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We used the Underground to get around London a lot on our most recent trip. I find it unnerving. The New York City subway and the Paris Metro don’t faze me in the least, but there’s something about the deep descents and the constant crush of commuters pressing always to the left instead of the right that make me uneasy in the Tube. There are so many stops and so many ways to get lost. And Teddy seemed so small and precious as I clutched his hands while we dashed through tunnels teeming with people and rode down dizzying escalators.
I’d rather ride the bus when it comes right down to it, even if it means sorting out which roads are closed for construction as so many of them are while London gets ready for the 20212 Olympics.
Come to think of it, I most preferred riding a bicycle. Maybe that’s how I’ll get around the next time I’m in London.
But even if riding the Underground isn’t my favorite activity, like everyone else, I find the iconography irresistible, from the tiled walls to that bold red circles to the charming and sometimes mystifying stop names (Tooting Bec anyone?). This photo was snapped at our “home” Tube stop, which was right up the street from the apartment we rented.
For Photo Friday at Delicious Baby. Please stop by and check out the other wonderful travel photos.
There are two food-related items that are important to me when I’m traveling with my children. One is that they always have some exposure to local traditions and food. The other is that they get some experience eating at restaurants that do not have a children’s menu and where they cannot color on the tablecloth. That is to say, I like us to have at least one reasonably fancy meal out. We accomplished this with Tommy in Paris at Le Train Bleu. In London I decided that our best bet for an authentic and upscale dining experience was afternoon tea. And although I scouted some different locations where we could do so, in my mind I never strayed too far from Fortnum & Mason, arguably the most traditional place in London to have this most British of meals.
Fortnum & Mason is an elegant and old-fashioned department store near Piccadilly Circus that is justifiably famous for its food halls where you can purchase everything from live crabs to candy potted shrimp. The store actually houses five different restaurants. You can have tea at any of them, but the truly formal tea is served at St. James’s on the fourth floor. The atmosphere starts as you ride the small, creaky, paneled and mirrored elevator, which opens right into the dining room. They’ve redecorated since the last time I was there in 2003. It’s still in shades of peach and gold, but one relaxing change is the introduction of sofas to sit on as you dine – a very nice addition if you’ve spent the entire day on your feet as we had at the Tower of London and then Saint Paul’s Cathedral.
Travel-with-kids tip: Although the dining room is lovely and the food is fancy, the atmosphere at the St. James’s is decidedly relaxed. Everyone who worked there was friendly and clearly used to children. And don’t worry too much about dressing up (unless, of course, you want to!). Do avoid shorts and t-shirts; boys should wear closed-toed shoes. My boys wore polo shirts and chinos and were appropriately clad.
There are actually three different menus for tea. Under the friendly and expert guidance of the staff, we chose to order three Fortnum’s High Teas along with a jug of fresh lemonade for the boys. This was more than enough food for two adults and two children, even relatively big eaters like us. In fact, we were asked for and were given seconds on scones and I think our pastries may have also been replenished without our asking.
We started with Welsh rarebit, Eggs Benedict (not called that in England, but that’s what it is), and a warm crab and saffron tart (no photos of this part of the meal – I apparently was too busy eating). Teddy decided at this point that he wanted to try some tea, so we let him have a sip from the lovely robin’s-egg-blue china.
His verdict? “Um, kinda good…and kinda not.” I don’t think we won a convert, but this was soon forgotten since our first course was followed by scones with jam and clotted cream as well as a large selection of cakes and cookies, all served in lovely tiers.
There were berries and cheesecake and chocolate and lemon drizzle cake and Madeleines. My particular favorite was the lemon meringue tart. Teddy liked it too.
Travel-with-kids tip: Tea is an afternoon meal, but the hours are really flexible, making it ideal for children. At the St. James you can have high tea at any point from noon until 6:30, Monday to Saturday, Sunday from noon to 4:30. We chose to have tea instead of dinner, but you could easily have it instead of lunch. It’s a good idea to make a reservation – you can do so online.
Tea at St. James’s restaurant is not cheap – we spent about 110 pounds or 170 dollars for the four of us. But I felt it was worth budgeting for this kind of extravagance, since it was our only expensive meal of the entire trip. And we weren’t paying just for the food, really, but for the entire experience of relaxing in that lovely room, putting on our nicest manners, and of course, eating dessert for dinner. Which, as far as Tommy and Teddy were concerned, was just brilliant.
I share this as part of Wanderfood Wednesday at Wanderlust and Lipstick. Stop over there to see what else is cooking.
I don’t usually share posts that are primarily photos (since I don’t really consider myself a photographer) but sometimes the perfect words elude me, especially when it comes to a place as gorgeous and magical as Oxford. Looking at these pictures, it amazes me I don’t still have a crick in my neck, I spent so much time looking skyward.
I’ve got lots of posts about our trip to England still to come and also tips for traveling with kids using only carry-on bags, some exciting upcoming travel to share, and the return of MidAtlantic Wednesdays. But for now I think I’ll tarry among these dreamy images for a while. What about you? Anything good to share? If so, please list your link below. And if you could be so kind, please link back to this post. Happy Monday!
Now is usually the time to write the obligatory “summer is ending and I’m feeling wistful” post, but to do so would be disingenuous. Yes, I love fireflies and ice cream and corn-on-the-cob as much as the next person, but you know what I don’t like? Mosquitoes. Heat and humidity. Aimless children bickering in the backyard. And so the fact is that this August, as I face the prospect of two children on the same full-day schedule for the first time in eight years I’m quite happy to say Au Revoir Summer! Don’t let the door kick you in the behind while I put the kids on the bus and start churning out posts!
I may not be pining over the end of summer, but I do miss Vermont in that dull achy way that always follows me around a while after we leave (we’ve been home for almost a week). You won’t see me writing lots of posts about our trip there this year; I actually took a blogging vacation and didn’t even bring my camera along most of the time. But happily, I did have my phone with us on our last evening when we took a stroll down my favorite country road before enjoying one last maple creemee. Because otherwise I wouldn’t have caught these quite dreamy shots.
OK, so maybe I’m a little sad that summer is almost over. But only a little, you hear?
What about you? Any summery dreams this Monday? (If you need guidance, please see About Monday Dreaming.)
When the boys said they wanted to go up in the London Eye I was dubious. Expensive, crowded, tourist trap…these were the words that came to my mind. And yet as we approached it on the afternoon of our ride I realized that like the Eiffel Tower it has a beauty all its own that comes partly from the sheer grandeur of size, partly from the human folly that led to its creation, and partly from the tremendous feat of engineering that keeps it rotating in a circle that is somehow both efficient and lazy.
Travel-with-kids tip: If you will be visiting the London Eye at the height of tourist season as we did, it’s worth it to spring for the Fast Track tickets. Yes, they are almost twice as expensive. But we saved ourselves nearly two hours on line and the boys loved the little knapsacks they got each of which contained a pair of binoculars, a pencil, and a small pad of paper.
I actually found the ride to be worth the money, largely because it offered such a new vantage point for viewing the city. And each of us saw something a little different. I gave Tommy my point-and-shoot camera and he spent the entire ride like this:
I now have photos of any number of buildings in London, most of which I don’t recognize, especially since he spent more time taking pictures of the Southwark side of the Thames, not noted for its architectural distinction. He did snap this beauty though, which I love:
Teddy realized his dream in the London Eye of seeing a pod of dolphins in the Thames (that’s his story, and he’s sticking to it, thank you very much – if you or I didn’t see them, that’s our problem). He spent the first part of the ride searching for them diligently in the water using his binoculars. When he “found” them swimming alongside one of the tourist boats that move up and down the river he gestured excitedly and told everyone in our car that he had seen a pod of common dolphins and one bottlenose. Then he decided that like any good scientist he had to sit down and sketch his observations.
And me? I simply enjoyed getting such a different view of a familiar cityscape. The spans on the Jubilee Bridge looked like violin strings or spiderwebs, so fine and white were they against the gray water.
I’d never seen the front of Buckingham Palace so clearly, nestled almost cozily into the surrounding trees.
And I loved the rain-dappled Houses of Parliament.
But my absolute favorite had to be seeing Nelson’s Column, normally so high above it all in Trafalgar Square, looking small (yet still self-important and imperious) tucked in amongst the buildings and cranes of an oblivious city.
Riding on the London Eye was one of the dreamiest parts of our trip and I’m so glad now that the children persuaded us to take a spin. Have you any Monday dreams? Please feel free to share them below. Questions? See About Monday Dreaming.
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