Aunt Eliza Comes For a Visit

Straight off her strong marathon finish, Aunt Eliza jetted over to London to see us.  We had her for a week and had a blast!

To add on to our birthday/Halloween festive weekend, we also celebrated Aunt Eliza’s 26th birthday.  She requested a true English dinner of roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, mash, and rolls.  For dessert – fruit pizza (not so British)!

Before Eliza arrived, she had sent along a ‘wish list’ of things she’d like to see while in London.  We tried to make most of them happen and she was a true sport in knowing when we needed to leave with the kids and had to leave her to wander around London on her own.  She always made her way back safely and figured out the tube and public transport fairly quickly.

Our many outings included:

London Temple –

We dropped Eliza off at the temple to do a session while the rest of us did our little trip to the Pumpkin Patch.  Then we swung back to pick her up when she was finished.  Not actually in London, but a great jot out to the countryside of Surrey!

Westminster Abbey –

As an English graduate and, now, editor, this was a ‘must see’.  Eliza admitted that Poet’s Corner was very touching and she shed a few tears.

Seeing Big Ben on our way to Westminster

Oxford –

Another day out of the city, but to a beautiful area.  I had never been up to Oxford and was amazed when we found a few ‘treasures’ on our walk around town.

The buildings were beautiful and the architecture just stands out.

“Gargoyles”

Christ’s Church was an amazing part of Oxford.

The gardens inside the church’s gates were amazing and just beautiful.

Of course, this is the place where “Alice in Wonderland” came to be.  There is a cute little shop just across the street that totes cute little “Alice” memorabilia.  In true “Alice” fashion you have to bend down to reach the doorknob in order to go in.  Attention to details!

As we were leaving the area of Christ Church, we saw writings with equations on one of the windows.  It was reminiscent of “A Beautiful Mind.”

Hampton Court Palace –

One day’s excursion was to Hampton Court Palace, the palace of King Henry VIII.

We had a great time listening to the guided tours by costumed characters.  We even saw King Henry a few times!

We also enjoyed just wandering around on our own and following the great kids’ guides they provide.

Being studious in the ‘Great Hall’

Sitting in counsel with advisers

We were thrilled to discover the gardens outside.  They were just beautiful!

There is even a maze!

I am happy to report Cami and I seemed to just walk right through.  The others had a harder time of it and were so happy and relieved when they finally found me at the exit, waiting for them.

On our way out of the palace, we made sure to say farewell to the locals, with all the formality we could muster.

Tate to Tate –

On Eliza’s last full day with us, she and Emma toured the Tower of London.  The rest of us (plus Chris) met up with them for lunch to hear about their adventures.  Then we were off to enter the world of art.  We’ve already established that the kids aren’t modern art fans, so Aunt Liza saw what she needed to see (Jackson Pollock) at Tate Modern then we were off.

We took the Tate to Tate boat down to the Tate Britain.

It was a great little boat ride, where we were able to relax.  I think our tiredness completely caught up with us on that ride because when we arrived at the other museum, we were ready to go home without seeing it.  It was worth the boat ride on the Thames as we headed back to the tube station and home again.

We had a great time with Eliza.  It was great that she had a ‘wish list’ for us to work with because there is just so much to see and do that we never know where to point people to when they ask for suggestions.  Eliza also had some other great outings that she did without us and had some great memory-maker moments.  We’re so glad she was able to come visit and play with us!