London, Baby!

I forgot to mention it, but Drew and I jetted off to London a week ago for a quick weekend holiday trip!  We really wanted to do some of the German Christmas markets but we needed someplace close and fast so we'll save that for next year - plus, London had lots of Christmasy things so we didn't miss out!

We got in by 8:30pm on Friday night, and took the train across the city to Putney where our friends (that we were staying with) live.  We ate a lovely Italian dinner and were in bed by midnight, hoping to get a good night's sleep for the full day ahead.  The next day, we basically walked the entire city and ate and drank our way through it.  As per usual.

Note: There may be way too many pictures on here for one post but I didn't feel like dividing it up.  Sorry.

First stop: Borough Market!  Our friends told us this place was a food lover's paradise and they were RIGHT.  We spent a few hours there just wandering through the stalls and sampling various things.

Buying a donut/cinnamon twist!  It had been too damn long.

Yummy pastries

Pretty wreaths

Our friends had also told us about these famous grilled cheeses at this awesome German food stall there, where they basically heat up slabs of cheese under a hot bar thing and then they scrape off the cheese onto your sandwich (made with Poilane bread) and they add leeks and garlic!  Heaven.  I was obsessed.

Slabs of cheese heating up!

Sandwiches with an inch of shredded cheese on Poilane bread, waiting to melt all over my face.

HELP!

Nom nom nom.

Delish!  Obsessed!  Too good for words!

(Side story: Drew and I were splitting the sandwich but he didn't love it as much as I did so I asked if he wanted anymore of it before I finished it off and he said no.  I took one more bite, mentally preparing myself for the very last bite of this cheesy goodness, when Drew said "Actually, maybe I'll have one more.." and proceeded to take my last bite of my favorite sandwich out of my hand and put it into his mouth before I could say a word.  I. WAS. LIVID.  DO NOT come between a girl and her grilled cheese.  #fatkidproblems)

Fresh bread

Crafty home goods

Bowls o' avocados for €1!!  BARGAIN ALERT!  The ones in Ireland are like €3 each.  Damn.

Busy bustling bozos

Sausages and salamis and what not

HUGE pan of paella!  Yes please.

Fresh veg.

Roasted duck for sandwiches!

We got one.  Couldn't resist.

He approves!

And we finished off our market adventure with a glass of mulled wine.  Just what the doctor ordered.

So that was fun.  Then we walked out of the market and over to the River Thames and walked alllllll along it, saw several hot spots, and passed through a fun German-like Christmas market thing.  Even though we weren't in Germany.

The Globe Theater!  Where Bill Shakespeare used to hang out.

The Tate.  Ugly building but cool museum.

Book fair!

Some sort of Mexican tree thing that reminded me of my sis-in-law Lauren, cause she has lots of this type of stuff!

Festive German/English market on the South Bank.

Ornaments!

Holiday stall-topper.

The London Eye!  More like the London Eye SORE, am I right?

Big Benny Boy and Parliament.  Beauts shot.

Oh hey!

London Eye from across the river

Wesminster!

The money shot.

After taking several pics and wandering around those big landmarks, we walked over to Trafalgar Square and then to Covent Garden to check out the shops and other festive things.

This whole city was PACKED.  Everywhere.

Reindeer topiary.

And then we went to Harrod's!

Pretty interiors.

Fresh seafood

Oh baby!  Gimme.

Egyptian escalator

Pretty exterior

Drew loves trains and tubes and anything underground!

We mainly came to London for this huge festival/market in Hyde Park, which was party carnival/fair, part Oktoberfest, and part Christmas Market.  We avoided the carnival part and mostly hung out in the beer tents and walked around the stalls with our Bailey's Hot Chocolate.  Very fun, festive, crowded, and freezing.

Beautiful sunset in Hyde Park!

Another cute German food/beer stall.

Hot Choco with Baileys

King's Road for din - all lit up!

Cath Kitson for Moll.

We stopped by our friends' Christmas party and then went home and crashed.  We had no plans on Sunday because we'd mostly walked everywhere on Saturday (and because we're coming back to do more touristy things in May) so we had a Sunday Roast with our pals and stopped by the Natural History Museum on the way to the airport.

Ohhhh yeah.  Shropshire roast chicken with veg and Yorkshire pudding!

Dinos at the museum.

Triceratops!  This thing was huge.  Yikes.

Speaking of huge, this blue whale was ridiculous.  It took up the whole room!  If I saw a real one I think I'd pee myself.

Medusa!  Lookin' cray.

People skating and enjoying the holidays outside the museum.  Ah.  Lovely.

We really enjoyed our time in London, even though it was super quick and more crowded than we even knew what to do with.  It got us even more in the holiday mood and we had a nice time with our pals!  Can't wait to go back.  And...did I mention I'm home in 5 days??  AHHHHHH.  I need something to distract myself.  Alright, off to...pack.  Too soon?