London baby!

A week in London

This year we decided to skip summer holidays and focus instead on a fantastic week in London for October break. Despite starting September feeling that we had made a big mistake and really should have escaped somewhere during the warm months, once we were in the UK we really made the best of it!

We passed some iconic sights and walked a lot everyday. Our daughters, the little critters, were very well behaved and enjoyed the walks and the subway experience. The crowd size surprised us in front of Buckingham and I really wanted to move away since we just bought hot drinks and people really did not care to push you if you were too close to the gates. No thank you! We walked to St James Park and the girls were greeted by a few squirrels! So cute!

Another day was spent shopping and watching the Crystal Palace club play at home in the evening. What an experience! Well at least the girls enjoyed the fanzone and souvenirs shopping before falling asleep on their seats and not seeing a minute of the match 😅

The trip would not have been complete without visiting Harry Potter studios. I had already visited twice ten years ago and I couldn't believe how much had changed. Whole sections have been added since, as I remember they were shooting Fantastic beasts and where to find them last time I visited. The biggest surprise, I have to say, was the added visit into Harry’s house (you used to only see the house from the outside) and the transformation of the canteen in the middle of the tour from cold steel sub-entertainment park to a big magical eating court with an extra butterbeer café at the end (the butterbeer however was as sickening as I remember and once again I could not finish my drink).

Contrary to the legends in France, British food can be delicious! Pub meals was something we had missed - the atmosphere, the footie on show, the Yorkshire puddings, the beers and ciders... we really ate all the stuff we wanted. We also experienced Borough market and a japanese place I never visited called Itsu. It was so delicious 😋 Of course, I sampled a few more Cadbury chocolates...

Trying to imagine Isabela and Mirabel in UK modern outfits 😆

We had planned to go see the musical Mathilda and it did not disappoint. The cast of kids was absolutely amazing - it brought me to tears a few times !  So genuine and so talented! Our critters were impressed by the jokes and the kids singing.

But- surprise! Little did I know that it was not going to be the last musical I was going to watch during these holidays. My hubby Mr Wicked Fox found some last minute ticket for Wicked on the same day we had seen Mathilda and off I went! Two days later, he surprised me again with ticket for Hamilton, showing just behind the Wicked building. I was on cloud nine! It had been a year since I last came to London for the theater (I saw Harry Potter and the cursed child in August ’24). 

Wicked was extraordinary, I was a fan of part one but didn’t know part two so that was a great discovery. Hamilton was also amazing with an incredible atmosphere in the audience. Very electric. I had failed to see in full the Disney recording of the musical because I couldn’t understand neither the context or the lyrics, but surprisingly I followed everything in the theater! And now I know some bangers!

We wondered if it made us want to move back to the UK. 

The thing is, it was a bit of a dream holiday and not really anchored in reality. The subway is fun on holidays, probably less so when you have to take kids to school or go to your office, and big cities will take your energy quite quickly. We also saw a lot more poverty than in our little French town, but that was to be expected.

STILL, I believe that given the opportunity I would love to experience living in London full time!🥰