LONDON (Updated January 1st)

My Tess was born this month and since I had to go on a business trip to London 💂, she was going to go with me so that we could celebrate her big day across the pond. Tess has wanted to go to England all her life but never had the opportunity, so I was really excited about getting to be the one to show it to her. But then...... a few days before we were supposed to leave she was "under the weather" and decided to stay home. I was really disappointed and so was she (she hates to fly so she wasn't disappointed about that) and I flew ✈off by myself and proceeded to be miserable. And so was she.

Well, the story has a happy ending but I won't tell you here. 😈 I made a video for her.

 It's a bit rough (a bit !!!😩 That's an understatement.) but I showed it to her at lunch and she loved it 😍(even though she says I look "liberties" with her character. ie: the hair curlers).

Tess will take it from here.......

We finally had time to do some sightseeing and we began with The British Museum. I had no idea that it was so large! (I was used to the faux version in The Mummy Returns) I also had no idea that it is free to all visitors! How lovely. 

The British Museum was established in 1753 and opened to the public in 1759. It is filled with statues, artifacts and antiquities from all over the world. Since My Mr.Cham has been there before, we saw what I wanted to see and we began with The Enlightenment Gallery which shows how the museum was created in the 18th c. with the vast collection of curiosities of Sir Hans Sloane, a physician and naturalist who bequeathed his collection, for the nation, to George II. We then moved on to the Medieval and Renaissance collection of Baron Rothschild. (We wanted to see the special Thunderbirds exhibit but then we found out that it had nothing to do with our favorite Gerry Anderson show and we were disappointed but soldiered on). 

Next, we went upstairs (in the lift, even though I do not like them, I dislike stairs even more) to see the European collection and finished up with the Egyptian collection. And yes, we saw the mummies, but we did not see Imhotep. Darn it.
We were going to stay for lunch, but some other visitors who had only come from The Pizzeria, informed my pizza purist that they did not serve his trademark trio and so we decided to find somewhere else that did. I cannot imagine ever seeing the entire museum, even if I lived in London, but it has an amazing collection and certainly something for everyone.


KEW GARDENS, etc.
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It looks like a doll's house!

(photo: Kew Gardens Website. I would need a plane to take that shot!)

As a chef, avid gardener, and anglophile I have always wanted to visit Kew Gardens. I also have a connection with George III so it was inevitable that we should put this at the top of our list. What a beautiful place! 

Later, we attended one of the Georgian cookery demonstrations which were happening on the day we were there (I found out in advance and the next one was not until August!). The kitchens are amazing and huge! The menus were enormous and not very health-conscious, but of course that was before anyone knew better.

We then saw Queen Charlotte's cottage where I got a few decorating ideas and The Queen's Garden including this beautiful (but deadly) Laburnum Pergola.

 It reminded me of the wedding in Breaking Dawn, except that was white Wisteria (which I am hoping to have at my wedding...someday.)

(photo: Kew Gardens Website. I ran out of film!)

I had gone online to look at the menus from the five onsite restaurants and as I suspected, I would need to bring along a picnic. So, off I went to SAINSBURY'S (where I have always wanted to shop since first watching Grace and Favour , The "Mr. Slocombe" episode.) and bought the supplies, brought them back to the hotel and put together a suitable repast and stored it overnight in the unusually ample "mini-bar" (why do they call it a mini-bar anyway? There was not a drop of alcohol in it!) The next morning, armed with our picnic basket (I brought one of mine along on the boat), tablecloth, blanket, cushions, and my UV parasol (yes, I am one of those South Park "Gingers". At least I am in good company. Bryce Dallas Howard uses one too!) we went off to spend the day at Kew Gardens.

For lunch we had hard boiled eggs (made with my Bento Box molds- heart,star,bunny and fishy.That star always cracks. I do not know why.),

cheese, olives and baby carrots, lovely bread, fresh strawberries, and the last piece of my second birthday cake. And I froze our water bottles the night before.

It was so much hotter here than I expected! Luckily, I do not pack lightly, so I was prepared. My Mr. Cham is laughing at that. (He wants his lunch. Pardon me for a minute.)

(My Tess' idea of packing "lightly" !!!)

Oh,hush. That is not my luggage, it is Lady Penelope's (it really should have been pink).

And now he is pouting because he did not want a lovely salmon and quinoa salad. (Eat it. It is good for you.He has been eating too much pasta in my absence.)

I only took a few pictures at the gardens. This is a Golden Pheasant, originally from China. Like the peacock, the male is the fancier of the two genders. (Not if we are anything to go by.)

This is what the chicks look like at one week old. Beautiful eyes! (A special thank you to Nigel, who emailed me this photo the next day because I wanted to know what they looked like as babies.)

                                                       Two handsome male peacocks.

We had a lovely day at Kew Gardens.


WHIPSNADE ZOO
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We had planned to go to The London Zoo, but when I inquired about it, our concierge said we would have a better time at Whipsnade Zoo (which I had honestly never heard of). When she said there were no elephants at The London Zoo, that made the decision. 

Whipsnade Zoo was opened in 1931 in Bedfordshire north of London. It is on 600 acres and is a beautiful zoo and safari park. There is a herd of nine Asian elephants (the youngest, a year old female named for Queen Elizabeth II on her birthday). So sweet. She plays with big "footballs" and enjoys the water sprays that are hidden in the rocks. The elephants have a 30 acre paddock as well as large indoor quarters. It snows! I wish we could have gone over in the winter.

This one is adorable and is apparently a daily event,so I had to include it. (From TripAdvisor)

There are also TIGERS, lions, 

 ZEBRAS,giraffes, camels,

CHEETAHS, penguins,chimpanzees,

FLAMINGOS,chimpanzees,

 BEARS,

and OTTERS,

and a butterfly house. There are daily Sea Lion and Birds of the World shows and a petting zoo. 


We were "naughty" (you have to be sometimes!) and had pizza and ice cream but we brought a small cooler bag of frozen water bottles because I simply cannot bring myself to spend over a dollar for a bottle of water!

We saw this lovely waterfall and wanted to dive in, but we waited until we got back to our hotel and went for a nice, long, proper swim. Then my Mr.Cham had his peppermint foot massage and fell asleep. It has been a lovely trip. But I will be glad to be home again.

                                                                                              Tess🌷

UPDATE: 

Tess loved Whipsnade so much on her first trip that we came back and this time we stayed overnight (Don't tell Mrs. D. ! 😉) at Lookout Lodge. (Ours is the one in the middle.)

  It was a lot of fun and COLD ⛄ but we were cozy 💏 (There are heaters). Good food😋, beautiful animals🐘🐪🐯🐻🐍🐒🐊🐉, GREAT STAFF ! 👨👩

I sneaked this photo of My Tess while she took a picture of our lodge.She's standing on the picnic bench and I'm standing behind her so she doesn't fall. I asked our host to take the picture while she was distracted. And then he cut me out !!!😖 I still tipped him, because I didn't know until I had the film developed.

  To be fair, there is about a two foot height difference, but really !!! 😠😢 This is as close as I get to having our picture taken together because she's insanely camera shy (and she's beautiful so it IS insane !!!) Don't you love the hair !!!😍 I didn't see it down until she'd been working for me for almost a year and then I caught her one morning before she'd put it up. 😯  She blushed for the rest of the day. So adorable.😄 She agreed to wear it down that day on one condition - People like to touch it to see if it's real (it is) and I had to promise to punch anyone who tried. I promised. No one was punched during our entire stay. 👊💪 A little kid reached out to touch one of her braids when we were waiting in line for pizza, but his mother pulled him back. Whew !😅 That was a close one !
It IS tempting, I know. If I had a bucket list, one of my wishes would be to be tied up with it. (I shouldn't have said that.) 😬 Oh, what the heck, it's true !!!

They told us to dress casual and comfortable. Tess thought I took them too literally. Then she said she couldn't wait until I "took that OLD shirt off  !!!"  😊  Yippee !!!

Don't tell Mrs. D.😉