Category Archives: London

Canada, Destinations, Europe, London, Madrid, Maine, Poland, Prince Edward Island, Spain, Travel Tips, United Kingdom, USA, Where we stayed

Clam Chowder from Scratch: An Ode to Vacation Rentals

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Digging for clams is hard.

First you look for the “clam shows” – the air holes in the sand that show where a clam might be. Once you find a nice, big hole, you dig the wet, heavy sand around it, pushing your shovel as deep as you can. Then you bend, squat, or kneel to look through the pile of sand you just turned over, or plunge your hand in the hole feeling for clam shells. And then you stand up again, and move to dig in another place.

Dig. Squat. Stand up. Repeat.

my sister-in-law and I, digging for clams in St. Mary's Bay on Prince Edward Island, photo courtesy of my brother-in-law, Brian Sutton
my sister-in-law and I, digging for clams in St. Mary’s Bay on Prince Edward Island, photo courtesy of my brother-in-law, Brian Sutton

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Canada, Europe, Florida, London, Madrid, Poland, Prince Edward Island, Québec, Spain, United Kingdom, USA

Playgrounds around the World: Photo Essay

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Wherever we travel, if we see a playground, my daughter always ask to stop and play, and we let her. She’s learned to be patient when when we drag her around museums, castles, and other “sightseeing” places we want to see, and we figure she deserves some fun time too.

In general, all playgrounds, event the smallest ones, have a slide, and possibly a swing or some other rocking structure. The bigger ones allow quite extensive climbing structures, and places to run around.

Some playgrounds are quite simple, but some, even small, are quite creative, like the insect-looking play structure in the featured photo above that we stumbled upon in Quebec City.

Here are a few examples of other playgrounds, from several places around the world, submitted by fellow travel bloggers. Continue reading Playgrounds around the World: Photo Essay →

Attractions, London, Public Transportation, United Kingdom

Warner Bros. Studio Tour “The Making of Harry Potter”

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The most important thing you need to know about the Harry Potter  Studio Tour (technically called “Warner Bros. Studio Tour London“) is that, as their home page says in print that really should be bigger,

“Tickets must be purchased in advance. Tickets are not sold at the Studio Tour.”

You cannot show up and expect to buy a ticket on site.

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Art, Attractions, Europe, London, Museums, United Kingdom

Period Clothing at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London

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When my husband suggested we go across the street to the V&A after we left the Natural History Museum in London, I honesty hesitated, wondering whether it’s a good idea to take the kids to a museum about Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Yes. That is correct. I really thought the Victoria and Albert Museum is ABOUT Victoria and Albert, and thought it would be better to go to the Science Museum instead.

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London, Public Transportation, Travel Tips, United Kingdom

Sightseeing in London? Use public transportation

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If you’re visiting London on a budget, skip the expensive hop-on hop-off tours and just buy yourself a London Travelcard which you can use not only on the Underground but also on the famous London double-decker buses, and you can see quite a bit of the city that way, especially if you manage to get seats right in front on the upper level.

London seems to have two options to buy tickets for public transportation – Oyster Cards and Travelcards, and the very well-designed London Transport site has a very handy page explaining the differences between the Oyster cards and the Travelcard.

London Tube map

Since the fee to buy an Oyster card is £3.00, we thought getting Travelcards on the couple of days we were sightseeing would a better option for the four of us, since we’d have to pay £12.00 just for the cards.

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London, UK London, United Kingdom, Where we stayed

Where to stay in London? Try the “Embankment House”

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If you are traveling with a family, instead of looking for a hotel, I would suggest renting an apartment (or a flat, as the Brits call it) through Flipkey or Homeaway. We did just that when we went to London for a week in January 2013 – we rented the “Embankment House,” a two-bedroom apartment on Homeaway.

The apartment is in a townhouse located steps from:

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