NYC: The High Line

I'm a little embarrassed to say I went to The High Line for the first time about a month ago--and it took a class field trip to get me there. Now it's one of my favorite places. It's got the winning combination of being a supremely done park, with proximity to great food that is easy to transport and picnic with (and no hassle of having to bring a blanket and a cooler).  It also gives me the opportunity to explore the Chelsea Market, which I love, but never want to eat at, at least on a sunny day--it's too dark and cavernous. What we like to do now is walk around the market (a couple of our favorite spots are Dickson's Farmstand for sandwiches, 9th Street Espresso for iced coffee, and I just read that The Green Table is selling brown-bag lunches this summer) and then go sit up on the High Line.  It's a pretty perfect combination. Afterwards, you can pop down to the Blue Marble Ice Cream Cart  at the Standard Hotel , just on Washington and 13th Streets. They're from Brooklyn, and make some of the best ice cream in the world.

(I'm crazy about the landscape design)

(this stair area is a perfect spot to eat lunch)

(perfect family portrait opportunities--or your entire 1st grade class)

If you live in the NYC area, check out the High Line events page. They have free kid events on the last Wednesday of the month this summer, like a nature scavenger hunt and workshop with High Line gardener Andi Pettis.

London: The Best Playground in the World

I think Clara and I would go to London just to go to the Princess Diana Playground in Kensington Gardens. It is fun, smart, safe, clever, and inspiring. See below:

This is just outside the gates of the playground. There's a cute cafe that has plenty of healthy and organic options for kids and parents.

Just outside the gates, where there is a security guard making sure that no children go in or out without adults, and no adults without children. 

The moment she'd been waiting for--it really was the only thing she talked about from the last trip to London.

The most popular part of the playground. We all agreed that Disney could learn something from this park. Nothing is spoon-fed to kids here. It's all about imagination, physical activity, and trying not to (or trying to) lose your parents.

We were here on a Saturday afternoon, and it was so crowded. We saw a couple of lost kids, but the security just piggy-backed them around the playground until the parents were found. We made a deal with our girls that we would meet at the tipis if we couldn't find each other. There's just so much to do that the kids move so fast from one area to another.

I took this picture because I liked that the dad kept falling asleep, in the middle of all the chaos.

Tunnel that takes kids from the 'pirate' area to the musical garden area.

A more clever (Swiss) version of the FAO Schwarz dancing keyboard.

It's not all chaos--there are also sweet little pathways with super fragrant flowers, and benches to rest on.

Even the foot washing faucet is well designed.

The bathroom entrance, which also has a nurses office.

Even on a sunny Saturday in London, towards the end of the day, the bathroom still was well maintained.

London: Marylebone High St. and Regents Park

After we had our morning of doing Trafalgar Square and Buckingham Palace , we met up with our friend Ariel at her office. We headed to Regents Park to pick up her daughter Daphne from school, but meandered our way through Marylebone High Street, Paddington Gardens, and Moxon Street. 

Paddington Gardens, in not such pretty light...

Paddington Gardens is a very small little park, that has a little playground, two gazebos (good if you get caught in the rain), and lots of benches and lovely gardens. For me, the best part of the park was that it butts up against Moxon Street, which has two very exciting food stores: The Ginger Pig and La Fromagerie. The Ginger Pig is a beautiful butcher shop, and while most people aren't really into visiting butchers, this is a big part of our life, as we raise pigs with our neighbor in our upstate New York house. (See Matt's blog, The William Brown Project for further explanation.) Within moments, Matt was in the back of the shop, photographing their whole operation, and being invited to come back to butcher a pig the following week. I was more interested in the way they display the eggs. 

Next door is La Fromagerie, a beautiful cheese/grocery/wine shop, that also serves food. Another example of what I would want to do in another life, or maybe in five years.  From there we really hightailed it to Daphne's school, but Matt stayed behind and told me that the kitchen shop Divertimenti was great (he makes savory pies, and they had good accessories for that), plus there was a Waitrose (my favorite grocery chain--beautiful products, packaging), and a children's destination shoe store called Papillon (which I will write about that another day).  It's just a nice area to walk around, that has good spots to eat, both simple and not (Le Relais de Venise has a fantastic steak frites), a park and playground, and smart independent stores.

Eating a delicious yogurt from Normandy, bought at La Fromagerie. You could pick up a nice lunch here and eat it at Paddington Gardens.

School pickup was so fun--I loved watching all the different types of parents doing pickup, and getting the lay of the land from my friend. It's an all-girls school, and they not only wear uniforms, they wear these adorable little straw hats, very Madeleine style. We walked over to Regents Park and the girls were in heaven.

Afterwards on our way to the underground, we ran into another family from Daphne's school, who live in the neighborhood, and have access to a private park right next to Regent's Park. I've always wanted to go into a private park, probably since I read The Secret Garden at least 10 times as a kid, and yet I've never been in one. She walked us through, and we were the only people in the park. Dreamy.

London: Acting Like Tourists

For Clara's 7th birthday, we planned a day that would be everything she'd been saying she wanted to do. The main reason Clara has a strong sense of what she wants to do in London isn't because we are oh-such jetsetters...no, it's because she's pretty obsessed with travel dvds (The Little Travelers , and Travel With Kids series , one of which is on London). She wanted to go to Buckingham Palace, see the lions at Trafalgar Square, go to a park (preferably the Princess Diana Playground) with her friend Daphne, ride a double-decker bus, and have a nice lunch with ice cream afterwards. Our goal was to get through Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, and Fortnum and Mason (where we had decided to go to lunch), all before picking up our friend Ariel at 2pm. We managed easily, and even had time to meander through St. James Park , which is a nice way to walk between Trafalgar Square and Buckingham Palace. Just as we exited the park, we realized it was the changing of the guards. Perfect timing.

Above is inside St. James Park , with a view to the London Eye, which we didn't do, because our friends in NY said the line took forever, and that their 6 year old pronounced it "boring" because it went too slow. There are "fast track" tickets, which allow you to show up 15 minutes before your reserved time, but they cost 22 pounds each, which is alot! (Free for kids under four).

(above four pictures are of The Inn at the Park)

We loved the St. James Park . It had a lovely lake with all kinds of beautiful ducks, and a playground that we didn't make it to. It's in the center of so many things you'd want to be checking out, and it has a great restaurant, The Inn at the Park , which has take-out and sit down service, and has the kind of healthy, organic, delicious food that you always wish you could find in a park, but never can. Worth a stop, even just for a coffee.

We loved these chairs that you can rent in the parks, but only for a photo op. Who wants to pay to sit down in a park?! This was in The Green Park in between Buckingham Palace and Piccadilly, where we were headed for lunch at Fortnum and Mason .

We love the arcade shops throughout the Piccadilly area. Perfect for rainy days.

Jermyn Street, one block off of Piccadilly, has some cool old shops, like this Bates Hat Shop , and a very smart gentleman's shaving shop. Plus many custom shirtmakers.

A delicious smoked salmon sandwich, and it was 8 pounds. Not bad for a fancy restaurant (We were at The Parlour on the 2nd floor, known for its ice creams and sundaes) in Fortnum & Mason, a store that has been around since 1707, is patronized by the Queen, and is in the heart of touristy London.

This was the children's smoked salmon sandwich and I think that was around 5 pounds.

Delicious ham sandwich with quail eggs and mayonnaise, and a mache salad. 8 pounds.

A delicious raspberry sundae at Fortnum & Mason.