We popped up to London on Saturday afternoon to celebrate Gabriel’s 40th on Hampstead Heath, followed by a great dinner at the Holly Bush pub. It was a quick trip, but we filled it to capacity. I was lucky enough to be able to not only enjoy the birthday but also catch up with my cousin Simon who was in London on business. We drank champagne and Stella on the Heath while the kids (and the not so young kids) played football and a simulated golf game with a Frisbee. Then we did a quick “which star lives here?” game on the way to the pub where we spent the evening in the back room with 30 or so of Gabriel’s friends eating salmon and beef and salads and cakes and more and more….

Saturday night Michelle and I found our way back to the Hoxton Hotel (a real treat) where we have wanted to stay for some time. It’s a great hotel, the bar and restaurant downstairs was pumping when we arrived around midnight to check in. Sunday morning we got up early for breakfast around Hoxton Square before heading off on a market tour of the east(ish) end of London. We started at the Columbia Rd flower market, where tulips were only £10 for a bunch of 50 and the art galleries and design shops lining the sidewalks were mesmerizing. We zig zag’d our way along, then headed down Brick Lane for all the second hand stuff, passed through the Sunday UP Market and then a brief tour through Spitalfields market before sprinting back up to Hampstead to have a late lunch with Milene, Gabriel and the kids and then dashing back to the airport by minicab.

The flight back was uneventful until we hit a thunder and lightening storm just outside of Paris. Turbulence was bad, then the RER’s had been delayed, we finally arrived home around midnight…. exhausted but happy.