Oh my aching feet

Just back from a weekend in London with Peter.  Oh how we have walked, and walked, talked, laughed and had a great time.  Eric Clapton at the Albert Hall, 5 star hotel with views of Kensington Palace Gardens.  The weather could have been better but it didn't rain and the sun finally came out by mid morning Sunday.

We started our day on Saturday at Bar Italia Soho, coffee and portuguese custard tarts.  Bit of shopping in Oxford Street then lunch at the Lido Cafe in Hyde Park - we sat with the other hardy souls braving the wind and grey clouds.  Then on to our hotel Royal Garden Hotel Kensington

Kensington Palace Gardens -view from our room

Early doors at the Goat Tavern across from the hotel. Dinner in Wagamamas then on to the Albert Hall. The concert was amazing, I had a perfect view, just 9 rows from the front, but as there was no one sitting in the 3 rows directly in front of me, it was an unobstructed view.  Reason for the empty seats? Ticketmaster decided that it would issue the Fan Club tickets on the day and you had to have your booking form, ID and credit card to get your tickets, so there were lots of angry people who couldn't get in due to the fact they had purchased tickets on Ebay and the like.  They are trying to put a stop to people selling on their tickets.  Surely if you were a true fan you would want to see the show.  Back to the Goat for a quick one before heading back to the hotel, night cap I think its called.

Sunday (today)  Slightly brighter and not so cold to start.  Walked through Kensington Gardens into Hyde Park

Anyone know what this tree is? I thought it may have been a Dogwood but on checking out images online I can't see anything like it.  It was growing on its own in Hyde Park.

Edited to let you know what it is, thanks Liniecat, its a Handkerchief Tree

I always love to see the Horse Guards - not the best photos as I only had my small Sony with me.

We reckon we walked about 15 miles this weekend.  So the coffee and almond croissant, salt beef beigel (from Brick Lane) and pint today have been well walked off.  It was a good weekend, made a change.

Hope you had a good one

Friday with the little boys

As usual, it was Duplo, we made a market, a farm, and church with a helipad!

We went to the market, got strawberries, asparagus and some sweet peppers for stuffing with goat cheese.  Laurie and his mum went off to baby yoga and Rufus and some of his stuffed toys had a carpet picnic.  Too cold and grey to go outside

Laurie is on the move, nothing is safe particularly Penny the cat - Cat is also now in his vocabulary along with Dad Dad