Spring break and I decided to take the two younger kids to London, to meet up with Irad who was there on a business trip.
The kids and I arrived late Wednesday evening and went straight to the Sofitel at Heathrow airport where Irad was waiting for us—Irad and I have discovered this is an excellent hotel for softening (or sofiteling) the comings and goings from London. It is IN Terminal 5 and is itself an experience, with beautiful glassed in, natural-light lit lobby spaces, top restaurants and even a tea room.
Recovered from our flight, the kids and I set off into London late Thursday morning to set up in our new digs, the lovely Landmark London, with the famous Winter Garden glass atrium. (photo from http://www.landmarklondon.co.uk/en/galleries)
We set out to explore the adjacent neighborhood and began with Marleybone High Street, which is described as a hidden wonder of the West End. Suffice it to say that cute shops and charming architecture abound.
We had the pleasure of visiting a REAL bookstore, which as we all know is a rare experience these days.
It had galleries and stairs, and stained glass windows and skylights and one could easily imagine spending the better part of a day there. My daughter enjoyed the layout by country, and my son was interested in all the stylish science books.
My find of the day was a really fun book to bring back for Amnon, my graphic artist son. Building Stories
It is the kind of book I would only buy after having had the opportunity to handle it, open the box, and appreciate its 3D qualities. A flat screen explanation of this wonderful book, which contains inside of it 14 separate and distinctly formatted graphic novels, ranging from pamphlet to Game Board, all unified around one subject.
Not a British book, but discovered by route of a bricks and mortar book store, which abound in London.
From there we went on to one of the highlights of our trip, "La Fromagerie." The kids and I love cheese, and this was the ultime meilleur of all cheese shops! We lunched in the tasting cafe on three cheese boards. the "French", the "Irish" and the "Cheese Shop", all including 5 different cheeses beginning with a soft goat cheese and moving through a range of cheeses to a blue cheese.
We kept a menu with us and carefully notated and rated each cheese. At the end we selected our two favorites and went into the mysterious cheese room, a hermetically sealed climate controlled, odoriferous (ahem) glass walled room to purchase our choices and bring them home to share with Amnon. We all agreed it was the best cheese experience of our lives!
The next stop on our itinerary for that afternoon was the Sanderson Hotel where I planned to introduce the kids to afternoon tea via their Mad Hatter Tea.
The pastries were amazing, but the tea is not recommended unless you want a complete meal of sweets at a full tea premium price.
The kids and I arrived late Wednesday evening and went straight to the Sofitel at Heathrow airport where Irad was waiting for us—Irad and I have discovered this is an excellent hotel for softening (or sofiteling) the comings and goings from London. It is IN Terminal 5 and is itself an experience, with beautiful glassed in, natural-light lit lobby spaces, top restaurants and even a tea room.
photo from Sofitel site
We had an excellent late night supper before hitting the room to sleep off the trip.Recovered from our flight, the kids and I set off into London late Thursday morning to set up in our new digs, the lovely Landmark London, with the famous Winter Garden glass atrium. (photo from http://www.landmarklondon.co.uk/en/galleries)
We set out to explore the adjacent neighborhood and began with Marleybone High Street, which is described as a hidden wonder of the West End. Suffice it to say that cute shops and charming architecture abound.
We had the pleasure of visiting a REAL bookstore, which as we all know is a rare experience these days.
My find of the day was a really fun book to bring back for Amnon, my graphic artist son. Building Stories
It is the kind of book I would only buy after having had the opportunity to handle it, open the box, and appreciate its 3D qualities. A flat screen explanation of this wonderful book, which contains inside of it 14 separate and distinctly formatted graphic novels, ranging from pamphlet to Game Board, all unified around one subject.
From there we went on to one of the highlights of our trip, "La Fromagerie." The kids and I love cheese, and this was the ultime meilleur of all cheese shops! We lunched in the tasting cafe on three cheese boards. the "French", the "Irish" and the "Cheese Shop", all including 5 different cheeses beginning with a soft goat cheese and moving through a range of cheeses to a blue cheese.
We kept a menu with us and carefully notated and rated each cheese. At the end we selected our two favorites and went into the mysterious cheese room, a hermetically sealed climate controlled, odoriferous (ahem) glass walled room to purchase our choices and bring them home to share with Amnon. We all agreed it was the best cheese experience of our lives!
The next stop on our itinerary for that afternoon was the Sanderson Hotel where I planned to introduce the kids to afternoon tea via their Mad Hatter Tea.
The Full Display
Drink-me Strawberry Juice
Queen-of-Hearts Teapot
Though it gets points for creativity, the scones and sandwiches were inedible. The sandwiches tasted like they had been frozen and not defrosted and were soggy and disgusting and the scones did not resemble any scone I've ever tasted. The tea was made from tea bags and the service was completely indifferent. Nor did it have the grand setting one associates with tea IN LONDON!
Chocolate Tea cup, Green Tea Mousse and Popping Candy
The funny thing about traveling with kids, is you never know what will interest them. You can plan world-class museums, historical monuments, theater and five star restaurants, but they can have more fun just...
Sanderson Hotel Lobby
trying out all the different chairs in the lobby!
