London

I meant to get this post out last week along with the other ones from our holiday but with all this packing and moving our lives back home time hasn't been on my side. I think my poor computer has enjoyed the rest though. We stayed in the Docklands Travelodge, a little way out but we got five nights for less than £200, plus my husband got to ride on the DLR everyday! We did have a lovely view of Canary Wharf too. On our first full day in London we ventured up to Marble Arch, walked along Oxford Street taking in the shops, followed Regents Street to Liberty and onto Carnaby Street. From there we went down through Piccadilly and the Mall to Buckingham Palace, wandered back enjoying St James's Park to Horse Guards Parade before trying to get a peek at Downing Street which is quite difficult when you've got hoards of tourists trying to do the same. Following that we headed up along Whitehall to Trafalgar Square and saw the blue cock currently occupying the fourth plinth. A rather busy first day! After seeing David Bowie is at the V&A on Tuesday we headed to the South Bank to visit the Sea Life London Aquarium but it was so busy and I didn't fancy queuing in the torrential rain so instead we took the Northern line from Waterloo up to Camden Town, my fifteen year old self would be very proud I actually made it as I've always wanted to visit there and I'm glad I did. We visited the Cartoons Museum and got a phone call confirming we had our new jobs! That really cheered us up after the soaking we'd had earlier in the day. We just made it back to the Sea Life Centre in time for last admission and spent a wonderful hour and half fascinated by the array of creatures they have, the highlight being the penguins. Over the week I took a couple of thousand photos of the places we went. Here are a few of my favourites

Lots of shop windows were decorated to celebrate the birth of Prince George the week before, the one you can see above is from Selfridges, a shop I could have spent so much, too much money but luckily I stopped myself. We also visited Primark on Oxford Street which I have heard referred to in the past as 'The Temple' and it's more than clear to see why when you venture in, the place is absolutely enormous! Liberty was exactly how I imagined, the fabrics were divine and again, I could have spent a fortune on all the beautiful prints. I'd really love to visit Liberty at Christmas to see the famous displays they create. As you can see, we didn't just visit lots of shops but took in the sights and enjoyed being tourists in the capital.