Hagrid's Motor cycle

 

 

Memories

 

The pensieve from Harry Potter.  (Where memories are stored so you can pull them out and view them.) 

Kira

 

Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour In Diagon Alley at the Harry Potter Tour.

Friends

Tia in London with her good friend W. We were leaving the Harry Potter adventure and heading back home late at night. These two were still going strong when we made it back to the hotel around 12:30/1 am.

Here they are on the beach in Cape Cod.

Today she is 10!

Here's a picture of the birthday girl in front of the Hogwarts train. (7/6/15)

Harry Potter

While we were in London, we went to the Warner Brothers Studio Tour to see the world of Harry Potter. At first, I didn't want to go. It seemed so "hollywood." I'm really glad we went. It was all about Harry Potter! It didn't seem hollywoodish, it seemed more like a museum with all the props from the movie. These are pictures from Nick. More soon.

Judi and Tia on the Hogwarts Express

Kira

The Dursely's house

knock knock.

Stairs

  

The stairs in one of our London hotels.  (7/5-7/7)

Silly kids

 

5 of the 7 in our London hotel (hallway). (July 6)

Super travelers

The girls pushed / pulled / rode the suitcases a lot. They invented what I called suitcase surfing. They'd run along by the suitcase, and then they would throw themselves on it on their bellies and ride it. It was hilarious. It wasn't as if it was a crowded area. Fortunately, they didn't cause any international incidents.

This was the train station for the trip to Paris from London on June 27.

Big Ben and us

 

Monday July 6th.

We saw the tower that morning and then took a river bus down the Thames to see Big Ben.

A building in London

Near our first hotel in London on June 27th

Buckingham Palace

On Tuesday July 7th, we walked over to see Buckingham Palace. We timed it perfectly to see the changing of the guards.

 
 

The coolest part was when the band played "Uptown Funk."

 

The girls and the boy.

 

The Tower of London

We visited the Tower of London on July 6.

Founded in 1066, the Tower has been a royal residence, a prison, an armory, a zoo, and is currently home to the Crown Jewels and a tourist attraction. (See the entry in the Wikipedia for more.)

The Beefeater guarding the Crown Jewels

I read a book about Edward the IV so it was interesting to see the Tower where he and his wife were imprisoned.  The Bloody Tower is where their two sons were taken, held, and most likely killed. 

London eye (by Judi and Nick)

Selfie

View

From Nick's camera:

London with friends

 

In the British Museum!  (Sunday, July 5)

Highlights include, the Rosetta Stone, Mummy cats and Mummies.

 

The Rosetta Stone

And look! The Rosetta Stone tells us about the importance of cats!

Our itinery with some details

Our flight left at approximately 7 pm Pacific Thursday and arrived at noon GMT Friday. The first day involved lunch, riding the Tube from Heathrow to our hotel, checking in to the hotel, going to the London Eye, a short visit to a park, finding some dinner, and then going to bed (pictures soon).

On our second day, we got up at 4:30 am (jet lag is real!), got breakfast, packed up ('cause later in the day we went to Paris!), walked to the Museum of London, enjoyed it, had lunch, and took the Tube to the Train station to go on the Chunnel to Paris.  (We also got to see Platform 9 and 3/4s.) When we got to Paris, we met up with Brett, Geraldine, and Olivia. We eat our first french fries in France.  (Pictures soon.)


Day 3 Paris, walking around, resting (a teeny bit), a boat tour, and a bus tour. In France, we ate lots of bread and sorbet! 

Day 4 Paris, brunch, walking around, catching the train to Brive to stay in Dordogne. In Dordogne, we cooked dinner each night (we stayed in a farm house) and had wonderful food.

Day 5 Dordogne Region http://thekcompanyblog.blogspot.com/2015/07/fancy-french-mud-treatment.html (and a beautiful village)!

Day 6 Dordogne Region Sarlat (pictures soon) and the Château de Castelnaud-la-Chapelle.

Day 7 Canoeing and swimming in the Dordogne river (pictures soon).

Day 8 Lascaux and a village (soon)

Day 9 Brive back to Paris and touring the Eiffel Tower (pictures soon)

Day 10 Paris to London to hang with our friends, the British Museum, a little Hyde Park (pictures soon)

Day 11 Hanging with our friends, the Tower of London, Harry Potter at Watford. (pictures soon)

Day 12 Changing of the guards, walking around London and getting to Greenwich (pictures soon)

Day 13 Greenwich park, Prime Merdian Museum, and lots of Hummus (pictures soon)

Day 14 Tube Strike and heading to Heathrow then back home. (Not sure I took pictures of this.)

It was an amazing and exhausting trip. Super great memories!

Other random notes:
We ate lots of french fries in Paris... We learned they put cheese in hummus in France. We loved cooking in the farmhouse and all the wonderful food.  (We put together fabulous dinners in one-hour or less... Amazing!) We loved the Prets in London! Thankfully, vegans didn't starve on the trip.