Entries categorized as ‘.London’
W H A T : A competition with a prize of a 7 night stay in India
As the grandeur of India’s royal courts comes to London this Autumn with the Victoria and Albert Museum’s highly-anticipated exhibition, Maharaja: The Splendour of India’s Royal Courts (10 October 2009 – 17 January 2010), Abercrombie & Kent and Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces are supporting the exhibition with a unique competition prize available only on the V&A’s exhibition website, click HERE to enter.
W H E N : Valid from the 21st of October 2009 till the 31st October 2010
W H E R E : Northern India Itinerary
Day 1 – London/Delhi
Depart from London Heathrow for an overnight flight to Delhi.
Day 2 – Delhi
On landing in the morning, you will be driven to the Taj Mahal hotel where you will stay overnight, and your base from where to explore Old Delhi, including the Red Fort, Rajghat and bazaars and later the leafy avenues of New Delhi. You will be guided around the impressive tower of Qutab Minar, the Tomb of Humayun, Rajpath, the imposing India Gate, Parliament House and the President’s residence.
Day 3 – Delhi/ Agra
This morning you will depart early by train to Agra (200 kms/2 hours) for a one-night stay at The Gateway Hotel, Fatehabad Agra. Your day begins with a half-day visit to the Taj Mahal – Shah Jahan’s spectacular mausoleum for his beloved wife, Mumtaz, followed by the chance to explore Agra’s vast Red Fort.
Day 4 – Agra/ Jaipur
Sunrise is the most evocative time to visit the Taj Mahal and you will have the change to do this before departing from Agra for Jaipur by road (250kms/5 hours).You will stop en route at the deserted red sandstone city of Fatehpur Sikri, arriving in Jaipur in the late afternoon where you will stay at Rambagh Palace for two nights.
Day 5 – Jaipur
This morning you will visit the Amber Fort to view its extravagantly decorated halls and chambers. In the afternoon, you will see the Pink City of Jaipur, the Palace of the Winds, the City Palace and the unique Jantar Mantar Observatory.
Day 6 – Jaipur/ Jodhpur
Today you will be driven from Jaipur to Jodhpur (320km/6 hours) where you will stay for two nights at Umaid Bhawan Palace, an opportunity to immerse yourself in this wonderful provincial location.
Day 7 – Jodhpur
In the morning you will be guided around the key landmarks of Jodhpur, notably the mighty 15th century Meherangarh Fort. After lunch, you will visit Mandore, the ancient capital of the state of Marwar.
Day 8 – Jodhpur/ Delhi
This morning fly to Delhi to connect with your departure flight back to London landing later the same day. Alternatively, why not fly on to Udaipur for a few days?
Udaipur Extension (2nts)
Drive from Jodhpur via Ranakpur to the exquisite city of Udaipur, whose location on the shores of Lake Pichola makes it one of the country’s most romantic places. Stay at the Lake Palace Hotel and explore Udaipur’s City Palace and Sahelion-ki-Bari Gardens.
M O R E :
Categories: .India · .London · .museum · contest · itinieraries
Tagged: A competition with a prize of a 7 night stay in India, Maharaja: The Splendour of India's Royal Courts, Northern India Itinerary, Royal Palaces of India, V&A - Royal Palaces of India, Victoria and Albert Museum
W H A T : Day of the Dead
W H E N : Sunday 1 November, 11.00–17.00
Join the fiesta! In Mexico, Day of the Dead is an annual festival where families gather to remember the dead. This year, celebrate Day of the Dead at the British Museum with free performances, dance, workshops and carnival parades for the whole family.
Free, just drop in
W H E R E : The British Museum
M O R E :
Categories: .Día de los Muertos · .London · .Mexico · .museum · Diego Rivera · activities · chocolate
Tagged: .Mexico, Chocolate week at Fortnum & Mason, Day of the Dead, DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS, family travel, Mexican Season at The British Museum, Moctezuma: Aztec Ruler, Revolution on paper: Mexican prints 1910–1960, The British Museum
Still in London?
Rather late, but here is a Museum Trail from Coutts London Jewellery Week:
London’s famous museums are home to some of the finest jewellery collections in the world. Our Museum Trail will take you on a voyage of discovery across the capital to unearth these hidden gems
Categories: .London · .museum · itinieraries
Tagged: .London, Coutts London Jewellery Week, Jewellery, Museum Trail
Our third and last day in London, still cloudy with rain forecast. To much of my dismay we decided to not take chances up in the air at Kew Gardens, and try a mix of My Fair Lady with Middle Eastern moves.
We started our last day in London at the lovely and lively Covent Garden.
We found here a delightful toy store, Benjamin Pollock’s toyshop, home of toy theatres and traditional toys for both children and adult collectors.
A shortcut through Theatreland brought us to British. I had big plans for this visit, but all the activity backpacks were taken and after just a short visit to Egypt we got caught in the museum activities.
We had a late lunch at Villandry, the kids were excited to paint their own ice cream, but that was just ice cream with different sauces, just a spoon to paint with … isn’t it a brilliant idea to try at home too 
They had macaroni and cheese and pasta with hidden vegetable sauce. After switching their plates they both ate good, and that made me happy. But not the wait for every little thing, so even the fancy kid menu won’t make this a kid-friendly restaurant for me…
Another bus tour with a stop at Hamleys, final destination Tower of London. That was all, we definitely need more than 3 days in London next time…
It was a beautiful day without rain, but rain will come next day, our flight day to Tel Aviv. So don’t trust the forecast and go out there, London is so beautiful and totally enjoyable with and by the kids too!
Categories: .London · 2009.05.06.Lon.IL.RO.Bcn · bus · itinieraries · maps · restaurants
Tagged: .London, Benjamin Pollock's toyshop, Covent Garden, Dreaming Towers, kids, Middle Eastern moves, The British Museum, Tower Bridge, toys, Villandry
It’s Monday, not a sun day anymore.
But that’s fine in London where there are so many museums for kids!
Ah, and to make it sweet for families, most of London museums are still free.
It’s pretty early for us before 8AM, and it’s not raining yet. Our place in Chelsea makes it perfect to explore both ways, so we decide to take a morning stroll to Buckingham Palace before the rain starts. It was a nice and peaceful walk, it feels like there’s nobody in London, the bank holiday weekend seems the perfect time to visit London! But there was no guard changing ceremony that day, and that’s just another reason to come back to London!
Still no rain, so we continued our walk to Big Ben since it is a synonym for all towers in the world for our little one. Like many things in England, Big Ben is old, and its clock dial needs a good clean in time for its 150th anniversary party, here’s a virtual tour and a fun fact game: Race Against Chime.
Still no sun, so we decide to …mind the gap… to the “Jewellery Museum“. For our 5-going-on-6-year-young-girl this was a MUST destination, or in her own words: “It’s My Day!“
We definitely all enjoyed Victoria and Albert Museum and we’ll visit again every time we’ll have a chance! Especially since we could not get out of the Jewellery Gallery and there are so many nice collections in this museum! I’m not sure I understand all this excessive interest in jewels at this young age, maybe we have a budding jewellery designer because we couldn’t leave the design-a-ring screen for quite a while. Tried it yesterday online again, sent rings to all friends, and learned to read, type and spell some names and words in this design process. Here are more links for kids interested in jewellery design.
To make it perfect for families with kids, V&A has a lovely garden where you can have a picnic and a splash.
It’s hard not to spend a full day at V&A, but we wanted to get an idea at the Wallace and Gromit exhibition too. That was a fun cracking idea, and here are more online cracking challenges.
Finally tired after a full play day we went back to Chelsea to have a family dinner at La Famiglia. Hearty italian food, best panna cotta , kids loved fiori di zucca, but not the pasta, so yes, we might try it again if we’re in the neighborhood.
One last night bus trip to Trafalgar Square, good night London!
Categories: .London · .museum · 2009.05.06.Lon.IL.RO.Bcn · games · itinieraries · online · restaurants · underground
Tagged: .London, Big Ben, Big Ben 150th anniversary, Buckingham Palace, Cracking Ideas, Design a Ring, Guard Changing Ceremony, Jewellery, kids, La Famiglia, Victoria and Albert Museum, Wallace & Gromit
First day in London, a sunny bank holiday Sunday, lucky us!
It was the perfect day after the long flight, and we took full advantage of it. Well, kind of half of it, it was hard to get up early in the morning after a flying day…
And here’s our itinerary:
- From our place in Chelsea we walked to Hyde Park, with a short stop at the Butterfly Jungle
- A nice stroll in Hyde Park past the Royal Albert Hall, Albert Memorial, Round Pond, to Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Playground
It was lots of fun, a bit of wait but not that scary as it shows in the pics.
- Afternoon tea at the Orangerie
Another long line that went fast, kids found friends and chased pigeons, so all was good. Well, I’m not into tea, so that was … you know, for the kids…
- Another stroll through Kensington Gardens past the Palace brought us to a bus stop
- From here we took the BUS for a quick glimpse of central London, the arch route (Wellington Arch, Marble Arch)
- The bus ride ended on Oxford Street, just a short stroll to our dinner destination
- Belgo! Yum for everyone, and super kid friendly too!
With almost a dozen of mussel dishes, I was instantly hooked. All the other Belgian ingredients mixed in the pot, kids eat free with parents …
no more fish&chips for us in yummy London, yay!
- Another bus ride, bus no 19 brought us back home through the bustling Piccadilly Circus
As expected, first trip day&city, no jetlag for us
Categories: .London · .park · 2009.05.06.Lon.IL.RO.Bcn · bus · itinieraries · restaurants
Tagged: .London, afternoon tea, Belgo, bus, Butterfly Jungle, Chelsea, Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Playground, Hyde Park, itinerary, kids, Marble Arch, Nell Gwynn House, Orangerie, restaurant, Wellington Arch
It’s been almost a month, it was great, trying to record the itineraries while still fresh…
First, the flight I T I N E R A R Y:
- 5/22: SFO – LON
Found a pretty good deal with AA from SFO – LON, return from BCN – SFO, one short stop in JFK. Just under $500. It worked out OK, made all the connections with no trouble, although it was a little tight on the way back with rechecking the luggage.
- 5/23-28: LONDON
- 5/28: LTN – TLV
The only non-stop flight we found was with ElAl. Booked it from Elal’s site, ~$300. Found it afterwards a bit less expensive at Expedia. Anyhow, Elal has the best coffee in the sky!
- 5/28-6/4: ISRAEL
- 6/4: TLV – OTP
Direct flight with Tarom, Ursus beer included
A bit of an adventure to book from Tarom’s website, and that’s how we found that Expedia works outside US too. 4 tickets for ~$1100.
- 6/5-11: ROMANIA
6/11: BUH-BCN
Short flight with BlueAir, booked directly from their site, quick and easy, 4 tickets for ~EUR300.
- 6/11-18: BARCELONA
- 6/18: BCN – SFO
A long flight, we left all the good weather in Barcelona to find only rain in NY and some turbulence from there on to the west coast.
Good to be back home, dreaming of the next itineraries…
Just one more little thing about airports and kids, I was so happy to find a nice little playground in TLV, we had quite a bit of waiting, and so we all enjoyed that little cute play place. Spotted another play place in BCN too, and I’ve always appreciated the Kids’s Spot and the art exhibits at SFO!
Check our flying page for consolidated & updated news.
Categories: .Barcelona · .Bucharest · .London · .SAN_FRANCISCO · .Tel_Aviv · 2009.05.06.Lon.IL.RO.Bcn · flights
Tagged: .Bucharest, .Europe, .London, .SAN_FRANCISCO, airport, Baneasa, Barcelona, BCN, Ben Gurion, Blue Air, BUH, ElAl, flight, Heathrow, JFK, kids, LON, LTN, Luton, Otopeni, OTP, SFO, Tarom, Tel Aviv, TLV
Categories: .London · maps
Tagged: .London, kids, maps
