Day 12 London, UK

Day 12 has been our busiest yet and rolled into bed at 10 30pm absolutely exhausted. We left Brugge by train for Brussels South where, after a long wait we boarded the Eurostar for London. As it takes 900 people it was extremely busy. The ride itself was lovely and relaxing and even had a lovely lunch and glass of wine on board. We arrived in London at St Pancras station at 2pm. Having then found our way to the underground, we followed Alanna’s directions to get to Shepherds Bush where we are staying. All sounds easy but with two suitcases each and now quite heavy, there were several flights of stairs to manage as well as throngs of people. Was feeling my age! We finally emerged from the underground and then called an Uber to take us the last part of our journey to the Air B N B where we are staying in. Had a bit of negotiation to do with the driver after he drove off in the opposite direction and was showing a 71 minute ride, when our phones said it should be 12 minutes . Realise now how important postcodes are over here! Also struck horrendous traffic so all in all it was a relief to get to our home for the next few days. No need for the gym on this holiday - our flat was three flights of stairs up!! It’s perfect for our stay though and has everything we need. Thirty minutes later we were off again as we headed this time to meet Alanna in the middle of London. As we disembarked in town and began to make our way up to street level, Alanna spotted us as her tube had also just arrived. Such a cool moment!! Lots of hugs surrounded by crowds of people! We made our way to the Sky Garden- known as the ‘walkie talkie’ due to its unique shape, this skyscraper features a top-floor restaurant and bar. We lined up for the lift to take us up 37 floors to the largest bar overlooking London. Most spectacular was the Shard right beside us, which had the most impressive light show going on the upper half of it. We loved our two hours there. It was hard to take photos though as a lot of reflection on the glass. Because you had to book, even though it was free, there were just the right number of people and seemed spacious and relaxed and quite a cool temperature too as the tropical plants are a feature. Guess our admission was in the glass of wine as very pricey! We then headed off yet again by train ( but guided by Alanna this time) to Covent Garden, where we stopped at a cute little old bar for a drink and then waked to a beautiful Italian restaurant, Notto. ( seems you find these good places on TicToc! ) The food was amazing and great atmosphere. We left there for a walk around Covent garden which was all decked out with Christmas lights and a beautiful Christmas tree. The busker singing added to the atmosphere. The last part of our day was one last train trip to Shepherds Bush and the 11 minute walk to the flat. We were just about walking with our eyes shut !Read more