Visiting Parents :)

In May and June we had the pleasure of hosting both sets of parents in our new home.  It was such fun to show them around and give them a glimpse of our life here in London.  It also gave Dan and I a great excuse to do some of the touristy things we haven't done yet:)

Since my parents had been to London before, although not for many years, we tried to hit some of the less well known hot spots.  We took a day trip to Greenwich to visit the Old Royal Naval Hospital, the Royal Observatory and the Prime Meridian.  We enjoyed it so much I decided to take Phil and Sue back there in June.

 Cutty Sark; 19th century tea clipper, one of fastest of her time:

Old Royal Naval Hospital; Christopher Wren design:

Painted Hall of the Old Royal Naval Hospital; built to be the dining hall for the navy pensioners but when finished was deemed too nice and was only used for special events (still is used for events, including the dinner celebrating the creation of the United Nations):

"tulip stairs" in the Queen's House, only remaining building of the original Greenwich palace:

chapel at Old Royal Naval Hospital:

lunch at Trafalgar Tavern (went there both times):

view of Queen's house and Royal Naval Hospital (setting up for the Olympic Equestrian events in the foreground) from the Royal Observatory:

Prime Meridian:

With my parents, we also saw the play, "One Man, Two Guvnors" a classic British farce now playing on Broadway.  Due to a Henry emergency (consumption of an entire bowl of chocolates) Dan wasn't able to join us but it was a funny play and a fun night.  We also visited St. Paul's cathedral, another Christopher Wren design and a stunning building with great views of the city from the dome.  E&Y was sponsoring a "British Design" exhibit at the V&A museum which we checked out, highlighting design developments of the past 60 years.  Other than that we spent some time in the parks, took a tour of Kensington palace, and made multiple visits to our local pub, the Angelic, for some pints:

When Phil & Sue came in June, we visited Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace and the Churchill war rooms (underground bunkers used during WWII; very interesting, tons of information on Churchill's life, which was fascinating.)

 Dean's Yard (adjacent to Westminster Abbey):

Buckingham Palace:

 Green Park:

 pub lunch:

the ultimate tourist shot:

We also took a day trip to Hampton Court, which was one of Henry VIII's favorite palaces and then half of it was redone in the 18th century for William and Mary.

 16th century kitchens:

16th century wine room:

 the maze:

 the gardens:

After our day in Greenwich, we met up with Dan at his office and toured the HMS Belfast, a retired navy ship used in WWII and the Korean war.  Dan has been wanting to tour this ship since we moved here; he told me in March that for his birthday, he wanted me to take him on the Belfast and that during the tour I had to say, "This is so awesome" every five minutes (since he knew I would not find it awesome at all;))  It was closed in March so I thought I'd be able to get away without doing it but since Phil was also interested in touring the ship, Dan finally got his birthday present:)  It actually was pretty awesome, I must admit.

We had a great time hosting our parents and can't wait to have more visitors!! :-)