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Ingolds in Europe

February - March 2023
A little adventure in Europe. Looking for all things Harry Potter and Cheese! Read more
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  • TravelerIngolds in Europe
    2
    Day 1

    The journey begins

    February 18, 2023 in Australia

    Sitting at the international airport with 2 very excited little girls… the excitement might wear off somewhere between Canberra and London we are guessing…!
    Quick stop over in Singapore, before onward bound to Heathrow. Leaving 40 degrees and blue skies for 4 degrees!
    Let’s hope for some sleep from the little people ❤️ 🇦🇺 🛫 🇬🇧    Read more

  • TravelerIngolds in Europe
    2
    Day 2

    What day is it??!

    February 19, 2023 in England

    We made it! 24 hours flying, 30+ hours in transit. The girls were brilliant (OK, maybe not brilliant- but definitely better than it could have been!) Not a lot of sleep throughout, but we have charged through the day today and heading to bed early. Jet lag is real (Audrey calls it plane rot…)
    Lots of things ticked off on our first day. Took the tube and minded the gap. As we emerged into the sunlight with our first look at England (the industrial area around the airport) Olive declared ‘it is SO beautiful!’ 🤦🏼‍♀️
    Surprised the girls with a double decker bus tour hosted by Paddington bear. The girls LOVED it… until the motion of an old refurbished bus combined with plane rot made things a little hairy.
    We can see Big Ben from the front of our hotel, so have walked and seen some sights. Nick and I didn’t love London last time we were briefly here, but the architecture captured our hearts today (and the glorious blue sky reflected on the Thames might have helped).
    Let’s hope for sleep for all tonight!
    PS Squirrels are very cute 🐿    Read more

  • TravelerIngolds in Europe
    Day 3

    Early bird catches the…

    February 20, 2023 in England ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    Nothing. The early bird catches nothing at 4am in London, except views of a very dark sky. But thanks to plane rot, that’s when our day started! Plans for the Abbey were put on hold as we heard the changing of the guard was happening at King Charlie’s place today. Off we trotted and join the cast of thousands at Buckinghuge palace, where we saw many men in ‘hilarious big hats’ (Olive) play some classic brass band tunes such as a ‘spoon full of sugar’ and ‘downtown’. Alas, Charlie was not lured by their unorthodox charm to give us a wave from the window. The girls seemed a little confused by the whole proceeding (aren’t we all…), but had fun being near the palace and a great atmosphere.
    After a quick lunch we headed to a shop (Hamley’s) declaring itself to be the best toy shop on the world. 7 stories of toys. SEVEN. Including a dungeon like Harry Potter section (me, pretending to be there for the kids), and a host of workers demonstrating highly over priced but extremely child luring toys (think Costco demonstrations, but with a lot more yelling and squealing). Suffice to say the girls had a BALL, and we felt like we were hit by a bus (full of toys) by the end.
    We explored Soho, Piccadilly Circus and Leicester square (loved so much about these quirky little streets, BEAUTIFUL buildings and sheik Londoners dressed in tailored clothing).
    Finished the day with a very culturally significant landmark; The M&M shop- including the worlds biggest wall of chocolate. You could even have your face printed on M&Ms (Kay- Nick and I thought his face on a bag of m&ms would be a great present for you 😉)
    The watch says nearly 25000 steps, and the girls have passed out (hopefully for the night).
    Hope tomorrow brings more adventures!    Read more

  • TravelerIngolds in Europe
    Day 4

    Kings and Queens

    February 21, 2023 in England ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C

    4:45am wake up. Slightly better than yesterday… 🥴. Today was a BIG day. We started at Westminster Abbey. Over 3 hours later we walked out of there, more richer in knowledge and humbler in life. It really was inspiring to be in the same space as so many people who have changed the course of the world over the years. Thinkers and leaders, adventurers and poets, and importantly, the scientists recognised for their contributions to humanity. All in a big melting pot of amazing architecture, fascinating history and those who have inspired the world. The girls actually really enjoyed it and learnt a bucketload (Audrey learnt Roman numerals today… teachers will be happy some work is being done 😉) . I actually got a bit emotional showing the girls The resting place of Isaac Newton. The thought of sharing a space with a mind so significant in history and being able to share that with the girls (My dad gifted one of his treasured science books to the girls last year, with Newton being their favourite) was pretty special. I think the girls got to see a bigger picture of the world today; and how individuals can impact the world. Highly recommend- 10/10, 5 ⭐️!!
    With all that learning, the girls were STARVING (🙄) so we headed to the Borough markets. Ah-mazing place to feast your eyes (and your bellies) on food and produce from local sellers. Total hit. We ate too much (not really… Nicks legs are hollow) and had a fabulous time roaming through the markets. Olive found her happy place (cheese corner of the markets) and her dimples got her waaaay more samples than a 7 year old really needs.
    A stroll back along the Thames towards home, spotting some famous bridges (London bridge= super underwhelming; the millennial bridge way more appealing due to its presence in a Harry Potter film 😜).
    Past Shakespeare’s theatre, along to the bottom of the eye near our hotel. London is very quirky, which we didn’t anticipate- the girls joined in a random dance party on the bank of the Thames, after a ride on the worlds most speediest merry go round (it was like the guy operating it had fiddled with the controls and put it on the ‘make kids hurl’ setting. I suppose it must be a pretty tiresome job… good to shake things up a bit 😉
    Big day. Lots of learning, lots of eating, lots of random dancing in the park! Will
    Post more pics on another footprint.    Read more

  • TravelerIngolds in Europe
    11
    Day 4

    More photos

    February 21, 2023 in England ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C
  • TravelerIngolds in Europe
    1
    Day 5

    The world is a museum

    February 22, 2023 in England ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C

    We woke up (in the 6’s!!!!) to what I’d always imagined a typical cold London winter morning to look like. I think it’s fair to say that London might be even more magical with its stone architecture swamped by thick fog and the threat of rain hanging in the air. I say MIGHT, but my cheeks that started to grow icicles on them would probably disagree. Even Nick was a tad cold by night, and the worlds hottest kid (Audrey) finally put her Kathmandu on.
    So we decided to have an indoor day going to the Natural history museum and the science museum in Kensington. It turned out to be a really fantastic day- the kids were engrossed in so much of it (as were we larger humans)- the dinosaur 🦕 fossils were fab, and the taxidermy and Charles Darwin specimen collection had us having unexpired conversations about the logistics of taxidermy 🥴
    ‘This Charles guy’ (Olive), ‘he was the scientist in the wheelchair right mum?’ … no sweetheart… that was Steven Hawking (so maybe not everrrrrrything they learn is sinking in! The museum is a gorgeous gorgeous building that made us feel like we were roaming the corridors of Hogwarts.
    The girls have actually told me I have to stop saying ‘look at that beautiful building’ and ‘ohh I love this architecture’, because they are right, it makes me sound like a twerp 😜
    We wandered next door to the National
    Science museum (another amazingly gorgeous building 🙊) where the kids spent hours in the interactive part of the museum. Hands on science fun- interactive chemistry lesson with potions, physics with fire and explosions, slides to test gravity… Nick and I were in our nerdy happy place- and it seems it might have rubbed off a little on our kiddies.
    Kudos to the Britts- both museums were free (with tap and go stations encouraging donations everywhere- good on them!)
    It was the perfect way to spend a wet London day.
    … and the teachers should be happy…. Much learning had 👍🏻    Read more

  • TravelerIngolds in Europe
    Day 6

    Flowerless gardens and afternoon magic

    February 23, 2023 in England ⋅ 🌙 5 °C

    Squeezing as much cheese and magic into this holiday as possible today! We set off exploring Covent Gardens today; a beautiful area known for its quirky shops, utterly hilarious and amazing street performers (they need to audition to be able to perform in the area), and lots of food! (And lots of amazing architecture… just saying…) we made Olive’s cheese dreams come true with a cheese train for lunch (yes, imagine sushi train, but beautiful local cheeses). Nick and I think we should open one in Aus. Olive told us we could buy it, she would run it and pay us $10 a week each to work for her….. sounds about right. But excited she has some entrepreneurial aspirations 🤣
    Then it was Auds turn to have her little dreams become reality- a trip to the wizard exploratorium, where witches and wizards (big and small) have a wandmaker help them create their very own magical wand (Auds is a 13” elder wand with a unicorn core- for all of you Harry Potter followers…) the girls had a magical time- Olive is now a sworn magical fan like her sister. She kept the poor wand maker for a long time asking him about the pixies in the building and exactly how would she go about avoiding them on the way out? The building is a 600 year old gem, with a 4 story creaky, windy staircase you had to climb to get to the dimly lit attic, fitted out with a classroom for wizards. It was pretty special; we couldn’t wipe the smile off Auds face. Both girls walked around London for the rest of the day with their wands out!
    We asked the girls if they could use their wands to tell us where to go next and Audrey said her wand said icecream, Olive’s said fairy floss… luckily we had magically anticipated this and low and behold there was an icecream shop 2 streets over that specialized in icecream fairy floss masterpieces (total parenting win… and cemented the girls belief that magic is possible!!)
    A twist of luck saw us finishing the magical day with last minute dirt cheap tickets to the West End show Wicked. Nick and I have seen this before, and loved it just as much the 2nd time around. The wicked witch was phenomenal. The girls were enthralled by the costumes and after a bit of explanation of the plot, really got into it. A very late night and the girls are (thankfully) still asleep as I’m writing this (8:20 am Friday morning).
    A truly magical and cheesy day had by all 🪄    Read more

  • TravelerIngolds in Europe
    Day 7

    Kurios and kurioser…

    February 24, 2023 in England ⋅ ⛅ 5 °C

    After a quiet morning, we tubed it to South Kensington to the Royal Albert Hall to see Cirque du soleil’s production Kurios. Thanks to nan and pop’s Christmas present of 💸 to pick something special to do with the girls over here, we booked these tickets 🎟 a long time ago. The girls have watched many renditions on the Internet, and being gymnasts, have been SUPER excited to see the incredible talent Cirque has to offer.
    It didn’t disappoint .
    I can honestly say it’s one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. The stage was amazing, costumes were out of this world and the performers were 100% next level talented.
    The girls were mouth opened, eyes bulging captivated the entire show. We collectively gripped each other many times and I’m sure my heart rate was through the roof at some points.
    The Royal Albert Hall is stunning (I know- enough with the real estate talk…but it was glorious)
    Audrey is even more keen to get back to gym and her squad so she can start to train for her Cirque career 😄
    Olive did say it looked like a LOT of work to get that good… but proceeded to do cartwheels on the way to the tube… so who knows. I’d DEFINITELY be a willing roadie for them 🙋🏼‍♀️ (besides, who would provide the snacks?!)
    Thanks nan and pop- it was an utter joy to see the girls love it so much (almost as much as Nick and I 😉😘)    Read more

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