London Day 2…

Another full day, with lots of walking, lots of mulled wine, some cider, and even some prosecco. So, without further ado, let’s go.

Westminster Abbey

I could bore you with architectural and historical details of this place, but won’t. Suffice to say, it’s a must do…even though it will involve a queue.

Westminster is the site of coronations, royal weddings and royal burials. It is still, however, a place of prayer.

Inside is magnificent- there are no other words that can describe it. Filled with people it must be awe inspiring. Photography is not permitted within the main part of the cathedral, so you’ll need to take my word on that.

I managed to (legally) sneak a few pics in the cloisters

and the chapter house.

Cost: 18GBP… The audio tour is free.

Getting there: Westminster on the tube- Jubilee, Circle or District lines

The River

Over the bridge for some photos in daylight of what we saw last night, and a scout around the Christmas markets. Sarah has a thing about daggy Christmas jumpers, so managed to get a particularly daggy one…and a plate of Dutch pancakes with nutella sauce.

Kings Cross and St Pancras

A very dear friend living in Lille was coming in on the Eurostar, so that meant a trip to Kings Cross in order to get to St Pancras. And a trip to Kings Cross, as impressive as it is,

can only mean one thing- Platform 9 ¾.  They charge a fortune to get your photo taken with a soft owl and a scary held out to look like it’s flying, so this is as good as you’ll get. Yes, that’s someone else’s arm.

Anyways, my friend was staying at St Pancras International, which just so happened to be where…wait for it…the first Spice Girls video was filmed.

I’ll tell you what I want, what I really really want.

Fortnum and Mason’s

Imagine a Christmas wonderland. Now imagine the Christmas wonderland of your dreams. Now imagine it if money is no object. You have the opulent, luxurious, extravagance that is Fortnum and Mason. Oh my.

It all starts with the windows.

There was the 104 varieties of jam. Yes, they’re numbered. The confectionary, the teas, the honeys, the biscuits, the jellied fruits, the candied fruits, the over-priced fruits (6.95GBP for a mango). There were gloves softer than I’d ever imagined, bejewelled bags, and floor after floor of gorgeousness.

But it was the Christmas displays that had me oohing and aahing.

There were the musical advent calendars for 250GBP that you could pass down through generations…

The Christmas crackers totally blew my mind. We had a competition amongst ourselves to find the most expensive ones. I found some at 200GBP. Sares raised that to 500. Then we found some that blew us all away. Six crackers for, wait for it, 1000GBP. No paper crowns or bad jokes in sight. Speaking of which, what do you call 50 penguins in Trafalgar Square? Lost.

Back to the obscenely priced crackers. They’re presented in a lovely wicker basket, and the crowns are made of velvet. They won’t be finding their way onto my Christmas table. What frightened us most is that if you’re in the market for thousand pound crackers, you’re probably not just inviting six people to Christmas dinner…

And what’s in them? I’m glad you asked.

Getting there: Take the tube to Piccadilly Circus and walk west down Piccadilly.

After dark

We checked out the night markets in front of the Tate Modern (Blackfriars or Southwark stations on the tube), sipping at mulled wine as we walked…and finished up at the Cider House at Southbank markets.

What. A. View.