The Ipes Go on a London Holiday – Sunday – We have arrived!

In the morning, we woke up only slightly rested. Come on, who truly enjoys sleeping on a plane in Economy class? It’s never comfortable. We had a croissants and yogurt for breakfast, and landed at Heathrow 20 mins early at 9:40 AM local time. Our driver was late so we grabbed coffee and tea and an inaugural fruit scone at a cafe in Terminal 2.

Btw, I learned the Europeans don’t appear to drink half & half or cream in their coffee. I spent a week asking for “full fat” milk like a weirdo.

It was raining most of the day, which gave me a slight sense of foreboding. Many times, our big long-awaited trips have been slightly ruined by extended periods of rainy weather – I’m looking at you 2013 10th wedding anniversary trip to Cancun and road trip to the Outer Banks! Thankfully the weather forecast improved the rest of the week.

The hotel wasn’t ready for us to arrive before 3 PM check in time, so we put our luggage into the store room, but couldn’t go very far with the rain coming down. We walked around the corner to a nearby Italian restaurant for a late lunch. I don’t know if it’s more authentic, but garlic bread was a pizza with butter and garlic.

??

After lunch, we walked back and hung out in the hotel lobby for another two hours. Tired to be sure. Our room was only ready by 4 PM.

We all showered and Nums and the kids rested briefly. I realized that I forgot to pack my belt. It was a little after 5 PM, so I took a pants-slipping-down-almost-had-a-wardrobe-malfunction 15 minute walk in the drizzling rain to High Street in Kensington to find a clothing store with belts before they all closed at 6 PM. I found an H & M, bought a belt, walked outside, found it pouring rain, went back to buy an umbrella, and walked back to the hotel.

I loved the architecture. Really different and cool.

When everyone was rested, we took a 20 minute walk to another part of Kensington for a Japanese dinner at Kappa. After, we walked a bit further for a unique dessert experience at Four Winters where they prepare your ice cream with liquid nitrogen. It was very cold but no ice!

Finally we walked back to the hotel in the rain again. It was time for a good night of sleep. Big day on Monday, starting with Buckingham Palace.

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