We are in full Summer mode at our house – with Sarah and the kids here until the end of August and Sasha’s wedding less than three weeks away!  Which is why it has taken me nearly a week to get to my computer and say what a fabulous time we had in London (and why I have about ten minutes to say it now).

So, here it is:

We hit London between the Queen’s Jubilee and the Summer Olympics – so everything was shined up and lovely.  It is a hospitable and cosmopolitan city at any time, of course, but I imagine everyone is kind of hepped up over the big events. 

We visited:  The Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Tate Britain & Tate Modern (art museums), The British Museum, The National Gallery, The Victoria & Albert Museum.  In short, we walked in the footsteps of kings, basked reverently in the light of great art and shivered reverently in the shadow of great history. 

We walked and “tubed” (via subway) all over the central part of London – Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, Covent Gardens, Big Ben, The Eye, Borough Market….

We saw Neil Simon’s Sunshine Boys (with Danny Devito & Richard Griffiths) at a West End theater – delightful!  London is a city of theaters and how proud & thrilled we were to see our own Geoff perform in Absolute Turkey at The Cockpit Theatre! 

We went to Liberty – one of the most famous & historic department stores in the world – and the home of the Liberty prints I have admired for years.  Iconic!  The store is charming and I absolutely loved it! I bought myself and the girls Liberty scarves.  And I just about cried when I saw the yarn and fabric departments!  There was a whole wall of Rowan yarns (I bought some Fine Rowan Tweed for Sarah & myself – mmmmm!).  And I bought a remnant of Liberty print fabric to line my Pineapple Bag (they wrapped it in tissue paper sealed with their distinctive purple sticker labels – I kid you not!).  It has been years and years since I have seen fabric and/or yarn in a department store – and here it was as bold and refined as fine china and in the center of one of them most sophisticated cities in the world.  Fabulous!

And what made it all completely golden was that we were able to share in some of Geoff’s London experiences, to see his performance, to meet Caitlin, and to spend time with him. 

Yep, a great trip!  And now we catch our breath and move on to summer activities – including The Wedding! (note: my priority knitting at the moment is Sasha’s Wedding Shawl!).