Pokey's Visit: London and France

 My mom was fortunate enough to make the journey across the pond to come visit! She had never been overseas to Europe before, so it was fun to be a part of her new experience. We walked all around town, because visiting London is first and foremost about seeing all the beautiful architecture and historical places like Parliament and Westminster Abbey. The first day she was in town we went to Parliament to meet Aleks for lunch with all the MPs. He gave us a tour and then we left to go see a play at the Apollo theatre called the Curious Incident of the Dog At Midnight.

I took her to see 23 Courtfield Gardens where I lived for most of the year. It is in a nice part of town, so she liked seeing all the other white washed front step buildings. 

The Shard

We walked in South London as well and saw the new Shard building. It looks smaller from far away but up close it reminds me of the Empire State Building! It is being built to house living spaces, grocery stores, a mall, and anything else a person might need to live. Later, we went to Kensington Palace to see the Victoria Revealed exhibit about Queen Victoria and had High Tea at the Orangery next door. Later, we watched the movie 'Young Victoria' with Emily Blunt to get a visual context. 

In front of Westminster Abbey

 She was keen on visiting Westminster Abbey, but unfortunately they were closed the day we went! It was a huge bummer, but she still got to see the outside. 

The guard to Green Park and Buckingham Palace

View from our hotel balcony

We left for Nice, France on Monday morning super early at 2.30am to get a cab to the airport. I had come down with the "Lurgy" (British talk for Cold) and was at the peak of it on our day traveling. Once we got to the hotel we took a nice long nap. We left later for a delicious dinner that my grandma gave us!

 The next day we hit the ground running and walked around town. The centre was beautiful with red, orange, and yellow buildings, fountains patina'd with turquoise. We did some shopping and walked down the beach collecting pretty rocks. We found Castel Plage, a seaside restaurant and cabana spot. Apparently, Elton John and Emma Watson love going there when they holiday in Nice so we knew it was good! If you ever go, I suggest the clam linguine and some white wine for lunch.

At the Castel Plage having some cocktails... it's 5 o'clock somewhere!

 We had a drink and decided to go back the next day.
The photo below is a picture looking down the beach at the Castel Plage. The water there was the prettiest, too! They had chairs you could rent for the day, so we got to soak in the sun. The view wasn't too bad either. :)



















The trip went much too fast, and when we got back to London around midnight we packed my mom up to leave for the States the next day. It was so fun showing her all the places here that I have loved, and going to France to a city we could explore together. It was truly the trip of a lifetime for both of us!