Travel Chaotically! - London and the Cotswolds!! (and fabric shopping!!!!)

I am such a lucky girl!!!  We just got back from a lovely visit to London and the Cotswolds.  The A##hole who decided to try to blow up part of the London tube:  London tube bombing: PM says terror threat level raised to critical  be damned!!!  (Along with the jerk who, almost a year ago to the day in September of last year, tried to create havoc in New York and New Jersey during our visit there:  Travel Chaotically! - New York - Street Fair and Central Park!)

Instead of giving any cred to such weirdo's, I'll tell you what is really important!!!  The real live wonderful people we met and shared our visit with ~ Dave, Clive, Ibrahim, Amal, Batsy, the proprietress of the Persian restaurant, the little boy there that we taught to fist bump, the couple with family in Turkey (and the US) in the fabric shop in Walthamstow, the lady who better be making her fleece jacket so she won't be cold when she's out with her walking club, the Welsh couple and the bar keep at The Black Bear Inn....and ever so many others!!  I have SO MANY STORIES!!!!  (Plus, I have yet to share the remainder of last year's New York trip, that took off from there and explored Paris, Sarlat, and Marseilles!!!)  B took a great many more and better pics than I did...but lest it be a whole year before I get around to it....I wanted to share these snippets of memory with you now....

Classic!  X's three!  As in: 1) The quintessential British phrase.  2) Big Ben.  3) B being the worst person in the world to take a photo of, as he is constantly looking at HIS camera!

Boat trip along the Thames!  The London Eye (big ferris wheel in the background) cannot be avoided!!!

Back side of the Tower of London.

A little cuppa and a 'pick-me-up' along the Thames.

A change from our last visit...about 10 years ago...are the bollards that now line many London streets.

Westminster Abbey

Train station, watching the board to learn the platform at which the train will appear, for our trip to the Cotswolds.

We stayed in Moreton-in-Marsh at the Bell Inn (supposedly the Inn and area that inspired Tolkien's tales of Hobbiton and Inn, The Prancing Pony) and visited Stow-on-the-Wold and Bourton-on-the-Water!  Loving these names!!!  If only we had also visited Wotton-under-Edge and Fuddlebrook!

Hiking along the public footpath!

My cutie!!!

Learning to Belly-up-to-the-Bar!!!  The Black Bear Inn!

Back in London.  Lovely visit to the British Museum and the National Gallery.  Emotive Turners.  Exquisite Dutch Masters.  Beautiful Monets.  Great chats with various floor watchers.  Such decadence.  And it's FREE y'all!!!!  I mean they ask for a donation...but seriously!!!!  You do have to pay to pee in the city, though.  It'll cost you a pound in London, but only "20 p" (Yes, it is actually said like that - Twenty P [pence]!!!) in the Cotswolds at the "Public Conveniences".  But, you can pee for free in pubs, restaurants, museums and galleries.  The more you know....
Oh.  And, yes.  That is a thumb in the pic above.  No.  I cannot explain the phallic nature of it!

My silly B before seeing "The Mousetrap" in London!

One of his many "Full English" breakfasts!

Fabric shopping in Walthamstow AFTER checking out all the shops around Oxford Circus along Berwick Street AND Goldhawk Road at Shepherds Bush Market!!!  I loved it all, but REALLY, REALLY enjoyed Walthamstow Market along High Street.  SO. ABSOLUTELY.  FABULOUS!!!!  Great thanks to Tilly of Tilly and the Buttons and Rachel of House of Pinheiro who have great London fabric shopping tips on their blogs!  Even bigger thanks to B, who is the world's sweetest and most patient man!!!

An appropriate cuppa to start our last day.

Smithfield Market.  And an amazing lunch at St. John.  So yummy!!!  A place we found quite by accident on our last visit...but is now a family tradition...with Rosie making her way there during her study abroad...and an absolute must for us on this trip.  We're going to have to manage to fit this in more often, B!!!!

Buckingham Palace

Heading to the tube for our return to Heathrow and home.

But, I didn't leave empty handed!!!  Here's my fabric haul from Goldhawk Road (Shepherd's Bush).... 

  ...and this lovely selection from Walthamstow! No more fabric buying for me for some time!!!

And as if fabric alone was not enough!!!  I got patterns!!!  Most of them at an amazing Makers Fair that materialized out of thin air while we were inside Hampton Court!  As we came out to catch the train back to London...there it was!!  Fate, I tell you!  Fate!  There were food stalls with paella, curries, jams, sausages, cheese, baked goods.  We settled on The Hippy Chippy and had the best "chips" (French Fries!) ever!!!  Big tents with training sessions were available.  Other tents housed makers with soaps, jewelry, fabric, assorted crafts, and so much more.  Tilly and the Buttons and Sew Over It even had stalls!  My newest, yet to be blogged, Alder shirt dress, I happened to be wearing, was recognized as such and admired!!!!  AND...there were patterns for sale in lots of the booths!  So, I really couldn't help it!  Right, B?????

Home again...but with lots of new friends and wonderful memories.  Plus, getting back to work with my kiddos can't be too bad if this is your view along the way.

Finally, B makes my average Wednesday anything but, with a Full English Breakfast...replete with HP Brown Sauce, roasted tomatoes, beans, sausage AND bacon, toast, and perfect eggs.  B knows how to do it right!  Rosie may have to roll me around on my mat at our exercise class later today!!

Thanks, London and all the wonderful peeps who made our visit so very special.  Thanks, B.  You really don't have to spoil me so! But, it's pretty awesome that you do!  Hee hee!!! More stories to come, I promise!  Travel Chaotically!!!  I gotta go sew!!!! - love, les