London Calling!
It’s been a while since we’ve posted. We’ve been… busy! Oh well. Onward!
Sweden has this wonderful Autumn break called Höstlov. The Cinnamon Sticks get a week off school for a wonderful mini-break opportunity. This year, we went to London for the first time as a family. It was fantastic! Much of our travel over the summer was with family and friends - which is lovely and fun - but it was really nice to travel with just the Cinnamon family. Although we were only there for five days, we hit it hard!
One of the Sticks’ favorite things to do was transport by London Black Cab. They felt like they were riding in a limo every time we took one:
Our first day started with a walk through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, including the (let’s just call her Princess) Diana Memorial Playground. As you can see, the weather was much nicer than in Stockholm, and we appreciate the blue skies.
As is befitting for a London park, there was a guy riding around on a bike with a Raven on his head. And he wasn’t crazy! Just a normal dude who befriended wild birds. Our youngest Cinnamon stick befriended him and asked 1M questions about the ravens he helps.
Then we stopped by Buckingham Palace. We weren’t invited in for tea. Bummer for them.
We saw Wicked! Appropriate for Halloween weekend. The Sticks loved it! Even though they have never seen the Wizard of Oz.
Of course, the highlight of the trip was the Harry Potter museum! I could send 100 pictures of just that tour. It was really fantastic for kids and adults alike. The tour is in the converted studios where all the Harry Potter movies were filmed. There are countless props, costumes, and inside knowledge of the making and filming of the movies. And it was Halloween! So they had lots of extra spooky events.
Oddly, on two of the five nights that we were there, the hotel’s fire alarms went off in the middle of the night (1 am, then 5 am). This involved taking two frightened children out into the drizzly rainy night after being wakened out of a sound sleep. Needless to say, it was an experience.
Strangely, we also got haircuts. Mrs. Cinnamon scheduled them for the kids at a salon she found in SOHO. Our stylist was fantastic, and it was a fun way to squeeze in a little relaxing time on our trip:
The stylist took one look at Mr. Cinnamon's bun and insisted on cutting my hair, too!
Before we left, we visited the Tower of London to see the Crown Jewels. You’re not allowed to take pictures, so you’ll just have to imagine that. The rest of the tour was lovely. A nice British couple even gave the girls ten pounds to buy themselves a souvenir!
We finished off on our last day with a luxe Afternoon Tea at The Savoy. Mrs. Cinnamon Bun's friends were also visiting London, so we all got to catch up over tea and scones in a gorgeous tea room. Of course, the girls dressed up for the event… and it was a sublime way to wrap up our visit.
It was a wonderful trip! We had amazing food, shows, sites, and charming people. London is a world-class city, and the Cinnamon Buns will be back!
To be continued…
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This sounds like the ultimate London experience. You did it right! Thanks for sharing, loved it.