The UK Round-Up

We have been quite neglectful of our little blog, but then we have not stopped! (This holiday has been even better than we dreamed!) London is now over and we are in San Francisco!! It is all going way too fast and I am not sure I am ready to return to the real world quite just yet!!! While I am aching to see my kiddos, the thought of not eating out for breakfast every day and sitting in rush hour traffic on the way to work does not exactly enthuse me!!! I could easily get used to this life!

But just to finish off the UK part of our trip…..

Our last few days in London were incredible. On the Saturday we had Roman’s Christening. I was very honoured to be asked to be Roman’s Godmother. Is he not the most exquisite looking little boy? Then on Sunday we enjoyed a traditional Sunday lunch with my sister-in-law’s extended family.

We met up with friends Chris & Anthony on Monday and did an open top bus tour of London. We had lunch in Covent Garden at one of the most interesting & unique restaurants we had ever laid our eyes on! Chris & Anthony spoilt us rotten and we all had a wonderful day.

Our last day was reserved for my brother Gavin and sister-in-law Elizabeth who had a 'birthday surprise' for me. We set off on the bus and walked around London, visiting the NZ Memorial in Hyde Park. We then saw a whole lot of commotion and what looked like Secret Service Police, and then we saw the Queen come past us in her royal carriage! And as we turned the corner we were just in time to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace! Gavin then announced that they were taking us to lunch at Michel Roux Jr’s new restaurant! http://www.rouxatparliamentsquare.co.uk/ I was beside myself!!! I cannot put into words how special this meal was. The service was impeccable, the food incredible and the Champagne and wine we enjoyed was spectacular! Then just to top off what was already a pretty amazing day, as we were enjoying our desserts Albert Roux appeared from the other dining room! If you are a ‘foodie’ you will understand to see one of the ‘Godfather’s of food’ in the flesh was pretty cool! As he passed our table he said to me “you know those are very fattening” and then proceeded to rub his belly and said “you’ll end up like me”….. Gavin shook his hand and said it was great to see him again (Gavin had worked for him a decade or so ago). A prefect end to what was a pretty special and memorable day!

We have 3 more days here in San Fran and we intend to pack in as much as we can and savour every single last moment! Chris and I are going to bike over the Golden Gate Bridge this morning and have lunch on the other side (takes about 1.5 hours I think) and then we will catch the ferry back over to the city. We are booked on the Alcatraz night tour tonight and we are both really looking forward to this! We will update with photos and videos as we go, but for now we leave you with some images of our last few days in London.

The pub in Cricklewood where we had Sunday lunch

Chris & Elizabeth

Chris Roman & Kathryn

Godson & Godmother :O)

Roux at Parliment Square

Petit Fours that arrived with our coffee

Chris's dessert (chocolate praline caramalised banana)

Gavin's Dessert (apple blackberry cheesecake)

Elizabeth's Dessert (Creme Brulee)

Kathryn's Dessert (Lemon Tart)

The London Eye

Coffee in London

Godiva Chocolate Demo

Gorgeous wee man