Small Child In The City

Saturday morning came around not bright but definitely early, as we set off to London for Small Child's first ever city break! Technically it was not the very first as she did accompany us to Barcelona as a foetus, though I doubt she would remember much! Other than perhaps how she temporarily put me off Spanish food... and I love Spanish food! Every time I got so much as a whiff of chorizo or smoked ham I wanted to throw up! Even more mortifying was that in a city of culture, great food and trendy eateries, my main mission of the weekend was to seek out a bloody McDonald's - god damn pregnancy hormones!

Anyway, back to London! Seeing as she'd been building up to the trip for weeks we had no worries about it not meeting her expectations; that's the beauty of being three I guess - far more easily pleased than her mother. Unless it involves shoe shopping, champagne or just shopping at some stage of the game, I would be setting myself up for a fall!

After a quick photo op with Big Ben, we wandered through St James' Park where she was enthralled with the inquisitive squirrels. Not so long ago she would have climbed up my leg if one had so much looked in her direction but not so now, my brave little Dr Dolittle! She was highly amused that they were willing to come so close and nearly burst with excitement when one tried to climb up into her push chair. Mind you she wasn't in it at the time, I think it may have been a different story if she was!

A quick taxi ride, (one of the things on her list of must do's) past Buckingham Palace bought the expected questions of "Where is the queen?", "Is that her house?", "Why can't we go in?" etc etc. One of the preschool ladies had the forethought to pre-empt this and said that if we didn't see her it would be because her madge-ness was probably taking a bath - go with whatever works I say and it did!

Onto Frankies in Knightsbridge for food.... great venue for a family lunch and then, once Small Child was napping due to far too much stimulation for one morning, we visited The Mother Ship... aka Harvey Nichols!! I was good and stayed within the boundaries of the cosmetics hall and actually only bought something I had gone in there for! At the risk of sounding like a complete beauty product junkie (which I am), I Love, Love, Love my new Eve Lom cleanser... it's only taken me thirty nine and a half years to find it but it was worth the wait! 

Small Child then had her own shopping epiphany at Hamleys! "Mummy it's the Biggest Toy Shop in the World!" And her prize possession? A Bob The Builder phone... she's slept with it ever since!

The hotel room was excellent although the promised kids VIP pack took some tracking down so service not that great. This didn't matter as we choose to hole up in our family room which consisted of two separate sleeping areas, bathroom and kitchenette all in a minimalist, modern style. It had the added bonus of the two of us being able to crash in front of the TV with wine and M&S curry whilst Small Child slept soundly around the corner! (We know how to live!)  

Sunday bought the rain so it was coffee on Regent street, a fruitless search in H & M for kiddies jeans to no avail, a new winter coat for me from Reiss, followed by lunch at John Lewis on Oxford Street. I think Other Half was secretly relieved that poor visibility meant that the London Eye was off the cards - not good with heights that one! 

One taxi cab, a train ride, another taxi, (good old engineering works) and a car journey later, we were back home. It's good to go away but it's great being back home and now I just need to catch up in blog world... once I've caught up with work, washing and normal life in general!