Visitors from the Windy city

Did we ever tell you about Coach's digging ability? He has a spot in Holland park that he has to dig at every time we walk by it. 

This week we were blessed with a visit by Leanne's sister Kim and her main man Jim.

They arrived early Sunday morning and we were off and running for the rest of the week. The day they arrived we did a walk thru Kensington, Hyde, Green and St. James Park. Ending up at Gordon's wine bar for a late lunch. http://gordonswinebar.com/

We stopped at a pub before heading back to the house for a break. Dinner would be at the Thai restaurant in the back of Churchill's pub. http://www.churchillarmskensington.co.uk/

Monday we took them on a walk down the Thames. We had walked down this stretch a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it. 

The two Phillips enjoying a half pint at the Dove pub.

http://www.dovehammersmith.co.uk/

This bar is in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the smallest bar room in the world. The room only has two bar stools.

A view of the Thames from the porch at the Dove. The river was low because tide was out but in a short time it would fill up.

Weather was good all day so it would be an enjoyable walk.

A little goofing around at Chiswick house and gardens

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiswick_House

We even got Coach in this picture, but i think he was looking for a squirrel.

Back in the day a lot of famous people visited the house and property including Thomas Jefferson , Benjamin Franklin, Russian Tsars and even the Beatles. Today it was visited by these famous people.

Tuesday Kim went to Sassoon to do some research for her business back home. While she was there we showed Jim some of the sights. Where else but London can you sit between Roosevelt and Churchill.

Next stop would be the Dukes bar at the Dukes hotel.  

https://www.dukeshotel.com/

The bar was frequented by James Bond author Ian Fleming and is said where he came up with the line "shaken not stirred"

Our drinks were made right at the table

Leanne ordered a peach Bellini, but took time to try my Vespa martini. 

Jim giving his martini a try.

Wednesday we were off to Amsterdam, the city with the beautiful canals

and the crooked buildings.

Our first night there we went to a restaurant called Bak. It was in an out of the way place on the top floor of an old warehouse. The food was amazing, this was a tomato appetizer with edible flowers.  

This was our view of the dock area from the restaurant.

The place we rented had a very steep stairway.

We were on the fourth and fifth floor.

Thursday we walked around town 

and dodged bikes and trolley cars

We also spent time at the Van Gogh Museum.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Gogh_Museum

As we were leaving Jim decided to try on a pair of wooden shoes. Good thing he decided not to by this pair.

Saturday we would be back in London and go for a quick walk before Kim and Jim would head back home to Chicago.

We would walk to Regent park by way of a canal. 

Once in the park we took time to watch a kids soccer game. Soccer is the game of choice here so there is always one going on.

Kim and Jim left in the early afternoon, it was great visit but way to short.

Sunday Leanne and I went for another walk. 

Good thing we didn't plan on going for a bike ride.

This area is called Marylebone, another section of London.

One of the famous people that lived here or group of people were John, Paul and Ringo of the Beatles. They lived just down this street.

A busy couple of weeks.