Having a BALL

Good Day Sunshine! Its a beautiful day for touring London. The air is cool with a slight breeze, so perfect walking weather and enjoying the outdoors.

We have a 9:00 am departure with David, our guide. We have had breakfast in our room early to prepare for our day. Caroline received another gift of a London Sights sticker book. It is a wonderful way to identify the major sights and talk about what we have seen and what we are going to see today.

Princess Caroline dining like REAL royalty

Our day will include a ride on the London Eye, a visit to the Tower of London, shopping in Knotting Hill, and a few Harry Potter spots of interest.There is so much history to this great city that you could visit one hundred times and still have more to learn on the next visit!

David is a Blue Badge guide; he is very bright, very engaging and wonderful with Caroline. Don't ever forget while traveling with children how important it is to expose them to their new environment in a way that they can take it all in, absorb it, and engage in the culture and history of the destination. A good guide can facilitate this in ways many adults could never imagine.

I watched David interact fabulously with Caroline. He told her stories, painted verbal pictures, asked her questions, and most importantly-followed her train of thought. He pulled rather than pushed and he kept her engaged. We learned so much and had a BLAST!

having a ball at the Tower of London

Afternoon tea at The Goring was a nice finish to the afternoon. We saw the Royal Suite where Catherine stayed the night before her wedding, and we saw The Goring garden being converted into Basil's Bar and beach. Basil is here from Mustique to give the place the authentic feel! Jeremy Goring is throwing a beach party tonight and we watched Rastah's setting up to play reggae music and rock everyone to the Caribbean beat. The Goring will have their beach club set up all summer long! Afternoon tea had flip flop gingerbread cookies and pina colata pies to celebrate the opening of the beach club. We sipped tea while listening to the band tune up to play some Bob Marley tunes!(Am I next door to Buckingham Palace or in Mustique?!!!)

Tonight we go to Her Majesty theater to see Phantom of the Opera. I first saw this musical 15 years ago on this very stage.I love the London theater scene. The theaters are small and intimate and create the ultimate experience. I wanted to bring Caroline to Phantom so that when we go to Paris she can see the Opera House for which the musical was written.The chandelier will certainly be interesting to compare.

The performance was a 10 on the goose pump scale! Caroline was very moved by it as was I. The Phantom's gut wrenching song "Christine I lovvvvve you" at the end of the performance had everyone in tears and on their feet moments later. I just kept on saying "Caroline didn't you think that was just wonderful?" And she just kept saying "Yes Gogo!"

M