I may have been a bit optimistic in trying to do one blog post a week. It’s more likely going to be a monthly or fortnightly update. Finding inspiration and the time to sit down and write is proving difficult! This week, I'm writing about our half term trip to London. I don't know about you, but all of our trips to London seem to be a bit hectic. There's so much to see and do that we're guilty of trying to cram too much into a short time. It was a jam packed four days!
Us two on the Tube
I’d bought Gordon a James Bond for a day experience two years ago and this was the main reason for our visit. We left on Monday morning and got home Thursday evening. I managed to get our return train tickets significantly cheaper by booking the journey from Chester to Crewe and then from Crewe to Euston separately. Also strangely, the first-class tickets were much cheaper than the standard tickets. For half term, the train was relatively quiet. We had plenty of space and felt comfortable. We wore our masks when moving about the train and took them off when we settled in our seats. There were only four other people in our compartment and we were well spaced out. We were so lucky with the weather, it was sunny and dry for almost all of our trip. The only rain was a very light drizzle on Monday afternoon that didn't last long. We actually packed and dressed far too warmly, it had been 14-15 degrees in Chester and a bit windy but London was a balmy 18-19 degrees and sunny. My heavy winter coat was far too warm.
Monday
We arrived just after midday but check in at our hotel was not until 4pm so we went to the British Library first. This is one of my favourite places in London. It’s a great place to spend a few hours, it’s close to Euston and the library itself is open until 8pm. It’s very handy pre or post check out of hotel, while you’re waiting to catch the train or doing some early sightseeing, because the storage lockers and cloakroom are free. Just bear in mind that the lockers are small! Even cabin sized luggage is not guaranteed to fit. We fit Gordon’s duffle bag, my backpack and our excess coats in fine though. I could spend hours just looking through the Treasures of the British Library rooms but they often have other exhibitions and events on for children and adults alike. At the time, it was Paddington and Mary and Elizabeth on show. The cafe and restaurant are decent and the gift shop is a pleasure to browse.
Curry bowls from Hiden
After stashing our bags, we had an explore around the area. We took a stroll out to Coal Drops Yard and window shopped around the super trendy and uber expensive shops. For lunch, we picked up Japanese curry bowls from Hiden, a Japanese curry lab that just serves chicken, beef or vegan curry with rice (https://hidencurry.com ). Predictably enough, Gordon had the mild and I went for the spicy. It was delicious but very nearly too spicy, even for me! The standout of the bowl was the pickled daikon radish on top. It was sweet and crunchy and balanced out the spice beautifully. Then we visited Word on the Water, the most charming barge I have ever seen, chock full of books (https://www.wordonthewater.co.uk ).
Gordon perusing books at the book barge
In the evening after checking in at our hotel, we went for a walk down Carnaby street and had dinner at Mother Mash (https://www.mothermash.co.uk ). This place was mash heaven! You choose your pie or sausages, of which there were about a dozen choices including vegetarian and vegan options, and one of eight different mash options (including colcannon and champ, which delighted me) and then your gravy. It was comfort food at its best! We raided Crosstown doughnuts (https://www.crosstown.co.uk/project/soho/ ) and Snowflake Gelato (https://snowflakegelato.co.uk/boutique-page/soho/ ) for dessert and cinema snacks. before heading off to the Vue at Leicester Square to watch No Time to Die.
Chicken and leek pie with Colcannon and traditional gravy at Mother Mash
The cinema was extremely busy and pretty much every seat was taken. It was as busy as any place we visited during our trip and was where I felt the most uncomfortable because I'm still not used to not having to social distance. Having someone sat so close to me and being completely surrounded my people felt really bizarre. Gordon and I had discussed it prior to going and had decided to wear our masks in indoor settings or in very crowded places just as a precaution. We did see a lot of others still wearing theirs too. I did get used to the crowds more in the following days. I'd forgotten just how busy London can be! We both enjoyed the film, it actually got me in the feels at the end and there were some tears.
We stayed at the Leonardo Royal Hotel at Tower Bridge (https://www.leonardo-hotels.com/leonardo-royal-hotel-london-tower-bridge ). It’s an enormous hotel with an unassuming exterior but the interior was great. Check in was relatively late at 4pm but check out was at 12 as standard so you could get a really good lie in on check out day. The rooms were comfortable and clean and had air conditioning. The bathrooms had both a bath and a separate shower. The beds were plush and cosy. A special mention goes to the spa and pool, which were well worth a visit. The 25m pool was lovely. They have a sauna, steam-room and jacuzzi and best of all a wonderous foot spa with both hot and cold water that worked magic on my sore feet after trekking around London all day. It automatically emptied and refilled after each person too! As you can tell, I was mighty impressed by the foot jacuzzi. The pool is open until 10pm daily, with adults only after 7pm which was nice when we wanted a bit of quiet. Breakfast was served buffet style and was plentiful and tasty. The hotel had it’s own smoothie blends made fresh each morning and there was also an omelette and porridge station where you could choose your own fillings/toppings and watch it being made in front of you. It was handy for getting around too, being just 5 mins walk to either Tower Hill or Aldgate station. We paid £215 for the three nights. I booked it using the myriad of vouchers I'd been given as a result of travel cancellations over the last two years, I don't know if we could afford the room rates once they go back up to normal pre-pandemic prices but if they were reasonable, we would definitely stay there again.
Tuesday
I had bought a package through Virgin experience days that included two Tower of London tickets and a three-course meal with wine at Brasserie Blanc. It was £82.50 for both of us which was an absolute bargain considering the Tower of London tickets would have been £60 for the two of us on their own. The Tower was super interesting. I booked for the earliest entry of the day at 10am and joined one of the Beefeater guided tours. I would recommend doing that as they give a lot of insight into the life of the Tower both past and present. They only walk around the outside of the buildings during the tour so afterwards we used the audio guides and wandered around the rest of the palace at our leisure. The Crown jewels are absolutely stunning and are well worth a visit. They are what most people come to see so I would recommend booking the earliest slot available if you are going to the Tower as we had a very short 10minute queue to get in to see the jewels but the queue when we were leaving was at least an hour long, if not two hours.
Us two at the Tower of London
We could have spent more time there but we left at about 2pm, only because our tummies were rumbling for some lunch! We took the short hop over to Borough market and joined the queue at Padella. We’d seen this restaurant recommended by the guys at SortedFood, a YouTube channel about all things food and drink. Again, we were lucky and waited less than 10mins for a table. I had the Crab tagliarini and Gordon had the Sausage pappardelle and we shared a starter of Burrata and sourdough bread. Everything was sensational! The pasta was so fresh and the sauces tasty but not overwhelming. The ingredients used were top notch and you could definitely taste it in the simply prepared dishes. We sat at the bar and watched the chefs working their magic. For London, the prices were reasonable at between £8-£14 a plate depending on your choices. Other customers were ordering multiple plates of pasta and sharing them which we would do next time. After a wander around Borough, headed out to Spitalfields market for a browse around. I got to try a new (to me anyway) Taiwanese street food sweet called a Wheel cake and had some milk tea from Wheelcake island (https://oldspitalfieldsmarket.com/food-and-drink/wheelcake-island ) before we retreated to the hotel for a rest before heading out for dinner.
Pumpkin Cream Wheel Cake and Rose Milk Tea
The second part of our Virgin experience day voucher was for a three-course meal at Brasserie Blanc. We visited the Threadneedle Street branch. Gordon had a cheese souffle to start, followed by grilled salmon and finishing with sticky toffee pudding. I had the chicken pate, duck cassoulet and the most divine pistachio souffle. It was a really lovely relaxed meal. The food was tasty, well cooked and seasoned. We rolled ourselves back to the hotel and got an early night ready for the big excitement of the next day.
Duck Cassoulet
The best souffle I've ever had!
Part two will continue with details our Bond for a Day experience, geek shopping and an amazing dinner at the Cinnamon Club followed by shopping during our final morning in London.