Away from Amman: A day at London Zoo

At least we had one day with really nice weather while we were in the UK! It happened to be the day we had decided to take Bibs to the zoo. We had a lovely day out and Bibs adored all the animals. London zoo is located in Regent's park, easily accessible by car or by public transport (with a little walk). We parked our car at the zoo car park which was £12.50 and bought the entrance tickets there: £18 +donation per adult - so not exactly a cheap day out... You can also buy your tickets online, not a bad idea if it's busy there can be quite a queue.

It was so nice to see a canal, big very green trees. The canal cuts the zoo in two.

In the center of the park you have this large plaza with restaurants, shops.

The zoo runs a program "keeper for a day" - it costs a small fortune, £270, but for those who love animals it a fab gift. You get to feed some animals (incl. the big cats!). Am sure it is an unbelievable experience.

There is a butterfly garden, where they fly around freely. Very beautiful.

That one is a double butterfly

And this one is enormous. So big it looked unreal!

There is also a monkey garden, where you can walk and the monkeys are in the trees and on the ropes around you! I would just add that they are a bit more afraid that some monkeys I met in Langkawi, Malaysia during our honeymoon.

@ London Zoo

In the mangrove, Langkawi, Malaysia

There is no elephant at the zoo in London, so these are Bibs' top 2 favorites: the Gorilla and the Giraffe!

Away From Amman: In the small town of Marlow

About 30 miles west of London, there is a lovely and charming small town called Marlow. It is located on the river Thames ans is surrounded by a lovely countryside. It's not very far from where we used to live.

Views of Marlow

River Thames - There is a rowing regatta every year, one of the first of the year.

You can read more about the things to see in Marlow here.

But obviously, there is another reason for us going to Marlow, on such a small visit to the UK. Well, in the States there is Abercrombie and Fitch, in the UK there is Jack Wills; and in Marlow there is the cutest shop ever. It's located in a town house, the rooms are too small to take nice pics, but here is the style...

Like everything fashionable, the clothes doesn't come cheap. However they have some good sales and of course there is also their factory outlet in Bicester.

Away from Amman: Bicester! let's go shopping

Located in Oxfordshire, about an hour's drive from London, is the small town of Bicester and its factory outlet. If I am not mistaken it is the closest to London - not 100% sure though. You can reach it by train as well, departure from Marylebone train station and then there are shuttles to the outlet or an express bus from several places in central London. It's one of our favorite shopping places in the UK and with the years it has grown nicely, it has 130 shops from Dior, Hugo Boss, Ralph Lauren, Jimmy Choo, but also Villeroy & Boch, Bose or Bvlgari. I tell you shopping heaven - you name it you have it. I got the most amazing Hugo Boss jeans for £25!

We had lunch at Villandry, a french bistrot, with a lovely atmosphere, really good and fresh food.

When you have finished shopping and if you are driving you could always drive the 15 miles to Blenheim Palace; it is a World Heritage Site and the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill. We haven't been, but it looks amazing and the gardens as well.