My parents sent me to study abroad in college and have never visited London themselves. My Dad's never wanted to see jolly old England, but it's a lifelong dream for my "Mum."
I've been planning to take Mom to visit London for years and we finally made it! We just took a 7 day Mother-Daughter trip to see the sights, shop and laugh. We stayed at a lovely boutique hotel, the Sydney House, located in a posh Chelsea neighborhood/shopping area. We had a fabulous little room with a large private terrace to watch the local action. There was even a Chelsea soccer match during our visit.
We had a wonderful adventure checking off everything on our lists. My list included the Tate Modern and V&A museums. The V&A was our first stop in London and we hit the jackpot. They had two wonderful special exhibits: The Art of Lee Miller, whom I adore, and The Golden Age of Couture: Paris and London 1947-1957, need I say more? With visions of haute couture in our head, our next stop was Harrods. We loved the energy in the food court--they even had Krispy Kreme! I must admit the sorry state of the dollar ($2 to a pound) slowed us down. But, I did manage to find a few things I couldn't live without at the big Oxford Circus Top Shop.
We made sure that Mom had the royal treatment and visited St. Paul's Cathedral, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square and Kensington Palace. The great photo exhibit on Princess Diana and the displays of her gowns in Kensington Palace were a real treat. We had tea at the Palace Orangery in Hyde Park and felt so at home that we started to speak with a British accent.
On the sunny days we took in the view of the Thames, Big Ben and Parliament from the London Eye. We also soaked up some English history in the Tower of London. We rode the double decker bus around town on the rainy days and listened to tales of the city. We could pass a history exam about the great fire of London and of course the black plague.
We spent our evenings eating and drinking in pubs and the cute restaurants in Chelsea. We saw a fun British comedy, the Country Wife, at the Theatre Royal on Haymarket. We road around Piccadilly and SOHO after the play in a pedicab to watch young London out celebrating Halloween. Another big night was our dinner at Fifteen, Jamie Oliver's restaurant. Fifteen is his non-profit organization providing under-privileged youth with culinary skills. The tasting menu was superb and the decor was very cool.
I will always treasure our Mother-Daughter London visit. Mom's favorite story is about waking up at 3am on the first night and giggling for an hour. My favorite moment was hearing her talk about getting up at 4am to watch Charles and Diana get married right there in St. Paul's Cathedral. The trip was a dream come true for both of us!
