Back in September, my Mam and I went to London for a weekend of shopping and sight-seeing. I've not been on a summer holiday this year and my only time out of the North East was a weekend spent in Leeds for my friend's birthday back at the start of the year, so I was more than due an adventure.
London has always been one of my favourite places to visit and I can't count the amount of times I've visited now. I usually go in December time because I LOVE the atmosphere of seeing everywhere lit up on the dark nights, the ice rinks - especially the one at Somerset House - and of course Winter Wonderland. I'll definitely be heading back again this year because myself and one of my besties, Helen, have tickets to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the o2 in December. Can't wait!!
Anyway!
Day One...
Mam and I set off on Saturday 24th September bright and early for our train and arrived at Kings Cross just before midday. After a short taxi journey we arrived at our absolute beaut of a hotel, the Blu Radisson Grafton Hotel on Tottenham Court Road. Normally we really couldn't have afforded such a nice hotel but by some miracle there was an offer on Superbreak.com to stay two nights with rail included for £185 each - insane!! I would highly recommend trying to find a similar deal when you're booking a city break. Means you get more spending money for your trip!
The first place we visited was St Paul's Cathedral. I printed off some half price entry vouchers for main attractions which I found online, so we paid £18 for the two of us to go inside. You're given a little electronic device with a headset so you can have an audio tour as you walk around. I found this really useful to learn things as usually I'll just look around thinking 'ooo thats pretty' but not have a clue what I'm looking at! Sadly taking photographs inside St Paul's is not permitted but I did get a few shots of the outside.
After that we went on a leisurely walk across the millennium bridge towards the Tate Modern and along the riverside towards Tower Bridge and then across to the Tower of London. Unfortunately by the time we got there it was closed to go inside but we enjoyed the walk with amazing views, and stopped for a coffee break on the way.
We decided to head to the other end of the river to visit Big Ben, so we took the tube and had a walk along the south bank beside the London Eye. The atmosphere was great as the sun was just going down, there were food stalls, live music and street performers. I got myself an amazing veggie burrito from the stand at Wahaca which was insanely good.
A bit later we had dinner in a Cafe Concerto which was beautiful.
We then finished the day with an evening walk back to the hotel via Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, Carnaby, Regent Street, Oxford Street and finally Tottenham Court Road. Not surprisingly we walked 26,000 steps that day according to my phone!!
Day Two...
Not gonna lie waking up and getting out of bed was hard that morning because of all the walking! We got up and ready then head to Carnaby Street and popped into the Pret A Manger there for a coffee and pan au chocolat to start the day. With it being a Sunday the shops opened later than usual, some 11-5, others 12-6, so we had a wander around before places opened and enjoyed how quiet the streets were compared to usual.
We first visited Topshop of course and after looking around the entire place all I bought was a jumper that I'd seen in the stores at home and a pair of jeans! Not sure what is going on in there this season but I'm really not going crazy for anything like I normally would be this time of year. Having said that, my new jeans are incredible and I've worn them an excessive amount since buying them. It's always a sad time to visit the Topshop mothership when I no longer have my staff discount...
My jeans were the Dree style which I've never had before, and I took a risk buying them without trying them on, but I got my usual size w28 l34 and they fit me perfectly! Now I'm after the perfect pair of ankle boots to wear with them!
Following our afternoon tea Mam and I had a walk through the park Buckingham Palace and then across to visit Fortnum and Mason in Piccadilly. Neither of us had visited the store before and wow is it insanely expensive. I did enjoy looking around although I am just baffled by obscenely priced stuff and I really didn't understand the hype! Mam bought her friend a box of fancy chocolates and that was about all we could afford haha.
Day Two...
Not gonna lie waking up and getting out of bed was hard that morning because of all the walking! We got up and ready then head to Carnaby Street and popped into the Pret A Manger there for a coffee and pan au chocolat to start the day. With it being a Sunday the shops opened later than usual, some 11-5, others 12-6, so we had a wander around before places opened and enjoyed how quiet the streets were compared to usual.
My jeans were the Dree style which I've never had before, and I took a risk buying them without trying them on, but I got my usual size w28 l34 and they fit me perfectly! Now I'm after the perfect pair of ankle boots to wear with them!
After Topshop we headed down Regent Street to a lovely vegetarian restaurant called Tibits to meet one of my best friends Sarah, who I hadn't seen in over a year since she moved back to London from Sunderland! We had a lovely catch up over the most yummy veggie food and I'd highly recommend the restaurant. It felt so strange to be able to eat anything and not have limited options! Hoorah! Thank you to Sarah's Nan for the recommendation haha
After our meal Sarah, my Mam and I went back to Carnaby Street where we visited one of my favourite shops Monki, then Sarah had to head off. I miss her so so much and love that when we see each other it's as though we were never apart.
While walking from Tibits back to our hotel we passed a lady making art on her typewriter outside of Liberty. I looked her up and she's @krtypewriterart on instagram if you're interested in her work! I thought it was amazing.
The Sunday afternoon went slightly downhill after this because Mam and I decided to get the tube to Knightsbridge to go to Harrods and then head to Chelsea. But because of it being a Sunday afternoon, by the time we got to Chelsea everything was shut! We walked past the beautiful V&A Museum I did manage to find The World's End Vivienne Westwood Shop (closed) and we had a lovely walk along the Chelsea Embankment, but I definitely failed on finding the part of King's Road we had wanted to visit. We were so tired from walking around we slumped into the first pub we saw and had a not very nice and expensive pub lunch! In hindsight I wish we had visited the V&A Museum and spent time in there, but hey ho.
Poor Mam was so tired we headed back to the hotel, and while she was resting (with her permission) I left her and went to meet a friend for a drink in Leicester Square followed by another evening walk.
Day Three...
In utter disbelief at how fast the trip was passing by, we got up relatively early, packed up our things, left our cases at the hotel and ventured out for our last day. We planned on going for breakfast first but stumbled across an Oliver Bonas store where I could literally spend hours their stock is so beautiful. I ended up buying a beautiful lamp for my bedroom with a huge Edison bulb. Love! Silly me not thinking we'd pass the shop again later in the day, I carried the lamp around in a carrier bag all day long, completely unnecessarily.
On our way to Covent Garden we came across Seven Dials which I'd never visited before and thought it was a beautiful area, with a Rokit vintage store, Urban Outfitters and a Brandy Melville store.
In Covent Garden we browsed the market for a while which is always lovely, especially when there are musicians playing, which there usually is! During our visit there were violinists.
We then headed to Brigit's Bakery where I'd booked us Afternoon Tea, which we had been highly anticipating. It did not disappoint, it was amazing! The staff were lovely, the savoury food was yummy and the cakes were beautiful. We were so full we had to take away our left over treats, and we bought a BB Bakery mug to enjoy our cups of tea in at home. I'd highly recommend here for afternoon tea or simply just to stop by for a slice of cake and a cuppa.
Having only a couple of hours left before we had to get our train home we decided to go to choccywoccydoodah for a treat and shared an unreal banana split dessert with ice cream, cream and chocolate flakes on top. I'm more of a savoury person than sweet but my God there was not a scrap of that left it was so delicious. All the walking we did I'm sure we burned it all off easily anyway!
The last part of our day was heading back to the hotel to collect our cases then heading back to Kings Cross to catch our train back to Durham. Three days in London is definitely a whirlwind trip and we didn't fit in as much as we wanted but we did get about a lot! Maybe next time I'll make more of an organised plan.
