A day out in London

We spent a lovely day in London yesterday walking and seeing the sites. We started off at Borough Market, the food market which can be found underneath the railway arches next to Southwark cathedral. It always reminds of the first Harry Potter movie when Hagrid takes Harry to Diagon Alley. We walked to the market from Waterloo station along the south bank of the river Thames. it was a lovely walk and we saw St Paul's cathedral and the city skyline in the distance.

when we arrived at the market it was full of tasting opportunities and ideas for making. There were some beautiful vegetable and fruit displays which just make you want to eat fresh food all the time.

There were various bakeries at the market and for the first time ever I was able to look at their wares and say 'I've made that'. To be honest, it only really happened with the bread sticks - the rest of the bread is beyond my capabilities at the moment. I also saw a fudge stall that really did look like the fudge that I made for Christmas presents. There were some lovely olive oil and cheeses to try which I took full advantage of. The only slight fly in the ointment was that ds and dd were also with me and they really didn't want to be there. You can't have it all. At least I had my mum and dad there and they were happy to come along on the tasting ride.

I had an amazing halloumi cheese bap for lunch which was amazing value at £4.80. It was full to bursting  with salad, halloumi and sauces and I was served by a lovely cheeky chappy. It was so big that I remained full for the rest of the day. We ate it sitting next to the cathedral on some lovely pink seats. Unfortunately, dd and ds didn't find anything to eat which didn't help their good humour. Note to self, bring along plenty of food that they like on a trip to London to avoid any grumpiness.

After the trip to the market, we walked over the river, viewing Tower Bridge and the Tower of London on the way.

It was definitely a day for seeing the sites. We also walked past the Monument. They say if you lay it down it will take you to the starting point of the Great Fire of London. We then decided to wait for a bus but we had just missed it so decided to keep on walking. Ds wanted to go to a bike shop in Holburn, so we had a lovely 2 mile walk through the city. We even walked through Smithfield meat market which I had never visited before. Luckily, it wasn't in full swing so we could just enjoy the architecture.

By this time, our feet were hurting and we were still hunting for food for ds and dd. Anything that was offered was not good enough (can you see the theme here. Ds didn't eat until we returned home). We took a bus back to Trafalgar Square to see the Christmas tree donated by Norway.

It looked beautiful all lit up in the twilight. We then moved onto the lights of regents street and oxford street. The regent street lights were based on the 12 days of Christmas so mum and I sand the song as we travelled down the street on the bus. I'm not sure what the other people thought of that. Dh and ds stayed downstairs I'm sure to avoid the singing.