London break and my first trip to the Opera!

All parents can agree that a few precious days without children can sometimes be a much needed saviour. We are hardly away from the children in our lives. Work doesn't need us to travel all that much and our only nights away from them would be for events like hen/stag parties or individual events like gigs with friends.

Yep, rarely away from them, and for more than a night is pretty unheard of! 

However, this trip was always going to be for a few nights so after interrupted sleep for one too many nights, Rob and I were very excited to be heading to the big smoke for a long weekend.

The main reason for us going was to make our first visit to The Royal Opera House which was actually my Christmas present. Rob had booked tickets to see La Boheme, an opera about a group of Bohemians, set in Paris in the 1930s and full of huge Italian arias.

I don't really want to tell you about the story. It is a love story and after seeing it I can only urge all to try and see it yourselves! It was the most moving and brilliant performance I have ever seen! The scenery, the orchestra and the setting just takes your breath away and after the first scene, Rob and I looked at each other with tears in our eyes after experiencing what can only be described as an emotional punch to the chest. It floored us. Their voices, the music, it was amazing!

The Royal Opera House is a stunning building and just walking up the stairs to the conservatory style bar filled my whole body with excitement. It is quite crazy to think that I waited this long to go but to be honest, it came at the right time. I could truly appreciate it. I was so happy that I didn't take it for granted, like it was just a thing! I mean, The Royal Opera House; how magical! 

After thoroughly enjoying the show we walked out into the hot summer evening and just wandered around Covent Garden before we headed back to our hotel to freshen up before dinner.

We then spent our friday being very lazy and we sat in the sun in King's Cross watching the tennis. They had a fantastic square set up with a large screen, deck chairs, food vans and fountains a plenty. We just sat there all day! It was like all the sitting down we had wanted to do for months just happened and neither of us wanted to do anything else.

We had a gorgeous walk past St. Pancras Station on our way which also took my breath away. It is just stunning and I have never fully appreciated it before.

We then spent the next two days with Rob's brother and went for long walks around places I had never been before, even though I have visited London plenty of times!
We headed out to the beautiful Wimbledon town and walked down to the tennis club. We debated going in but as we had sat and watched Andy Murray and Roger Federer the day before we weren't as bothered about the matches on that day. It really made me want to try and get tickets next year and go down properly!

We then headed towards Portobello Road, a place that I have never been but only fantasized about from the scene in ''Bedknobs and Broomsticks''! It was so busy and full of stands selling everything, antiques, trinkets, clothes, food. It was really busy but it gave me the chance to enjoy the scenery! Those houses!!

We had a lovely walk around Kensington, stopped for tasty food and just drooled over all the town houses!

Then a long walk was had from Kensington Palace across to hyde park and we stopped and rested outside The Royal Albert Hall. I just couldn't believe I had never seen all this before. My usual self would have probably been on Oxford Street so it was nice to just enjoy the summer sun and walk around.

Boy, by the time we had done all this we pretty much felt as tired as we were feeling at home! Not rested but we thoroughly enjoyed our few days away and getting back to the kids felt great! 

Post by Emily