Top 10 Tourist Things to do in London

Hey All

In November my other half and I took a week off work and decided to be tourists in London so I thought I'd share our trip and top picks to explore.

1. Watch Harry Potter and the Curse Child and Visit House of MinaLima

Life Update

Hey all

So it's been a long time since I wrote a blog post and even longer since I did a life lately post. A lot has been going on lately and life has been hectic!! C and I have just bought our first home and it's a total project renovation house so life has been busy moving, and starting working on it and Christmas thrown into the mix.

Afternoon Tea at The Cavendish, London

Hello!

A few weeks ago we went to London for the weekend, we managed to pack in quite a few activities in the 2 days we were there for and one of them was afternoon tea. Obviously!

Life Lately

Hey All

Today is actually my birthday, I spent yesterday with L we went to Lou Lou's vintage fair then off for food and drinks with some other friends which was awesome. It feels like ages since I've done a life lately post. I used to love doing these but with my blogging being a little more sporadic lately I always want to share some products I've been loving when I've got the time to post but thought today I'd share some things I've been up too.

A few weeks back I headed to London with my family to watch my super talented friend in Mamma Mia as Sky. I'd seen it with friends but my parents wanted to see it. He makes me so proud. My parents and I stayed in Camden, it was my first trip to Camden and I absolutely loved it. The vibe there is amazing and I fell in love with Camden market. He's in wicked soon so we'll be back to see that. 

I've been loving my Miss patisserie baths to relax in. L reviewed this amazing one here.

C came back from a work trip in June but was only home for 3 weeks before jetting back to Saudi for the next four so we treated ourselves to a night at Coldra Court. We loved it there and was great to have us time. Even though we live together it's nice to have nights away.

It's also been my niece's birthday recently so as tradition goes I made her birthday cake. I'm so glad I finally got to make a princess one. It ended up being way too rushed so didn't turn out totally how I wanted as my dad decided as I woke up he would like me to cook a roast dinner too, so queue mad panic of cooking full roast and decorating this,

L and I headed off to glastonbury for the second time and took C and one of my friends from back home with us. We definitely felt more tired this time and the mud was even worse than last time but it was absolutely amazing!!!!L and I were loving the glitter and bindis this year. I posted some of my festival hair styles and tips here.

C and I are trying to make our house a home and making a feature wall of our photos on the stair case. It's so almost finished now and I'm loving it. 

As C jetted off with work before my birthday we celebrated early and headed to Chapel 1877 in Cardiff. I've wanted to go and sit in the confessionals for ages and we managed to get one. I was so excited and we had an awesome meal and loved it there.

So that's what I've been up to lately. This year is definitely whizzing by. I've been busy organising holidays and things at the moment too. I'll be doing some more travel posts soon too which are probably some of my favourites lately. 

Love M

xxx

London at Christmas: Part 2

This is my second post of my trip to London, if you missed the first you can read it here. It's all about the shop window displays at Liberty and Selfridges.

This post continues on from there when we went to Harrods and Covent Garden.

Harrods is the next store that really needs no introduction. The sign is another that is iconic enough!

Harrods store looks absolutely stunning lit up, we were lucky enough to get there just as it was starting to get dark at 4ish and it looks so pretty.
The windows and doors were framed with hedges that were filled with fairy lights. It was so simple but effective.

As for the actual window displays the theme was based on the Orient Express and each window was a different carriage:

Each window was dressed so beautifully and extravagantly I felt like I'd gone back in time. Not only were the models dressed fabulously the scenes were exquisite and the attention to detail was out of this world.

This one was my favourite, mainly because of the unbelievable dress and stunning Louboutins

Another of my favourite things was every carriage had a 'window' which was a tv screen with a rolling view of snowy landscapes and even some famous landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower which i managed to snap quickly!

The windows were amazing and obviously getting inside the store was even better. I didn't enjoy wandering around Harrods as much because I had a lot of shopping by this point and there were so many other people around.
The food section was unlike anything I've ever seen before and I would absolutely die to go there and sample some of the freshly made food as it was stunning and smelt like I was abroad depending on which stand I was near.

Wandering around London was great in itself and each street was lined with rows and rows of Christmas lights and baubles:

The above photo is one of my favourites as the snowflakes are beautiful!

Our last stop was Covent Garden which wasn't planned but as we had a bit of spare time we couldn't resist a wander around here too.

The massive baubles and disco balls were so beautiful and made the whole place light up!

Outside near the Royal Opera house was a massive hedge reindeer covered in lights and even had a red nose; touches like this are so special and make the whole Christmas experience that much better.





This tree was the opposite side to the reindeer and was absolutely huge!

London was so much fun to walk around and the Christmas decorations in streets, windows and stores were absolutely gorgeous!

Have you or will you be making a trip into London to the shops?

I think it will have to become a tradition for me and my mum!

L xxx

London at Christmas: Part 1

Good morning!

On Monday I went to London with my mum for a bit of Christmas shopping and soaking up the festive spirit; I mean where else would you go in the UK for the ultimate window displays and Christmas lights!

We had an amazing time eating and drinking and wandering around many department stores, I ached for 2 days afterwards from the amount of walking and the carrying of shopping!

I actually took so many photos that I've ended up having to separate them into two posts. The window displays and lights were so gorgeous that I had to take more photos and it would be a shame not to show them all!

We managed to get to Liberty, Selfridges, Harrods and Covent Garden all within a day which was a pretty great achievement considering we walked the majority of the distances. This post will be about Liberty and Selfridges as we visited those first.

I don't think the front of the Liberty store needs any introduction; it's a gorgeous Tudor style building in the centre of London amidst boring concrete blocks and its such a surprise walking around the corner to find it.

I love the details like the soldiers at the doors to the chocolate shop; you don't get that anywhere else!

In the centre of the store is the infamous hall where there is currently a Matilda display. I have had the pleasure of going to the show of Matilda and it was amazing; seeing this display taken from the show was a lovely reminder of how amazing it was, it's one of my favourite films.

There were tonnes of products in Liberty that I could have snapped up. One of my favourite things in all the world are books. When I saw these books lined up on a stand I couldn't help but take a photo. It's my aim in life to have a huge book case full of leather books and I have a large amount already hidden in a wardrobe waiting for me to move out. The Alice in Wonderland book I've seen many times online but I didn't realise you could actually buy it still!
I've added it to my Christmas list as they'd sold out in store and hopefully my mum will get it for me!

I did pick up a few chocolate bits from the chocolate store for presents and also a sneaky present for myself which I'm sure will be in a future post! I couldn't resist buying something as the bags are beautiful and free in England!

Selfridges was the next stop and we wandered there from Liberty stopping off in many shops along the way including Boots and Forever 21 where I was really naughty and spent money that I shouldn't have!

I couldn't help but take a photo of the sign; it is also iconic after the tv program Mr Selfridge.

Their window displays were amazing, all snow scenes with different objects that you can buy in store. My personal favourite was the snow globe with the Selfridges store inside, it's absolutely beautiful! Though for a window display I do think that maybe there should have been some fake snow flowing around the globe for better effect!

The window displays were out of this world, the YSL clutch bag tassle actually did swing as if someone was carrying it. 

I love how the swans were carrying bags on their backs like it was a normal thing to do!

I also couldn't believe that the Kitty Slippers ears actually wiggled!

All the displays were amazing and it took some fighting to get to the front of each window and take a decent photo! Lots of people obviously have the same idea.

For lunch we went to the food hall in Selfridges and had a house salad and a pot of tea:

It was the BEST house salad I've ever eaten and was worth every penny. After choosing what I wanted they take it into a metal bowl and mix it up with your chosen dressing and pour it back into your bowl.

It was so filling and the taste was out of this world that I devoured it and didn't need anything else at lunch which is a big surprise for me ha.

Have you been to Liberty or Selfridges yet this Christmas? Will you be going?

Have you tried any food at Selfridges lunch hall? What would you recommend for my next meal there? I found it so hard to choose!

L xxx

Victoria and Albert Museum

A few weeks ago I went to London for the Murad event (post here) and had some time to kill. With little money to my name I did what any other cultural and photo hungry blogger would do.....I hit the museums.

Having gone to the Science and Natural History Museums in the past year my next call was for the Victoria and Albert museum.

I've walked past it a few times wistfully but this time I got straight off the tube, walked through the tunnel and straight into the front door. Woman. On. a. Mission.

The entrance hall was not a disappointment; amazing bulbs hanging from copper wires and an amazing glass octopus/mermaid/creature of the deep type thing! I love arty things like this, they're so eye catching.

There are a MASS of exhibitions throughout the building spread over 5 floors. There are some from Britain, America, China, Japan and everywhere you can think of!
There was some beautiful mosaic pieces from Iran:

There was a stunning hall which suddenly appeared through a tiny doorway and opened out into a cavern like room with amazing portraits and I've no idea what the thing was at the end of the room but it was gorgeous and I was mesmerized by the gold.

I am one of those people that absolutely loves trinket boxes and storage solutions. I am basically obsessed with boxes and drawers, so the following appealed to me immensely!

Imagine hiding away your lipsticks and powders in that bad boy! So many drawers for so many items, I'd have that organised within an inch of it's life if I had the room!

The box below is my absolute ideal box. I'd love to put this on my desk on display but contain items that mean something to me and keep it locked! I love the wood and the metal detail on it.

Having walked into a room that was reconstructed from another property in London, I was blown away by the fireplace. The woodwork was amazing and as the fire place is one of the main focuses of the room this was definitely a show stopper!

There were also some stunning family jewels that I couldn't resist looking at.
There was an intricate ship pendant, a beautiful black/red stone pendant, a stunning book pendant, and a jewelled gold bangle.
I couldn't stop looking at the detail on these and had to fight some people away from them.

This was the most stunning belt I've ever seen. I'm so annoyed as I've forgotten who this belonged to but they wore it to the Queen's wedding all those years ago and the belt and the matching pendant are full of diamonds that are just out of this world.

The only thing I knew was in the museum was a clothing exhibition so I was really excited to get to this part of the museum, which probably accounted for about 5%....if that!

There were dresses from all eras, in all patterns, colours and styles and it was amazing to walk around the displays seeing how fashion and costumes have changed.
The materials were amazing and the stitching and details on the pieces were unbelievable.

I loved seeing the underwear, the petticoat under the dress was also so pretty.

The dress below was one of my favourites, I love black and metalwork on clothing and this dress would be an amazing edition to my wardrobe if I could ever afford it!

Couldn't resist snapping a picture of myself in between the clothing!

I stopped for a quick drink in one of the cafes in the museum and honestly couldn't believe the lighting and decor in the seating area, check out these lights! How amazing are they?!
I'm surprised I didn't dribble my tea everywhere as I spent most of my time staring at the ceiling.

There were some stunning items and I couldn't believe the details; there was this book in the metal work section that was so intricate and detailed I was totally stunned, it's amazing!

I did not see the #no photography' signs outside the jewellery section so apologies to the museum for that....I did snap a picture of this absolutely stunning tiara though. 

I was speechless at how beautiful this was and can only imagine what it would be like to wear one. Maybe I'll have a replica made for my wedding at some point in the future?? Haaa imagine. 

That was my personal highlight of the museum, it was so beautiful!

The lightbulbs at the entrance you could see upstairs on a higher floor through a hole in the ceiling, these were SO TALL! I absolutely loved seeing them all the way to the stop of the building where they were attached and then through to the floor:

This was the perfect trip to fill the spare time I had in between my train and meeting others for the event. It took me around 3/4 hours to wander my way around the whole museum and take a substantial amount of photos.

I really enjoyed doing something completely different to normal and this was COMPLETELY FREE!
I love visiting museums so I will have to do this more often, it's a great way to learn something new, see different things and all without spending any money.

I will have to visit other types of museums in future as I'm always looking for new things to do!

Do you like visiting museums? Do you have any suggestions of museums I should visit?

L xxx