back from holiday + glimpse of London

I am back from Europe and am so excited to share some of our memories!
I have lots of catching up to do with my sweet bloggy buddies' posts (it seems so many of you were traveling or doing speculator things too, so I am eager to see what I've missed!) as well as still adjusting back into real life with work, so forgive me if I'm a little slow on posting in the next few weeks

Some of my top memories from our first stop, London:

• Listening to street performers in the many public squares of Bath
• Walking through the moat garden of Windsor Castle
• Exploring the many parks of London (Regents, Hyde, Kensington, Primrose Hill)
• Riding the double-decker buses as we passed by Big Ben, then stopping for a better view

We arrived on a Tuesday around noon. 

We mainly stayed in Hanwell that day, exploring Brent Lodge Park.  

 The following day, my friend arrived early morning from a small village in Africa, where she spent 10 days doing public health work in a community she has been working with. 

Here are some snapshots from our first full-day in London. 

We started off the afternoon by visiting Kings Cross and St Pancras Renaissance Hotel

Do you recognize this staircase?  Sorry... no I'm not :)

We then went shopping in the fun Camden Market

We had lunch on the Canal

We then walked around and explored Primrose Hill area, climbed the hill to get a view of London, 

Then we walked on over to the beautiful Regent's Park where 

we grabbed ice-cream, found a bench, and chatted 

We had so much fun walking around without an itinerary and hanging out in areas that were not too tourist-y. It got us pumped for the rest of our trip!