We Take Ourselves With Us

There was a newer Second Cup (upscale Canadian Starbucks) across from our hotel, so we started Saturday with a quick brekky.  Look at how lovely and bright.  The kids are marveling at the built in flat phone chargers on the window counter. I was marveling at the flat white in my cup and the yummy steel cut oatmeal with steam sweetened milk and dried bananas and coconut in my bowl. Our cups are always half full ... at the very least.  In truth, they typically run over! Caffeinated and ready to roll. Our first stop that morning was a Back to the Future script reading featuring voice actors.  FE has never had an event like this before, and BTTF is having a moment--it's currently one of Penn's favorites, and we know the cool hunters' lead dog is always several yards ahead of the pack.  So, we made it a FE must do.  Clearly, he was right.  The reading was scheduled for the Convention Center Theatre, and by the looks ...

I mentioned we decided to stay in a flat in London.  It was a great decision!  We were able to set up base in a real neighborhood, which let us pretend we were living in London for a week: going to the shops, having favorite stops, watching the neighbors in the morning while making breakfast, sitting at our little dining table watching tv, even doing some laundry.  The location in Kensington was amazing, and it was about a quarter less than we would have spent in a hotel.  We loved it :)  Here's my kitchen window view. On our last day in London, we left our flat for Hogwarts, grabbing provisions for the short train ride to Watford Junction. Seriously, can you imagine that the train station for Harry Potter Studios in an American city would look like this?  Or that you'd be directed to a public bus shelter to wait for the "cash only" bus from this glamorous depot to the studio that held every single Harry Potter movie prop ever?...