A Long Weekend in London, Part 2

If you read the post entitled A Long Weekend in London, Part 1, then this one won't seem quite so out of leftville as if you haven't, but I'll fill in the blanks for you nonetheless.

A couple of weekends ago, the husband and I decided to head up to London for a long weekend, as not only do three of my best friends live up there, but it was also our wedding anniversary. If you're interested in what I got up to in the first two days, then please do head over and read the first installment, which went up last Tuesday, but today's post is to round off proceedings with a quick run-down of our final day and night.

Monday was our anniversary itself, so we got up bright and early, wanting to make the most of the day. After several cocktails and a fairly late night the evening before, we would have been forgiven for feeling a little bit hungover, but somehow, we had both managed to avoid that fate, and were raring to get out and about as soon as we could. The weather was still bitterly cold, so we wrapped up warm and headed out in the direction of Patisserie Valerie for a spot of breakfast. I had already looked it up on Citymapper and established that there was a branch fairly nearby, and after a quick stroll in the sunshine, we found ourselves outside.

Breakfast, at the weekends or on holiday, is my absolute favourite meal of the day, and I eagerly went ahead and ordered my favourite - Eggs Royale, to be washed down with a pot of English Breakfast tea. The husband plumped for the Full English, and as we waited for the food to arrive, we chatted about our plans for the rest of the day. 

The food arrived quickly, and certainly didn't disappoint. Mine was served on brioche instead of the usual English muffin, and suffice to say, I'm an absolute convert! All Eggs Royale should be served like this from now on, and I'll be very disappointed if it isn't. We ate quickly, enjoying every bite, and treated ourselves to a slice of lemon cheesecake to share. Granted, it wasn't quite lunchtime, but if you've ever visited Patisserie Valerie yourselves then you'll know how impossible it is to resist. That, coupled with the fact that it was a special occasion, somehow made it an acceptable choice, and a delicious one, at that.

Once we were suitably fed and watered, we paid the bill and headed outside, meandering through Queensway in the direction of Kensington Gardens. It was a beautiful day for a stroll, and as we were heading towards Kensington anyway, it would have been rude not to go via the park. There were ducks, geese and other birds all over the grass, and given the proximity to some royal digs, the obligatory swan sunning itself on the lake. Rather than cutting straight across the gardens, we decided to have a little bit of a nose at Kensington Palace itself, though we didn't go in, content to observe from the outside. The squirrels were remarkably tame, and we were surprised to see how close they would edge to the people around them, in hope of a few crumbs. We even saw one that was so unafraid, it was taking pieces of cracker from a woman's hand and casually perching to eat them nearby. Incredible!

After we were done with the gardens, we went for a long walk, via Knightsbridge, until we arrived at the Science Museum. We spent a couple of hours wandering round inside, as though I had been before some years ago, my husband never had. One of the things I really love about London is the sheer number of cultural and educational activities you have right on your doorstep, but better than that, the fact that many of them are absolutely free to partake in.

By the time we left the museum, it must have been nearly four, and conscious that we had a special meal booked for early that evening and that we'd need to get ready, we decided to take the tube back to Bayswater. Before returning to the hotel, we stopped off for a drink or two in a pub along the way, and were astonished to find that drinks were half the price than anywhere else we'd been! I wish I had taken note of the name, as although it was a little bit tired looking, it's places like this that can make expensive weekends away that little bit more doable. I'm going to try to find out, and if I do, I'll be sure to share it with you.

A couple of games of pool later, we were still in the pub, and it soon became apparent that we wouldn't have time to go back and change before our meal. Instead, we decided to make the most of the situation and have another drink, before getting the tube to Piccadilly and making our way to the restaurant. We were lucky enough to be going to Gaucho, an upmarket Argentinian steak house, after a work colleague had very kindly donated me a £50 voucher he had been given, and as soon as we arrived, we wished we had found the time to go back to the hotel and spruce ourselves up a bit. Usually, we'd never go out for a meal without making the effort, so we felt a bit silly to have made such a faux pas on this occasion!

While we were studying the menu, a waitress appeared with a board bearing several cuts of raw meat, and proceeded to explain each one to us in a bid to help us in making our selection. In the end, we both opted for rare sirloin steaks, with sides of roasted field mushrooms and baked sweet potatoes.

The steaks on their own were around the £25 mark each, with side dishes charged at £5 each and drinks costing around a tenner, so it certainly isn't a cheap option, but given that we had our voucher in hand, we were fairly relaxed in treating ourselves.

The steaks were superb - there's no other word for them. I'm not the hugest fan of red meat, and it's very rare that I select it when given the choice, but having tried steak Gaucho style, I'm absolutely a convert. Yes, they're expensive, but you definitely get what you pay for. The restaurant itself looks impeccable, and the service was outstanding - I've never had better.

We were keen to enjoy the evening after our meal, but were conscious that we had a long coach journey home the next morning. I'm not sure whether I mentioned this before, but while travelling by bus takes a fair while longer than train, it's also a great deal cheaper. I doubt this is news to the majority of you, but for anyone wondering, you're looking at £30 return versus £95 on the train. Given the choice, I'd go for the train every time, as it gets you there in 3hrs 40 rather than the five and a half on the coach, but when you're paying for two it does tend to bump the cost of a weekend away up much further than I'd like. So, on this occasion, we went for the cheaper option.

As we were nearby, we made our way to Soho, which is only a short walk from Piccadilly on foot. Our luck was in, as we managed to find a couple of bars - including Gem - which had half price cocktails on offer, so we sipped our way through a couple each before admitting defeat and getting the last tube back to the hotel.

All in all, we had a fantastic weekend, and definitely squeezed the most out of it we could. A long weekend in London is never enough though, and I'm certain we will be back for more, very soon indeed.

You might have noticed that I haven't included any evening photos here, which is largely down to the fact that I didn't want to carry my good camera around at night, so I'll be popping up a few of my Instagram and phone photos over the weekend of anything you haven't seen yet.

What are your favourite things to do in London?

XX

A Long Weekend in London: Part 1

It's always a pleasure visiting London, but each and every time I do, I have a list of things I'd like to see, do and eat that is as long as my arm - if not longer. It's one of those places that is permanently buzzing with activity and newness, and I suspect that even for those who live there, it's difficult to keep up. There are the pop up shops and the new restaurants, and then there are the up-and-coming areas that two years ago, no one would have set fut in. It's forever changing and evolving, and that's just one of the many reasons I love it.

Last weekend, we headed up for a long weekend, the first night of which was to be spent staying with friends. Upon our arrival into London, we headed straight for their place, and after a good catch up and plenty of tea, we decided to take a trip down to London fields and Broadway market. This was a first for me, and in spite of the biting chill in the air it was a joy to walk the narrow streets, taking in the sights, sounds and smells. There was vintage clothing and home-cooked food, and it was tempting to empty my purse right there and then. After a meander down to the end of the market, stopping to browse the stalls and sample homemade veggie scotch eggs and oysters, we ducked into a nearby pub for a glass of prosecco and the hance to warm ourselves up. There was a one man band putting on a fantastic show on his double bass, and despite the fact that it was still only around 3pm, most people were entirely on board, drinking, dancing and having fun.

After a while, we decided to head back to the flat and prepare ourselves for the night ahead, and it was there that I was met my the best of surprises - another of my friends was visiting from Manchester, and they had all kept it under wraps just to see the look on my face. It's very rare that we all get to see each other, so suffice to say, it must have been a good one.

That evening, we went for tapas in Stoke Newington at a restaurant called ....., washing them down with yet more prosecco, before heading to a nearby pub for more drinks and games. The plan was to end up at a club called Oslo, but our luck was out that night as we arrived to find it wasn't open to the public. The result? Much walking around, looking for somewhere to go. Eventually, we found a jazz bar and popped in for a drink or two, but the cold had been a bit much for us all, so we soon decided to call it a night.

The next day, after an amazing cooked breakfast courtesy of our hosts, we packed up our bags and travelled across London to the London Premier Notting Hill hotel, where we had booked in for two nights to celebrate our anniversary. I've found that although London hotels can be really pricey and a quick search of Booking.com can turn up nothing affordable, it's well worth scouring the site a few times in the lead-up to your planned trip, as they do sometimes drop when you least expect it.

The Premier Notting Hill is a four star, but we got it for a really good price - if you've got a trip on the horizon then keep an eye out, as I'll be reviewing the hotel soon.

After checking in and dropping off our bags, we took a walk down to Portobello Road and perused the market stalls, taking in the beautiful vintage crockery and Banksy artwork and once again trying not to open our wallets. I could spend hours wandering round the London markets, and it's another case of never getting to do them all. There are just so many to choose from, and I love the variety they offer. There's a certain charm about them that is so much more than you could ever get from simply walking down the high street.

We stopped off at a pub and ordered a Bloody Mary for me and a pint of cider for him - we were both in need of a hair of the dog after the night we'd had, and a charcuterie and cheese board was just the job to accompany our drinks.

In the evening, we decided to head for Shoreditch, but unfortunately it was easier said than done due to the fact that it was a Sunday evening and several of the tube lines were being worked on. Eventually, we figured out that we'd have to get to Liverpool Street and walk from there, but we ended up getting completely lost in the freezing cold night. Before long, I began to notice that there were a lot of Indian restaurants around, and suddenly cottoned onto the fact that we were actually on  Brick Lane - I remembered it from last time, but it definitely wasn't where we had been heading for! We actually relied quite heavily on an app called Citymapper while we were away, and for the most part it is excellent - all you have to do is pop in your current location and where you'd like to go, and it'll map out a route for you, telling you how you can get there by bus, tube, car and on foot. It was pretty much our saviour, but there were times when it wasn't quite up to date with the goings on with that day, which did throw a spanner in the works once or twice.

Eventually, we did find Shoreditch, and we decided to walk on to Hoxton and have dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant called Cyclo. We shared sweet potato and prawn fritters to start, both opting for a monkfish dish for mains, and all of it was delicious - not to mention surprisingly affordable.

Once we'd finished, we headed into The Shoreditch to make the most of happy hour (actually, it went on all night), before finally ending up in a little club called Cargo where we danced and laughed until we had no energy left. We managed to get a night bus home, and fell straight asleep when we got in - if there's one thing that's a certainty about London, it is that is has the power to exhaust anyone in a day or so!

I've got lots more photos of the trip, and another couple of days to share, but rather than make this post any lengthier I'll leave the rest for another day this week. There aren't any night time photos in this one, as I didn't fancy carrying my decent camera around that late, but I did take plenty of snaps on my phone, which will come in an Instagram updates blog post at the weekend.

What are your favourite London haunts? I'm always keen to get recommendations, as there are just so many options that it's often difficult to know where to go!

xx

Week in Pictures

1. Japanese lunch   2. Vanilla Latte and Pain au Chocolat   3. Chilling in a book shop with iced coffee and magazines   4. Mini VW Vans   5. Patisserie cakes   6. Looking at vintage bits for the house   7. Duck Tagliatelle - out for an Italian meal to celebrate five years together   8. My outfit of the night (Studded-collar Zara blouse and River Island leather-look shorts)   9. Giveaway goodies!   10. Outfit of the day - lace and denim   11. More giveaway goodies (Oops!! Just realised I accidentally used the same photo twice! Fail.)   12. Treats in the post from my mum   13. Zara mini-spree   14. More cute VW vans...I was so tempted to buy these for the house but they cost a fortune!   15. Weekend nails   16. Pitta and dips for lunch

I've had such a lovely weekend!  Up until Friday, my week had been pretty uneventful, as I had been at work as usual. But when Friday arrived, the hubby and I decided a mini-roadtrip was in order and so we headed off for a couple of days in honour of our having been together for five years. Five years!! I actually cannot believe it has been so long. 

Anyway, we spent the majority of Friday doing a bit of shopping and had a bit of a splurge in Zara. I got a sleeveless version of the iconic cream chiffon shirt with the studded collar, which I was absolutely ecstatic to find, as I hadn't seen it before. It's got a dipped hem at the back and I am so in love with it! I also got a cute pair of mint shorts with tiny pink polkadots, and then just a plain, thin cardigan, because who doesn't always need more of those? The hubby also picked up a few bits, and then we went and refuelled with some hummous, Baba Ganoush and pitta, followed by vanilla lattes and Pain Au Chocolat.....nom.

That evening, we decided to head out for dinner, so I wore my new Zara shirt with a pair of black leather-look shorts, my spiked necklace and black suede peep-toe heels from Primark. We went to an Italian restaurant which does the most amazing food. We have really similar tastes, and are equally indecisive when faced with too many delicious-sounding options, so we ordered two dishes and then sneakily shared them. One was a goats cheese ravioli in a pear sauce with pine nuts, and the other was a wholegrain tagliatelle with duck. Both were amazing and we finished off every last bite - washed down with a cocktail, of course.

The next day, we had breakfast at the hotel and then went back to the shopping centre, as the hubby had to change one of the t-shirts he'd bought for a different size. While we were there, we had a browse in the book shop and then sat in the cafe drinking iced coffees and reading magazines. I had a little browse in Mac too, but shockingly managed to leave without buying anything (!), and then we had Japanese for lunch before heading down to the beach to enjoy the afternoon sun. We had to come back that night, so when we got home we just chilled out with some films and munch. The diet went totally out the window for those couple of days!

Today has just been a really chilled one back at home. We had a lie-in and then went for a lazy lunch, before coming back and drinking cups of tea and reading our books . My poor little cat is not feeling himself and has been really quiet and withdrawn all day, so I think a trip to the vet might be in order tomorrow, plus it's back to work....wah.

How was your weekend?

xx