London is not new to us. I visited first time as a teenager with my school, loved it, and was sure to return one day. Went back to the UK for a year between 1999 and 2000, not in London though, but visited London several times while I was in the UK. Also took a couple of quick trips when the kids were small (as a part of another holiday) and stayed again for four days on 2015. We all wanted to return - for the London vibe, the museums, choice of restaurants and things to do, just to walk around... It was a quick descision to buy the tickets and book the hotel for the last four days of the Christmas school holidays, although this time we were five people as Ricardo decided to bring along his friend Nina.
There are many flights every day between Nice and several London airports - I wanted to fly to Heathrow for being able to easily access the city by the tube. Our British Airways Friday morning flight went smoothly - the only difference with before was the passport control when leaving France and again when entering the UK. I had reserved us two rooms at Premier Inn London Farringdon, close to the Farringdon tube station, that is served by the new Elizabeth line, among other lines. We have stayed in several Premier Inn hotels over the years and for me, they are a pretty sure choice - it didn't disappoint this time as well. We arrived a bit early - meaning our rooms were not ready yet, so we decided to leave our bags at the hotel and go for a walk around Leicester square, only a few tube stops away. London was still like I remembered it - a bustling city with cool multicultural vibe. We checked out the square, then quickly passed Chinatown and took the small streets of Soho to Oxford Circus where we hopped on the tube again to get back to the hotel. Although our family had visited London before, it was first time for Nina, so we aimed to check out most of the famous sights during our stay. We had had an early start in the morning and we all needed a bit of relaxing time in the hotel before going out again in the evening.
Tube vibes
M&Ms Leicester square
One of the main reasons for this London trip was to experience the famous musical scene at the London West End. We had tickets for the Mamma Mia musical at the Novello Theatre for that same evening. The overall show was just magical - the singing, dancing and acting was all performed at a high level and we enjoyed very much. Although the musical tickets are pricy and they should be booked ahead, I still thoroughly recommend the whole experience. We are already thinking about taking another trip to see a different show - the choice in London is huge. The teenagers definitely added some ABBA songs in their playlists.
Novello Theatre
The next morning we opted for a breakfast at the hotel (also to check out the vegan options of the hot breakfast) before heading to the museum of Madame Tussauds. Even if it was not the first time for me, the exibishion changes all the time and it is always a fun place to visit. The kids had a lot of fun too. I had bought the tickets online a couple of weeks ago - they only let a limited number of people in at a time to avoid the museum become too crowded, so it is always better to pre-book.
After a fun morning, we carried on the usual tourist route of Buckingham Palace - St James' Park - the Royal Mews - Downing Street - Westminster Abbey - Big Ben. We were lucky to have had great weather for January - it was definitely colder than France, but still nice enough to walk outdoors, and the most important thing - it didn't rain.
The day had already been pretty long, but we really wanted to take the most of our time in London, so we headed out again after a brief afternoon rest at the hotel. It is nearly impossible to have great Indian food in the South of France, so we went to the Brick Lane for dinner - the food at the Bengal Village restaurant was delicious (even for Nina, who had never had Indian before and who hates spicy food).
The following morning I had reserved us places for the Natural History museum visit. Although the visit is free, it is always recommended to reserve. We had already been at the museum on 2015, but Martin really wanted to return. Being Sunday morning, it was still pretty crowded, although it was quite spreaded once we started the visit. The museum itself was huge and there were lots of very interesting exhibitions - we especially liked the dinosaurs and the Earth.
Natural History Museum
After a couple of hours at the museum, we walked to Harrod's that was not too far. Harrod's has some great tea, so I got some to bring to France, but it is also a famous landmark, so always worth a visit. The teenagers wished to do some shopping, so we headed to Oxford street - they shopped, while Johnny and I had some tea at a small coffee shop.
For the early afternoon, I had booked us a late Sunday lunch in one of the oldest pubs in London, the George Inn, built in 1676, also London's only surviving galleried inn. The pub is situated near the Borough market - unfortunately we didn't have time to visit the market this time. It was typical British pub food, but I was really impressed by the vegan option - nut Wellington and all the delicious sides.
Nut Wellington, carrots, roast potatoes, roasted cabbage wedge, Yorkshire pudding and vegan gravy - delicious
London left us with great memories but also with the will to return - the theatre, the museums, the food choices and the city vibe left us all wishing to experience it more and soon. So this is definitely not goodbye...