Canary Wharf, London

A quick post to remember when we visited Canary Wharf while I was in London with my family. 

The first thing we thought upon arriving was how different it feels from the rest of London. Canary Wharf is a business district, but beautiful nonetheless. 

The sky was grey when we arrived, but the sun came out in the afternoon. 

It was subtle at first, but then kept getting brighter and brighter, giving us great lighting for pictures!

After snapping a few, we crossed a small bridge...

Finding small restaurants, cafes and a wonderful museum on the other side! 

Sadly, I didn't take any pictures of our food or tried to take any photos inside the museum… 

Just a few more of us around the area. 

And my sister, who is color crazy, couldn't resist the fact my lips matched the flowers, and took wonderful pictures! She deserves all the credit for the next ones: 

The sun was full on when she took these!

Thank you +Lucianna Ballesteros !!!

My dad sat around for a while with two new friends he made...

And then again, with some more! 

Before we left, we had to make our way through what seemed to be millions of working guys & girls, who at 5:30 sharp, came out to the pubs to drink beer. It was quite a scene!

The sun was setting, so we started our longer-than-usual trip back home. 

Until next time, Canary Wharf! 

Hutong - The Shard, London

My dad made a reservation for lunch at Hutong, one of the restaurants located inside The Shard (the 33rd floor to be exact!). 

The Shard offers amazing, panoramic views of London. We were thrilled! 

Ok now, dear family and friends (and whoever else might be reading this), you'll have to excuse the lighting in these pictures. I could make them brighter, but I'm trying to keep it as true as it was on that day. 

Hutong has a wonderful, dream-like wishing tree that draws your attention just as you walk in. The wishes people have made are on the red tags, which are the tree's leafs. 

My lovely sister, +Lucianna Ballesteros and me, under the tree :) 

Decision time came soon! There's me, smiling at the infinite possibilities...

Here's a little snap of the table my father took while we all used the "loo", as the english would call it. 

We started off with dumplings. 

Mixed Vegetables Dumplings. A special thanks to Sheldon (from the Big Bang Theory) for introducing our family to dumplings :) 

Rose champagne shrimp dumplings. Exquisite!

Crystal crab meat dumplings. Absolutely delicious, and my favorite from all three kinds. 

Vegetarian spring rolls. We all had a little piece and loved them!

Roasted Peking Duck for my parents. They shared, and later decided they shouldn't have. 

The "second stage" of the duck dish. 

I asked for Kung Pow-style fried prawns. Spicy and very, very addictive. 

Fried noodles with seasonal vegetable for my sister, who had a smile on her face even though the veggie-friendly menu was limited.

She asked for egg-white rice as a side. Her meal wouldn't have been complete without it :) 

My dad, gazing at the view after having devoured that poor duck!

After lunch, we headed over to the bar to have coffee and dessert. 

There's Lu, with her perfect little outfit! 

On the way to the toilets there is a wall covered from top to bottom with red lanterns, which made my mom and sister's jaw drop open. 

We sat down once again, ready for what was next. 

Look at that menu! 

As I said before, we were ready to order dessert. But the waitress told us we should have done that in the restaurant, so that they could serve it later on, at the bar. That meant no desserts for us!

The news gravely upset my mom… 

But she cheered up once my dad assured her we would find a Starbucks and get one of our beloved Rocky Road bars. 

We took a few snaps of the city…

And of ourselves with the city as the background...

And were happily on our way! 

Lunch at The Shard is definetely a must when in London! It was one of those days I'll always remember.