London: August 2017
Yesterday I came home from a 4 day trip (Monday 28th - Thursday 31st August) to London with my boyfriend. Whilst there we managed to visit many of the usual tourist sights and destinations.
Monday
We stayed in the Blackfriars Premier Inn which definitely exceeded my expectations (especially for the price we paid!). The hotel was very clean, the breakfast was lovely and the staff were very accommodating and helpful with anything we needed. The hotel was also very conveniently located to Blackfrairs station which was about a 5 minute tube ride to Embankment station from which we could get tubes to most places in London and is situated on Fleet Street where the Sweeney Todd story takes place for any of you interested in that.
Once we checked in, we headed for Harrods. Spread across 4.5 acres, 5 floors, over 300 departments and 26 bars, cafes and restaurants, you could definitely make a full day trip out of visiting this shop and they sell absolutely everything you could think of . It is definitely one of the fanciest shops I have ever stepped foot in and we did end up getting lost a few times because it just goes on and on. My favourite department was the christmas department, I spent most of the time we were in the store in this department and I could have easily bought everything in there. The toy deparmnet was also amazing!
After this we got on the tube to Covent Garden. Here we had a look around the luxurious shops and grabbed something to eat.
That night we had booked the Sky Gardens. Located at the top of 20 Fenchurch street, it offers 360° uninterrupted views of the city. The best part is, its free to get in; You do have to book in advance but its 100% worth it for the few minutes it takes to book. It offers a restaurant and numerous bars which are quite expensive but this was expected due to the free entry. Our booked time was 7:45pm which was perfect as it allowed to us to see the sunset but it also allowed us to b there long enough to see the city in the dark with only the London Light on.
Tuesday
On the Tuesday, the first thing we did was visit the London Dungeons. This was so much better than I expected and I already had high hopes for it. The way the actors told the history of many different historical events mixed with comedy was done really well yet they still managed to keep you on your toes throughout with jumpscares and various special effects. There was a tension in the air through the whole tour waiting for something to suddenly jump out at you. Each room was a different period in time yet they managed to keep the story flowing throughout and it was very much based on audience participation which made it scarier hoping you wouldn't get chosen to be locked in a torture chamber or sentenced to death in court. The tour finishes with an (optional) ride called Drop Dead in which you get to experience being hanged.
After this we did a bit of sightseeing in the area such as Big Ben and the London Eye and then we headed on the tube to Leicester Square for something to eat.
Later this night, we went to see the Woman in Black at the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden. This was arranged quite differently than the film adaptation but without saying too much it worked very well. All characters are played by the same 2 actors (Plus the Woman in Black) who play off each other perfectly and you honestly forget that the 2 are playing actors until they take you back to the 'present'. The theatre itself was quite small and old but this made it the perfect setting for the play and made it a lot more intimate.
Wednesday
This was a day purely for shopping; we headed for Oxford Street. My main priority in terms of shops was Primark and Lush for the exclusives but we also visited many many more shops than just this such as HMV, Selfridges, Topshop, Pull & Bear and Superdrug. We stopped at Pizza Hut for food half way through before carrying on shopping.
We had no plans for this night so we decided to head to a nearby Odeon to see the new Annabelle: Creation as this is something we'd been planning at some point anyway. This film honestly terrifying as it was full of jumoscares which always manage to get me even when I'm expecting them and this film was good at making you expect them but then not have one for a while so you dropped your guard before it happened. I haven't seen the other Annabelle or any of the Conjuring's but I'll definitely have to after seeing this.
Thurday
We again had no set plans for this day and since out train wasn't until 8 in the evening, we decided to take our time getting ourselves sorted before leaving the hotel. We then decided to get the bus this time to Covent Garden because you can't go to London and not get a red bus at least once. At Covent Garden we visited the London Transport Museum as my boyfriend really wanted to go there. I didn't have very high expectations for it originally as it's not really my thing but it exceeded my expectations a lot more than I thought was possible. You were able to sit in all of the old buses and trains and learn about the development over time of all the transport. Theres even a play area for younger children and a shop and cafe for when you've finished.
After this we walked to Leicester Square to try and get the tube back to the Hotel but the station had been evacuated so instead we had an explore around Leicester Square and got the tube from Piccadilly Circus instead.
We decided to upgrade out train tickets to first class on the way home it wasn't much more expensive and it meant we got free wifi and food & drink on the train as well as reserved seats (Which after our struggle finding seats on the way there, we were grateful for). It also meant that we could wait in the first class lounge for out train which was useful as we had a few hours to wait at Euston.
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