We Take Ourselves With Us

First thing Tuesday morning, we set off in a cab for the Upper West Side to fill our tummies with some yummy Sarabeth's .  Sarabeth's is a family favorite--so much goodness wrapped into a "ladies who brunch" UWS classic.  Rich, dark coffee; Four Flowers juice; fluffy pancakes; thick French toast; shortrib hash; chicken and apple sausage floating in warmed apple sauce; and an egg white omelette (yep).  So, so good.  Sarabeth's is the kind of place where they bring you an extra plate of toast and preserves just in case they took your plate too soon.  It's the kind of place where a lovely older woman stops by on her way out just to tell you that you have beautiful children (even when they've looked like this over the course of breakfast). What's not to love :) Best of all, Sarabeth's is about two blocks from one of our must-go destinations each time we're in the city: the American Museum of Natural History.  We've been...

We had only two goals today, both involving the Tower of London: (1) see the Crown Jewels; (2) ice skate at the Tower.  So, we were a bit leisurely in our path there. On our way to the Tube, we found that it was five pound Monday at My Old Dutch Pancake House .  Whoop!  Pancakes as big as manhole covers, on sale ... you had us at pancakes. After a failed attempt to book a "Ghost Bus" tour for the night (a possible 3rd goal), we decided to hop into a British cab driven by a cabbie on the job since 1968!  In addition to having " the Knowledge ," he was also a licensed tour guide so we had him drive us around a bit on the way to the Tower. We zipped around Buckingham Palace. And Mr. Nathanson (our cabbie) took us to a "secret" side entrance, where--as an RAF veteran--he talked the guards into taking a quick photo rather than shooing us away by marching back and forth. He took us past the Horse Guards ...