I love how most of my posts on this blog centre around how much I love London. I've been again, only for 3 days this time but 3 days is better than nothing! Instead of going with my friends this time though I went with my parents. Which was the weirdest thing in the world, I haven't been on holiday with them both since I was about 7 or 8. I usually ended up going to Barmouth with my mum (my dad hates caravans!) Don't get me wrong we've been for numerous day trips each year but we haven't had a holiday together in a hotel for well over 13 years.
The whole trip would never have happened if I didn't order my mum Adele tickets for her 50th Birthday present. Unfortunately we were meant to see her on the Sunday night which was one of the ones that she cancelled. We decided to go down anyway and make the most of our small holiday.
We went down on the Saturday morning. We were getting the train to London from Chester at 5 to 8 in the morning which meant we had to leave our house at 7 o'clock. It killed me as somebody who can't wake up in the morning! We got into London about 10:15 so we dropped off our bags early at the hotel and went for a wander. Our hotel was right by the London Eye which was lovely! We walked past Downing Street, went through the gates of the Horse Guard and down The Mall and we ended up sitting on Victoria's Memorial for 10 minutes because my feet were already killing me!
We then walked the long way around to Piccadilly and got the tube back to the hotel to check in. We had a minute or two to unpack and get our bearings once more and we were heading back out again! This time we walked to Trafalgar Square and came across a restaurant called Garfunkel's I'd never heard of it before but after we ate there I came across so many of them! It was really good though, the food tasted amazing! After filling our bellies we were out walking again, this time we walked towards Leicester Square, through Chinatown and ended up in Piccadilly again. After getting tired of walking around we hopped back on the tube and went to Oxford Street. I bought two Kat Von D liquid lipsticks from Debenhams, I've been dying to try them out but I wanted to know what they looked like in person and there are no counters near me!! I bought Lolita and Double Dare.
After that it was getting late, and I wanted to take some night time pictures of the eye while it was dark and all lit up. We ended up getting back to the hotel about quarter to 1 in the morning. It was a very long day for me but we packed so much into it and it was a fabulous first day of London.
Sunday I was awake at 8 again, not much of a lie in for me! We spent the entire morning wondering how we'd get to see my Uncle and co in Essex, it was one of my cousins birthday but we eventually decided it would take too long to get there and once we were in Upminster we couldn't actually get to his house. We'll just have to take a trip down to Essex in the car instead! So after the stressful morning we headed towards Tower Bridge and then the Tower of London. After managing to persuade the ticket man to let me go in as a student when I clearly wasn't we went through the gates and waited for a guided tour. Our tour guide was a beefeater called Kev and he was the best tour guide I've ever had. He was so funny and I enjoyed every minute of it!
After the tour had ended we went for a wander around The White Tower, The Fusilier Museum and we even saw The Crown Jewels. Then we were getting kicked out because of closing time and we went for a drink in one of the bars on the riverside. After letting our feet rest for half an hour we went on yet another long walk around London. (And I STILL haven't lost any weight.) We walked to St. Paul's Cathedral and then went across the Millennium Bridge, which still reminds me of Harry Potter, I half expected death eaters to come zooming and break the bridge again! We then made the great decision to walk back to the hotel. We walked along the edge of the Thames, it was lovely the sun was setting and it looked beautiful, it would have been nicer if my feet didn't feel like lead though.
Monday was home time, our weekend away went by in a heartbeat. We decided rather than living off hardly anything food wise for breakfast we would sit down in a restaurant and have breakfast and start our last day off in a good way. After breakfast we went to Madame Tussaud's, as somebody who has been there twice before I wasn't that fussed on going but I knew my mum especially wanted to go. My dad paid extra for us to go to The Sherlock Experience, which was a rip off because it was free last year! That being said though, they had improved it since the last time I went it was much longer than last year and they were letting fewer in at a time which meant that it was easier to see everything. The actors were incredible and I even got engaged to John Watson haha! After Tusaaud's we went on the search for 221b Baker Street but after seeing the queue to get in we decided against it and went to my other favourite place. The Harry Potter Shop at Platform 9 3/4.
I spent ages in there and I spent nearly £100 oops, the bad thing is I could have spent so much more in there too! The rest of the day was pretty chilled out, we went back to Oxford Street so I could spend the rest of my money in Lush and we went back to that Garfunkel's in Trafalgar Square to get some tea before we got the train back home.
Look at the view from my hotel room! It was so pretty!
Going with my friends and going with my family to London was two opposite ends of the spectrum. With my friends we would sightsee and we would shop and drink, with my family we would see all the old buildings and we would walk everywhere. I enjoyed myself despite not seeing Adele and it was nice to see a side of London that I hadn't seen before. I can't wait to go back.