the first time in London

my daughter shows me London in spring 2014 - we take a trip to Hamden Court, a wonderful castle with a beautiful park.

The mushroom trees, the many roses, and of course the actors who pretend to be the former castle lords - divine.

We visit the British Museum - the diversity is overwhelming and it's great that you don't have to pay an admission fee - maybe this is something rich Bavaria could do, maybe it will help with Pisa...

We indulge ourselves in the Borough Market, my child almost overeats on the gigantic meringue.....just a sugar rush...then the variety of cheeses, the breads and cakes, muffins, cookies, liqueurs....yum yum

We stroll through the shops at Picadilly Circus, let ourselves be pushed through Harrods, explore Kensington, have coffee on Portobello Road, and check out the market

the Westfield Center for shopping freaks with the usual suspect brands, but also some things that you can't find here in the selection, like hats, fascinators, ball gowns, handbags....

We browse the great books at Waterstones, here you can recover from all the walking, because it's not a problem to read a whole book at once

at Oxfam we browse for secondhand books and clothes...

the bottom line is that we have to pay for excess baggage on the return flight, next time we'll take a bigger suitcase or send packages!