Having not visited London for many years as tourists, we've been down there now on 3 separate occasions in the last 10 months. Last May for our anniversary, on New Years Day to take in the excellent parade around the streets, and this weekend for Donna's birthday. I'd promised Donna that as we'd agreed I wouldn't buy her a gift , but a weekend away for both of us, that's not cheating is it?
As on the last two occasions we booked 1st Class train travel; it's not quite up to the level of cuisine that you experience in the week but it is a little less expensive, and to be honest it's mainly for the added space and in theory more chance of it being peace and quiet. Although with two couples knocking back the wine across from us it wasn't exactly like being in a church!
We spent the Saturday afternoon in St Paul's Cathedral, quite an amazing building and hard to imagine that it took less than 40 years to build given what would have been available at the time. And the views from the top (having walked up 528 steps) were well worth the effort, especially on a nice afternoon as was the case. After a couple of hours we walked over to the hotel which was only 5 minutes away, and with the added bonus of the room having a view of the Cathedral.
The main reason for heading down to London was to go to the Savoy Theatre to see '9 to 5' with Louise Redknapp, Brian Conley and Bonnie Langford as the main stars. And as the evening was nice we decided to make the 2 mile round-trip on foot which took us down the historic Fleet Street towards 'Theatre Land'. The show itself was very enjoyable, yes the seats weren't the most comfortable but in a 138 year old building you're not going to get a great deal of room but it didn't spoil the show in any way.
On Sunday we had planned to take in more of the Natural History Museum, this time focusing on the Red Zone which covers everything geological, how the earth works now, how it was formed, how life formed, you get the picture. We were in there for two and a half hours, yet even with our last visit we still probably haven't taken in half of what there is to see.
It was early afternoon so time to find something to eat, and only 2 tube stops away was Bill's Restaurant where we would be able to take advantage of Donna's John Lewis discount; always a bonus when you're seeking food. We had a lovely 3-course meal of Chicken Skewers, Burgers for our main, followed by Apple & Salted Caramel Crumble with ice-cream and custard, all in it passed around 2hrs of our time.
As our last adventure of the weekend we headed back onto the Circle Line over to the embankment where we jumped off next to the Thames and walked for an hour or so before getting back on the tube again at Mansion House around to Kings Cross for the journey back North. A lovely weekend.
As on the last two occasions we booked 1st Class train travel; it's not quite up to the level of cuisine that you experience in the week but it is a little less expensive, and to be honest it's mainly for the added space and in theory more chance of it being peace and quiet. Although with two couples knocking back the wine across from us it wasn't exactly like being in a church!
We spent the Saturday afternoon in St Paul's Cathedral, quite an amazing building and hard to imagine that it took less than 40 years to build given what would have been available at the time. And the views from the top (having walked up 528 steps) were well worth the effort, especially on a nice afternoon as was the case. After a couple of hours we walked over to the hotel which was only 5 minutes away, and with the added bonus of the room having a view of the Cathedral.
The main reason for heading down to London was to go to the Savoy Theatre to see '9 to 5' with Louise Redknapp, Brian Conley and Bonnie Langford as the main stars. And as the evening was nice we decided to make the 2 mile round-trip on foot which took us down the historic Fleet Street towards 'Theatre Land'. The show itself was very enjoyable, yes the seats weren't the most comfortable but in a 138 year old building you're not going to get a great deal of room but it didn't spoil the show in any way.
On Sunday we had planned to take in more of the Natural History Museum, this time focusing on the Red Zone which covers everything geological, how the earth works now, how it was formed, how life formed, you get the picture. We were in there for two and a half hours, yet even with our last visit we still probably haven't taken in half of what there is to see.
It was early afternoon so time to find something to eat, and only 2 tube stops away was Bill's Restaurant where we would be able to take advantage of Donna's John Lewis discount; always a bonus when you're seeking food. We had a lovely 3-course meal of Chicken Skewers, Burgers for our main, followed by Apple & Salted Caramel Crumble with ice-cream and custard, all in it passed around 2hrs of our time.
As our last adventure of the weekend we headed back onto the Circle Line over to the embankment where we jumped off next to the Thames and walked for an hour or so before getting back on the tube again at Mansion House around to Kings Cross for the journey back North. A lovely weekend.
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