December, 2016.
Driving down to London
We started our journey down to London at 4.30am – which I know most won’t like the sound of but it’s my favourite thing to do when going on an adventure. We filled our travel mugs up with tea, put the heated seats on and hit play on our awesome ‘Landan’ playlist.
We had a pretty smooth journey down and didn’t hit much traffic, which is always a good start. We arrived at Cockfosters Station at 8.18am, which has an underground tube and and NCP car park – which is safe and secure enough to leave your car overnight. It cost us £10 to keep our car there for the two days that we were in London. That is £5 a day on the outskirts. £5! BARGAIN!
We then jumped the tube on the Piccadilly line from Cockfosters straight to Hyde park. We were eating a McDonald’s breakfast at Hyde Park Corner breakfast by 9am.
London Underground
Catching ‘the tube’ in London is something you will definitely benefit from. It is always on time, and the trains are every few minutes.
There are many different cards and tickets to look out for if you travel via tube.They have now started to accept contactless payment cards, which came in very handy on our trip as it made the process a whole lot faster – as the undergrounds can get quite busy especially at peak times. But aside to that, you can have a Visitor Oyster Car, Oyster Card or a Travelcard. Prices for tickets do vary between buying a single/ return ticket and how many zones you are passing through. For example, a single ticket for 1 zone is £4.90 for an adult.
Looking at the London Underground map can be a bit overwhelming, but while you are in the underground there are plenty of maps showing you where all the lines are going, and even on the tubes themselves they have maps of the line that you are on so you can see how many stops it is until you have to get off.
This year we stayed at the H10 Hotel in Waterloo. We have previously stayed here before so knew what to expect.
It’s a beautiful hotel, with breathtaking views over London. The location is perfect, you are walking distance from the likes of the London Eye, House of Parliament, London Bridge etc. For me, it is out the way enough from any street noise but close enough to be walking distance from most places.
Its a newly-built hotel, so it has gorgeous decor and everything is bright and colourful. The hotel has a Mediterranean gastronomy restaurant called Three O Two and also has two bars; one located in the hotel lobby called The Circus Bar and the other called the Waterloo Sky Bar – which is located on the 8th floor with tremendous views of London.
The hotel is located in between a few train/ tube lines that are all less than a half a mile away. There is the Waterloo underground station – which is on the Jubilee, Bakerloo and Northern lines; Lamberth North underground station which can be caught on the Bakerloo line and Waterloo station.
Other London hotels I recommend are the Thistle Euston, which is literally down the next road on the right coming out of Euston Station. Very handy hotel if you are travelling to and from Euston Station. Another is the Royal Kensington Garden Hotel, located in Kensington which is a beautiful area of London. If you are heading toward the likes of Hyde Park, you are in the perfect place.
2016 was actually the 10th anniversary of London’s Winter Wonderland. I can definitely see this market sticking around for many years to come.
Winter Wonderland is situated in Hyde Park at Hyde Parks Corner. It’s by far the best Christmas market I have visited to date. It’s huge! The festivities go on for 6 weeks, so plenty of time to visit.
It has an array of entertainment and activities, with over 100 rides and attractions, including London’s largest German-esque market with a plethora of food and drink.
Entry is free, however, they do have a few attractions you have to pay for, which are:
- Ice Skating
- The Magical Ice Kingdom
- The Nutcracker on Ice
- Bar Ice
- Zippos Christmas Circus (I reccomend only to attend if you are with children as it didn’t entertain two 20-odd year olds too much)
- Cirque Berserk
- The Sooty Christmas Show
- Giant Observation Wheel
In terms of stalls, you do see a few repeating themselves, but there is always something new, whether it be new rides or food stalls.
Harrods is located on Brompton Road in Knightbridge. I think Harrods has everything, it has 330 departments throughout the whole store. The shop covers a wide range of things such as clothes – suitable for all – electronics, jewelery, weddings, toys, food and drink, health and beauty, gifts, stationary, home ware and furniture etc. There is also a Christmas department, which is fabulous, but expensive.
My favourtie part of Harrods is definitely the tea and coffee, and the confectionery departments. Tea and cakes EVERYWHERE! It’s heaven. I highly recommend the Harrods tin of Earl Grey, you get 50 tea bags for £8.95, and they are lovely!
It’s a beautiful shop, however, if you’re not some who is a fan of shopping it may be your idea of hell, especially around Christmas. People are everywhere.
They have beautiful Christmas lights on the outside of the building at Christmas.
Selfridges is another favourite shop of mine. I don’t go in with any intentions of buying anything, I just go to simply look around and see what decorations they have up. When you are going up the escalators there are different Christmas displays of Santa with all new things that they have in store. I thought it was hilarious!
One time visiting Selfridges at Christmas, we seen the real Father Christmas and his elves!
M&M Shop Leicester Square
Smack bang in the middle of Leicester Square, is an overwhelmingly big M&M Store.Who knew you could have four floors of a shop jam-packed with M&M merchandise! They also have the worlds largest candy wall!
We popped in, just to have a little browse, and ended up spending loads of time in there just laughing at how a sweet has gotten so big. As well as having an extensive range of the famed chocolate, they have kitchenware, clothing, bedding, jewelery, glass ware etc…even a star wars section!
On the ground floor is an Abbey Road set up like the famous picture of The Beatles…But it’s the M&Ms..obvs.
Directly opposite the M&M shop is the newly-opened – world’s largest LEGO shop.
We waned to go in as most LEGO shops have impressive LEGO sculptures. Plus, doesn’t everyone want to go in something that’s the ‘world’s largest’? We didn’t end up going in because it had a massive queue outside of it… never mind.
Leicester Square Christmas Markets
The Christmas markets at Leicester Square where a smaller, compact version of the Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park.
They covered all the same stalls, like arts and crafts, Christmas decorations and food from all over the world. And…we can’t forget the bars selling mulled wine.
Now, in all of my previous blogs you will see that we always end up having our tea at Hard Rock Cafe. We didn’t this time….shock horror! (I have been many times before). London does however have a Hard Rock Cafe, in fact it was the first one, ever. Aside to the restaurant,next door is a memorabilia store called The Vault where you will find memorabilia from all kinds of rock legends like Eric Clapton, Les Paul, Madonna, John Lennon and Elvis, to name but a few.
So, instead we decided to have a little change and go to TGI Fridays in Piccadilly Circus. Again, all American styled food and themed inside – which I love! I chose the Jack Daniels Chicken Strips and Crispy Fries and Rich had the Jack Daniels Half Rack of Rib…we must sound so adventurous…
We both love a good Jack Daniels, so thought it was well up our street. Very, very tasty, but my mouth did not agree with the ever-so-slight chili flakes added into the mixture. Me and hot stuff don’t mix well.
Christmas in London
If you are ever around London, or plan on going to London from the end of November throughout the whole of December, you must go. I think London is a beautiful, picturesque city. Then they add Christmas lights and it’s just phenomenal. When I thought London couldn’t get any prettier, it does.
London has many Christmas markets and fairs throughout the city, as well as all kinds of Christmas activities that everyone will love. Not to forget the endless amounts of shopping you can do, if you need any last minute Christmas presents. You will never have nothing to do.
Your Own Set of Wings 