Pre-Christmas in London

Happy Holidays, everyone! As hardly anyone ever says, "it's always a teacher summer somewhere!" This year it is Teacher Winter in London. We are here for a few days before going to Moscow and we'll be back for a few more days after that. I'm expecting the Moscow blog to be pretty word-heavy, so I'm going to keep this one picture-heavy.*

We started off in Harrod's where AT and I found the things we love the most. Flowers for her, Victoria Sponge for me.

We had a delicious high tea in Harrod's complete with tiny sandwiches and cakes, scones, the world's greatest lounge piano player**, and, of course, tea.

 We then went to see "Christmas at the Royal Albert Hall" and it was, truly, the greatest Christmas concert I have ever seen. And I am saying this with over 30 years experience of being in Christmas concerts and, I estimate, somewhere between 150-200 Christmas concerts under my belt. It was glorious. Highlights included:

1. audience singalong throughout, not just at the end
2. the female orchestra members wearing whatever colored elaborate gown they wanted
3. charming, yet minimal, narration
4. "Sleigh Ride"

The next day we hit the streets. Mostly we discovered that we should actually be really impressed by the tree in Rockefeller Center.*** We also saw "Six." I only have a picture of the band here, but the whole show was fantastic. It was basically a Spice Girls concert where all the girls were Henry VIII's wives.****

Today it was the Victoria and Albert Museum with only a few faves pictured below.

We'll be back real soon, London!

-KT

*AKA, I have to catch a flight in a few hours and I'd like to go to sleep so please enjoy these pictures with minimal commentary. 

**This is actually a hot button issue. Dad did not enjoy the piano player at all. I thought he was fantastic as he flawlessly segued from "Didn't We Almost Have It All" to "Senorita" to "The Sex and the City Theme Song" to "My Heart Will Go On" to "All I Want for Christmas Is You."

***No offense, Trafalgar Square.

****I know, right? It really is everything you never knew you wanted.