into town and beyond.  One day we drove north into The Alps and another we explored the area at the south end of Lake Maggiore.  

The bummer of the trip was the mosquitos.  I'll say that's one piece of the food chain we have not missed one bit on our expat adventure.  It was apparent that the mosquitos like American food.  We were bombarded with bites while dining al fresco and within minutes of trying to play ball after dinner.  Oh man did they itch!!!  It took two trips to the pharmacy and a few charades moves to get the right anti-itch cream from the lady.

The kids still talk about the trip almost a month later, which makes us happy.  They are such good kids that we are thrilled that a week of togetherness was plenty enough vacation for them.  

Whirlwind Week in London - Touring Tuesday

The Manor was host to two of our very good college friends for a week.  They'd never been across the ocean before, so they were up for anything!

We did not spend hours in any one place.  I tried to take them in for the highlights so they could get a flavor for all that London has to offer.  I had to keep track of time to return to our borough to retrieve Youngest Kiddo, so you could actually spend more time at the venues if you so choose.  I think our itinerary proves that you can just about see it all in one week (I listed the day's starting tube station in case you want to try our itinerary).

Sunday - arrival day Tube: Westminster

Pick up at Heathrow
Lunch at home
Westminster sights (Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Parliament, London Eye, River Thames)
Walk Whitehall to Trafalgar
Walk Trafalgar to Covent Garden & Seven Dials
Pub in Covent Garden 

We created a loose plan for the day since we had no idea how much (or little) sleep they had on the flight.  Luckily they had a few hours and were game to get out into the city.  I think the Westminster area is a great first stop because you see so many iconic structures in one spot.  A few drinks in the pub was a nice way to end their first day.    

Monday - Tube: Knightsbridge

Harrods

Victoria & Albert Museum

Natural History Museum

Walk to Kensington Gardens (see Royal Albert Hall & Albert Memorial)

Tour Kensington Palace

We chose to spend some time in Knightsbridge & South Kensington for their first full day of touring.  I thought it would be best to start at Harrods right at opening to walk the food halls, see the Egyptian staircase, and handbag department before the other tourists even finished their coffee.  The architecture in many of the museums is part of the charm.  The main lobby of the Natural History Museum is beyond gorgeous.  We had to queue outside the museum for about 20 minutes, but that gave us the chance to see all of the different tiles, gargoyles, and motifs on the building.  

Tuesday - Tube: Green Park

Changing of the Guard

Take away Pret sandwiches in Trafalgar Square

Tour Buckingham Palace

As much as I love the royals, the Changing of the Guard is not actually something you need to do.  Prior viewings had a well choreographed entrance of the fresh guard and an amusing concert with everyone's favorite God Save the Queen (also known as My Country Tis of Thee for the Americans out there).  Sometimes they throw in a contemporary tune or even the James Bond theme.  This particular day was uncharacteristically abysmal.  The band played sporadically, and it was just a big let down.  So we chose to waste no more time on that.  However, we did get a great view of the outgoing guard as they followed us down The Mall toward Trafalgar Square.  The highlight of the day was the summer opening of the Buckingham Palace State Rooms.  This year's theme had the ballroom set up for a state banquet; I'd sure like to be invited to one of those!

Wednesday - Tube: Kings Cross

Walk through Kings Cross & St. Pancras Stations to see the architecture & Platform 9 3/4
Camden Market (big thumbs down)

Walk to Primrose Hill and pass by Regent's Canal (big thumbs up!)

Piccadilly Circus to see favorite shops (Liberty, Fortnum & Mason, etc)
Self-guided pub crawl thanks to Yelp recommendations

I never get up to North London during the week because it's not the easiest to get there and back in time to pick the kiddos up from school.  So I was happy that the guests wanted to see that part of town.  Primrose Hill's view of the city is worth the gluteus maximus work out to get to the top.  Skip Camden Market and go for the fun shops off Piccadilly & Regent Streets.

Thursday - Tube: Monument
View The Monument (climb the 311 steps if you feel adventurous)

Tour Sky Garden (prebook your FREE tickets)

Leadenhall Market (Diagon Alley scenes from Harry Potter movies)
Borough Market 
British Museum

The Sky Garden at 20 Fenchurch Street is one of my favorite spots in the city (tickets are FREE, but you must prebook your time slot).  I highly recommend this over the London Eye due to cost and ambiance.  Then we walked to nearby Borough Market to see its lovely, historic food market with many diverse food options.  Be sure you bring cash if you go as not many stalls take cards.  We ended our day at the British Museum for my favorite must see items: Elgin Marbles (George Clooney's wife is trying to help get these returned to Greece), Egyptian Mummies, and the Room of Enlightenment.     

Friday- Tube: Tower Hill

Tower of London
Tower Bridge
Walk across Tower Bridge to St. Paul's
Pub in Richmond for dinner without the kids

We sent our guests to tour the Tower of London and met them for lunch at Wagamama Tower Hill.  Our walk from the Tower Bridge down to the Tate Modern gave a great view of the city.  Please admire the great view of St. Paul's before you cross the Millennium Bridge.  Since we spent so much time in the city during the week, we picked a pub out in Richmond for dinner so they could see another facet of Greater London.  

Saturday - Tube: Hammersmith

Fish & Chips @ Kerbisher & Malt

Bishop's Park for playtime and see and hear the Fulham stadium crowd

home for Pimms and dinner

Our guests' final day in London was certainly less eventful than the previous days.  We went for lunch at our favorite chippy (British for fish & chip shop), and ended the day with a stop at a park on the river.  Everyone took a turn playing on the equipment (although the adults realized that spinning rides aren't for us anymore) amidst the sounds of the nearby crowd as Fulham played Brighton and Hove Albion.  We spent the rest of the evening at home, eating, drinking Pimms, and laughing with our friends one last time. 

Then the week was over.  Their cab arrived at 5:30 Sunday morning to usher them back to Chicago.  It was a memorable week that I know none of us will forget.
  
What didn't we do?  I know it seems impossible that we missed anything.  Here's what I'd add with a few more days:
*West End show - There are always great shows in London, but I just never get around to booking tickets.
*National Gallery - Ran out of time
*River Thames boat ride - Ran out of time
*Afternoon Tea - I could have made it work, but I still can't stomach the £35+ per person at a proper spot for tiny sandwiches and a few bites of cake.  Yes there are cheaper options, but I feel you have to do this right or not at all.  
*A picnic in the park - The sun really never came out to make this a worthwhile event.  Sunny picnics in the park have the best people watching.  
*London Eye - Skipped this on purpose because the Sky Garden is free and they have snacks!

A4 Update - July 2015

Happy Summer!

The kids had their last day of school on 17 July.  That officially started #our48daysofsummer!!!!

Oldest Kiddo was one of the leads in the Year 6 production We Will Rock You!  She played a very sassy Scaramouche, and her hard work paid off as she rocked it for three shows!  The rest of the family is ready for a break from Queen songs for a while. 

On the last day of school we left for a get away to Northern Italy.  Matt used up all of his holiday time on our last trip to Italy, so he worked from our Airbnb home for the week.  No one said working from home had to be your own home.  The kids swam everyday, and everyone ate way too many carbs (if that is such a thing).

Matt was only in America four days for the second month in a row!

Holly and the kids watched Back to the Future at Royal Albert Hall with a live symphony.  Aside from the lack of air conditioning, we loved being inside the great building to watch one of our favorite movies.

Matt went to the Formula 1 race in Silverstone.  

Holly braved the queues to see the Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty exhibit at the Victoria & Albert Museum.  It was such an amazing show, and I hope it tours the world.  

August is set to be jam packed with fun while the sun is still shining into the evening hours.........