London: Somerset House and Covent Garden

After spending our first day in London shopping, the next two days were to be spent doing the usual tourist thing.

All seven of us walked from the hotel till Somerset House. It took twenty minutes and a quick stop at Boots on the way (one of Charlotte's favourite shops now....in London they're dotted all over the place)

Somerset House was beautiful, sitting on Thames, with a lovely open air skating ring there over the festive period...that was fully booked when we tried to reserve via internet.

The children found the visit boring, and we too, were disappointed, but

we did get a nice view upon leaving of The London Eye, and later on, after Covent Garden, that's where we were going to go.

 Despite the fairly mild weather, Covent garden had a very Christmassy feel.

Just because the weather wasn't freezing cold, it doesn't mean that you'd want to strip down to your underwear like this street entertainer. We left him to it, with his funny Father Christmas boxers and his knife juggling, and we went to eat round the corner and Wahaca (Mexican Restaurant) that we'd been to a couple of years ago and liked it, only this time it just got better and better.

Slow progression

Yet another brownie cake

The kitchen is slowly coming together, the school board is in place (uncut) behind sink, so glad we didn't cut it in half. Alain bought a ceiling hanging rack from The Conran Shop, now he just needs to figure out how to hang it. The electricity hasn't been started which means I am unable to paint all the walls, but hopefully come Saturday that should be finished. I'm painting the ceiling and cornice and managing to get paint just about everywhere..hair, face, jeans et cetera.

Photos to come soon (not of me).

Besides that, Marie-Kate celebrated her birthday at school in advance yesterday as schools here break-up for just over two weeks this Friday. With the kitchen looking like a ware zone, I opted for an easy cake, yes, another brownie cake from Breakfast, Lunch and Tea. This cake never fails and the children loved it, or so Marie-Kate says. I'm going to have to find another cake to bake for her birthday on the 22nd though, because after eating at least 10 of these since the beginning of the year, you don't appreciate them as much as you should.

I'm still discovering the garden and Mr H's love for tulips which I just about everywhere, which pleases the children and Alain but not me!

I better get started and while I'm working non stop all day , Alexis and Marie-Kate have got yummy food to eat this mardi. Alexis loves lunch at school as the canteen isn't a self service one like his old school in Sanary and he gets to have seconds and more quite often.

LUNDI	MARDI	MERCREDI	JEUDI	VENDREDI
Carottes râpées	REPAS BIO Piémontaise		Salade verte	Pâtes du soleil
Boeuf au caramel	Haut de cuisse de poulet au jus		Jambon et ketchup	Panaché de poisson sauce dieppoise
Purée	Edam		Pommes noisette	Bouquetière
Petits filous au chocolat	Pomme granny		Yaourt brassé à la pulpe d'abricot	Mini roitelet
Fruit			Dessert de Pâques	Fruit

Covent Garden

We were really lucky during our stay in London, in didn't rain, infact the weather was better in London than back at home in the south of France.

Covent Garden was buzzing with activity, we managed to catch the end of this performance.

I wondered how he was going to get down. He made it look easy!

London: Super Mexican Restaurant

Wahaca was really a great place to eat, fun, spicy and in. Just of Covent Garden, this place was Gabrielle's and perhaps my favourite restaurant that we dined in.

The children were really made to feel welcome, the staff gave them crayons to colour their menus, and they helped us choose suitable things for them to eat.

We arrived just before the rush and were lucky to have a place without waiting.

We shared some heavenly guacamole (best I've ever tasted), ate plenty of great food, shared a bottle of good wine and finished off with some churros and some mango sorbet for £70 with tips, the cheapest place we ate inIf only I knew how to make guacamole like this.

Next year this restaurant is first on my list to re-visit.