Last weekend the husband and I went to London for the weekend, it was an anniversary trip present from my in law's they paid for a lovely hotel and we spent two days wandering around London. It's been a sort of tradition for us to take a trip just before Christmas because I like to see the lights on Oxford Street, years ago I used to go with my Dad and sisters and it just feels so lovely and Christmassy.
We left the boys with their grandparents and took the train from Wilmslow to Euston. It was lovely not to have to drive, I spend a lot of my time in the car ferrying people around so it was such a luxury to be just taken somewhere without having to think about it! Hubs had paid for First Class which is ouchy expensive but it was a treat for him too as he usually has to stand all the way from Crewe to Euston, it was nice for him to sit down! When we got there we took a taxi to the hotel (I complained that my bag was too heavy for me to haul on the underground, like a little princess primadonna)and went straight to our hotel, The Stafford in St James. I felt very underdressed when I walked in there, I wished my boots were a bit cleaner! We dropped our bags in the room and then went out to explore.
I'm a huge fan of Covent Garden, I just love it and at Christmas it's even better, the tree was gorgeous and the lights were all twinkly. I noticed the Chanel and MAC stores straight away and put it on my mental list to visit later. We walked and walked and ended up in Leicester Square, where on a whim we went to see the James Bond film Spectre. I loved it! Daniel Craig has been my second favourite Bond for a while but after seeing Spectre he leapfrogged over Sean Connery into first place. Sorry Sean, but it was bound to happen, you had a good run and Daniel is too good and too gorgeous to be stuck in second.
The next day was beautifully sunny, such a gorgeous sky, I was amazed. It's been dull in the North West for literally the whole of November and a bit of sun just makes me feel SO much better. I marched hubs around Westminster (Downing Street, Houses of Parliament etc) and made him buy me a Belgian hot chocolate from the Christmas Markets near the London Eye. Oh My God. It was the best hot chocolate I've ever had. I will never be able to have a Starbucks one again and feel content.
Later that afternoon it was make up time! I traded hubs some time in the rugby shop (zzzzz) and whizzed off to MAC and Chanel. Luckily I only had a debit card not a credit card otherwise I would have spent more. I bought quite a lot in MAC which I will review separately and a liquid foundation in Chanel which I haven't tried yet. Hubs came out of the rugby shop with three winter hats for the boys (which were too big!) and a PE bag for our middle child who regularly loses his trainers. PE kits are the bain of my life. He also bought himself two rugby shirts and a book. I felt less bad about all the MAC and Chanel after seeing all that!
Early the next day we popped to Hamleys which was god knows how many floors full of toys. We did get ideas for the boys but didn't buy anything. You could really spend A LOT of money in that shop. Santa's elves had clearly been doing their job because the choice was amazing and I was glad our kids weren't there else we'd never have got out of the shop! Later the primadonna reared her head again and we took a taxi to the station and caught our train home. I was so relaxed that I forgot the boys homework and their dinner money the next day, it's a miracle they got to school on time.
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| View of the London Eye, Houses of Parliament and Big Ben |
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| Carnaby Street, Covent Garden Christmas Tree and The Ritz decorations |
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| View of Trafalgar Square - and the blue, blue sky! |
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| Me and hubs outside The Stafford Hotel, St James |
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| My feet were soooo aching! |
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| MAC Carnaby Street (not the one I went in) |