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Saturday 12 October 2013

Birthday weekend in London - Day #1

So, I'm now 21!

Wow, where is time going!? When I was a little girl imagining my life, 21 seemed like such a long way away and such an old age. In my head I would be married with a job and a house and a baby by the time I was 21 and here I actually am, still having to ask my flat mate to help me iron some of my more difficult dresses! It's crazy that I'm in my final year of university and I'm thinking about whats going to happen next, what I'm going to do with the rest of my life but that I'm still staying up till 2 am singing Steps hits with my best friend and having play fights with my boyfriend. Its scary, thinking about the rest of my life and my career and everything, but I'm also still having a stupid amount of fun. And, to be honest I was really worrying about becoming 21 way more then I should have been. However, it is kind of depressing that my next mile stone birthday is 30 :(

Anyway, for the big 2 1 my mom and dad paid for me and my boyfriend to spend a few nights in London. I love London as I've mentioned once or twice or twelve times, but I'd never spent the night there before, so it was such a wonderful present and I had the best time.

I'm going to do three separate blog posts about my trip to London as they are going to all be pretty picture and word heavy so I'll split them up into different days so it's easier for any one to read and easier for me when I want to pop back here and reminisce about the trip :)

So day 1 was Friday 20th September.



I didn't get too many photo's from this day. We arrived in London at about 1 o'clock and went looking for our hotel. Once we'd checked in, unpacked and spruced ourselves up we headed out to Camden Market. After perusing the stalls, scoffing salt and pepper chicken and rice from our favorite food stall and a quick pit stop back at the hotel to get changed, we headed over to The Lord Raglan pub where were met by Richard Jones to begin our London Ghost walk.

This was the first ghost tour we'd ever been on and it was amazing. Richard was such a good story teller, he was funny and passionate, engaging and interesting and, most importantly to us, truthful. He didn't just tell scary stories, he told stories of fake ghosts who were foiled by Samuel Johnson and showed us famous places for example, where Braveheart was hanged drawn and quartered, the graveyard where the "She - Wolfe" Queen Isabelle is buried, a walk around the wall that the Romans built when they first created their city Londinium and, for Sherlock fans, the hospital where Benedict Cumberbatch jumped from the roof in the last episode. Also, probably my favorite of all, was the stop off at the beautiful St Bartholomew the Great Church, which has been used in many famous films, such as Four Weddings and a Funeral (the church where Hugh Grants marriage that doesn't actually happen is set to take place). Every stop was beautiful and fascinating and after every story Adam and I turned to each other and said "wow!". We were so impressed and for a mere £9 each it was one of the best experiences of  the weekend. Next time we head to London we're going to check out some of Richards other tours of London, I'm particularly interested in the Jack the Ripper tour.

After the hour and 40 minute tour, to settle our grumbling tummy's, we took the tube to London Bridge and made our way to the Garrison Pub for a gorgeous meal. And when I say gorgeous meal, I mean the best meal either of us have ever eaten. Ever. The pub had a wonderful atmosphere, it was loud and buzzing with happy people laughing and chatting away and it was really nice to be surrounded by everyone. But we were also in our own little corner and could still enjoy our own conversations. I'm not sure if that makes sense or if its everyone's cup of tea but we loved it. And the food! It tasted so good neither of us wanted to ever finish what was on our plate. To start we had the the crab (me) and the chicken (Adam) followed by the cod (Adam) and the veal (me) for mains.Just thinking about the food now is making my mouth water and my stomach moan. So I speak for both of us when I say we would definitely recommend the Garrison and would definitely go back again. The staff were super friendly, the atmosphere was great, the food was amazing and the decoration and little touches were so cute. 

What I wore:
Choies dress | Boohoo boots | Topshop socks | Ebay jacket | Charity shop bag