Return to London with a Vengeance

Date: 6th April 2009
Purpose of trip: various
Getting there: Bus to the station, train to London St Pancras. London transport buses and tubes
Travelling companions: Pete and Hannah


It doesn't seem so very long ago since I was ranting about our experience on the train to London. East Midlands Trains did respond to my complaint and sent us 3 complimentary first class tickets. On Monday April 6th we used our tickets to repeat the trip to the capital.

Travelling first class for the first time was a nice experience. Just a few days earlier I'd 'enjoyed' a bacon sandwich on the trip to Darlington. It tasted good but was presented to me uncut, microwaved in a paper bag. This time I got something rather nicer and which I felt warranted a photograph.

We'd all gone with our own agendas. Peter's was magic. We headed off to the International Magic shop in Holborn but it was closed when we arrived so we took a detour which led us to the fantastic Magma bookshop on Clerkenwell Road. It had something that apealed to all of us and could have spent hours in there. I investigated their website when I got home and wasn't too surprised that Magma is more of a philosophy than a bookshop.

Another detour found us in Waterhouse Square.

From there we went to Covent Garden.

We often have waffles when we go there but today I got to try Amy's paella in the courtyard. Wonderful. We watched the street entertainment for a while and Pete and Hannah visited David and Goliath.

From Covent Garden we made our way towards the British Museum. I wanted to call in at Blade Rubber Stamps so dropped the kids off at Starbucks with money for lunch and went to indulge myself. The British Museum looked enticing and I'd never been but we already had too much on our itinerary. We did peek through the gates and saw what we thought at first was an archaeological dig. But it turns out they were preparing the ground for an Indian landscape display.

Hannah's priority for the day was to visit Harrods to do research for her A level Graphics project. I'd never been before so had a very pleasant surprise. We roamed the food departments with our eyes on stalks and considered getting a bank loan to finance a treat at Morelli's Gelato.

Hannah wanted to visit Piccadilly Circus and Peter wanted to check out Hamleys. Their magic section was disappointing really but a visit to the Bear Factory resulted in Pete and Hannah becoming the proud parents of a baby panda called 'Bamboo'. I was flagging by this point so had a brief saunter (okay, stagger) down Carnaby Street before collapsing in Starbucks with a fruit salad.

We ended the day at Davenport's magic shop at Charing Cross station where Peter picked up a few bits of kit. Then it was back to St Pancras for the First Class return home.

It had been a good day but we'd have liked to visit the Palladio exhibition at the Royal Academy which has now finished and the Le Corbusier exhibition at the Barbican. I guess we'll just have to go back again soon.