Holiday At Home. Part 1: London!

I told you I'd be back very soon!!! 

As mentioned on Tuesday, after my long seven week break from blogging I'm back with lots to tell and so much to share with you all. 

As you already know I'd been fighting against being ill for a good few weeks, so at the end of September the 10 day holiday I had scheduled earlier in the year could not have come at a better time.

Dennis was back from his cruise ship so we had 10 days together. 10 days free from work to do whatever we wanted. 

We thought about going somewhere sunny? Or visiting somewhere brand new to the two of us? But after some careful thought we decided that the best way to spend our time was to visit our home countries. To go back to familiar places, to make new memories where we both already had so many old and to also catch up with friends and family members that we hadn't seen in a little while. 

Our first part of our trip started with travelling back to London. We flew from Hamburg to London Heathrow and made our way directly to our hotel. We were staying at the Easyjet hotel, so as you can imagine it was pretty budget. We'd decided that there was no point in staying at a fancy hotel as it was SOOOOO expensive in London and we were going to be spending most of our time out and about anyways. The hotel room was tiny but served its purpose as a central location (near to Victoria station) where we could sleep comfortably. 

Our London trip was all about visiting familiar surroundings, getting away from Hamburg and eating! We got straight down to the eating part by going for a lovely meal at an Italian restaurant near to Covent Garden. The weather was mild so were able to sit outside at a table on the street and enjoy each others company over some yummy food.

After eating we took an evening stroll around the city and stopped off for some yoghurt at SNOG (a trendy frozen yoghurt store). I loved the deco at SNOG it's so vibrant. Lots of cool lighting and graffiti style art on the walls.

I went for plain yoghurt with Oreo cookies and Dennis chose the "healthier" option of fresh raspberries.

The following day we woke up nice and early to make that most of our days in the city.

We were starting our day by meeting up with our amazing friend Bridget. 

I hadn't seen Bridget in two years and due to busy schedules we also hadn't spoken so often over the past months. When we saw each other it was like old times and the chit chat and banter was still there. 

Bridget is the most amazingly driven person you are likely to meet. She always has some new and exciting project on the go. Bridget owns a chain of lovely ice cream shops around London where she makes the most amazing ice cream you are ever likely to taste. Not only does Bridget have her ice cream shops to keep her busy, she is also a trained nutritionist and wrote a nutrition book last year called Six Pack Chick. As you can see she is pretty fabulous! 

On top of that Bridget has a new venture: We Can Be Kind where she blogs about her 'Random acts of kindness'. I urge you to go take a look at her website, you will definately be inspired!

After catching up with Bridget we made our way into the city centre and did a spot of wandering around along with some shopping. 

I had to go to Hamleys toy shop as I always like to look at the magic trick section. I very rarely buy anything there, but love to watch the magician perform and demonstrate the magic tricks on offer. It brings me back to the love of my magic trick set I had as a child. 

We also spent a good amount of time wandering around Liberty. It's such a beautiful department store. Very expensive but lovely to go for a browse. 

Liberty had a pretty great haberdashery, a large selection of Rowan Yarn......

and a huge selection of GORGEOUS printed fabric. Liberty is definitely worth a visit for the sewers and quilters among you. 

After a day of shopping we headed to the West End as we wanted to see a couple of shows whilst we were in the city. 

We tried to get tickets for The Book of Mormon but it was totally sold out and we were not successful in the lottery they hold each day.  

Instead we got ourselves are pair of tickets for the new musical The Commitments, based on the movie of the same name. It was a really great show, a lot of very talented performers and some fantastic music. 

It was still in the early days of previews so we got extremely great value tickets for £30 each. A bargain and a lovely night out!!!

The following day, and our final day in London started off with the most yummy breakfast I think I have ever had. We ended up eating at The Breakfast Club on Islington's Camden Passage. 

It was a rather cool little cafe decorated with all sorts of pictures, postcards and old vinyl records. 

On the tables stood traditional English condiments. OH HP SAUCE HOW I'VE MISSED YOU!!

We drank perfectly made coffee and then tucked into a gorgeous feast creamy of Eggs Benedict. 

If that wasn't enough for the two of us, we topped the breakfast off with a fresh fruit juice each! They were sooooo scrummy!

Of course we had eaten WAY too much and so I long day of walking around the city was the perfect solution to ease our bloated stomachs.
We walked around enjoying the familiar sights and I remembered just how much I enjoy the city. I would definitely love to move back to London again someday in the future.
London was the first place I lived when I left home and so I have a very special place for it in my heart. It was my first taste of a big city and my first taste of not being totally dependant on my parents. Its a place where I discovered to be me and I realised just how much I miss and love it.

For our final evening in the city we grabbed (yet another) bite to eat at the rather splendid Carluccio's in Covent Garden. We shared a yummy antipasti plate before eating our main meals.

We had to eat pretty fast as were were going to theatre once again. This time to see The Body Guard, again based on the movie of the same name.
I was very excited about seeing this show as it featured the amazing songs of Whitney Houston and was staring my favourite British singer, Beverley Knight.

It was a FABULOUS show. I really did enjoy it and Beverley Knight was as amazing. So good in fact I had to go meet her at the stage door and get a little picture with her.
Not only was Beverley Knight awesome on stage but she also seemed like a very sweet lady. I felt a little embarrassed waiting at the door like a big fan, especially also being in the theatre business. But the truth of it was, I am a huge fan and getting a to meet somebody I greatly admire pleased me endlessly.

It was the perfect end to a lovely stay in London. This trip to London was really special and was a perfect city break for the two of us.

Now time to jump on the train and head to my parents home in Malmesbury.........

To be continued :-)

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