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Hi friends~

My family and I have returned from our wonderful vacation to London and I wanted to share some of our trip with all of you.  This was such a special journey for all of us….me returning to London after almost 19 years, a first trip overseas for the kids, Doug’s first time in London and my Mom coming along for the ride!  A trip destined to be filled with wonderful memories.  My only regret is that it wasn’t about 5 days longer!  London is such a wonderful city, there is never enough time to see it all.

Our home base for the week was the St. Ermin’s hotel.  It’s a lovely hotel, tucked into a beautiful courtyard near Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace.  I would highly recommend staying here…the service, atmosphere and location are all topnotch.

Since our hotel was so close to so many things, we were able to walk around and see iconic landmarks all times of day.  I love this photo of Big Ben and the London Eye at night.

Westminster Abbey is one of my favorite places to visit in London.  It’s a beautiful building, with amazing architectural details.  There is a majesty to this building that I just can’t describe.  Peaceful and breathtaking.

Of course, no visit to London is complete without some time visiting Buckingham Palace.  This bridge is in the middle of St. James’ park…a special place to me, because it was the first place I ever ventured to visit when I moved to London for a few months in 1996.  It’s still as lovely as I remember.  So green, with flowers blooming all around.  A true Queen’s park!

Some of you may remember that I worked for QVC-UK for a few months early in my QVC career.  My flat was in the very posh area known as Sloane Square and it was a beautiful place to live.  I don’t think I fully appreciated how lucky I was to live here…now, I look at this area with awe…it’s amazing.

it’s probably the most famous crosswalk in the world….Abbey Road.  How can you be in London and NOT take your own version of the famous Beatles’ album cover? 

One of the highlights for Kylie and Trevor was visiting the Warner Brothers Harry Potter studios.  The filmmakers saved everything!  The sets, the costumes, the over 100,000 props!  It was magical…we’ll never forget it!  Here is the great hall at Hogwarts, where the students would eat and commune.  So cool!

All aboard the Hogwarts Express….this is the actual train from the movie…it dates back to the 1930’s, but was given a fresh coat of paint for the films.

And of course…you can only board the train at platform 9 3/4…here I go!

One of my favorite areas was Dumbledore’s office.  All of the books and artwork were created by artists for the film.  Magnificent!

Good news!  The sorting hat placed me in Gryffindor!  I think I’ll get an A for school spirit!

One of my favorite parts of this trip was that my Mom could come too.  She and my Dad loved London….and it was wonderful for her to spend time with her grandchildren here.  Here we are at the Tower bridge after a long day walking around the Tower of London.

Another one of our day trips took us to see Stonehenge.  It’s really awesome…and no one really knows the why.  Many theories of course…it’s fun to imagine how these massive stones got here and why it was built in the first place.

Stonehenge selfie!  Despite the rain and windy weather, Doug and I had a blast seeing all sides of the stones.  It’s interesting how different Stonehenge looks from all sides.

Here’s an aerial view of London from the famous London Eye.  A great picture to leave you with!  I hope you enjoyed seeing the sights of London with my family.  It’s a wonderful city….rich in history and filled with fun.  We left with exactly what I was hoping we would leave with….memories of a lifetime.

Cheers!

xoxo,

Jill