Love Travelling Blog

Travel diaries providing inspiration for planning the perfect trip

London

  • Regent Street, London

    A walk from Green Park to Piccadilly Circus, London

    Follow my walk to discover the highlights of this beautiful part of London’s West End. Start off at Green Park Underground Station which is served by the Piccadilly, Jubilee and Victoria lines.  On leaving, I suggest beginning by exploring the park itself as the northern edge is next to the tube station. Green Park  Green…

  • Horse Drawn Postal Carriage, London Postal Museum

    The Postal Museum, London

    Location The Postal Museum is situated near Farringdon, Russell Square and just a short walk from King’s Cross and Chancery Lane underground stations. The museum is located in two buildings across the road from each other.  One building houses the Mail Rail train whilst the other contains most of the exhibitions and the cafe.  Standard tickets…

  • London Transport Museum

    London Transport Museum

    I travel on public transport frequently and after visiting numerous other transport museums around the world, I finally made it to the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden.  The museum explores the heritage of London and its transport systems and I couldn’t wait to step through its doors.  Standard admission to the museum is £21…

  • Backyard Market, Brick Lane

    Spitalfields Market and Shoreditch, London

    Our day started with a visit to Spitalfields Market and on the way there we stopped to take a look at one of the 13 cast iron statues marking the boundaries of the City of London.  The dragon symbol is thought to have been derived from the legend of St. George. Moving on we soon…

  • HMS Belfast, London

    Churchill War Rooms and HMS Belfast, London

    We began the day with a visit to the Churchill War Rooms hidden behind the streets of Westminster just a stone’s throw from 10 Downing Street.  The War Rooms are now part of the Imperial War Museum with standard admission £25.  (Nearest underground stations, St. James’ Park and Westminster). This was the underground headquarters where the…

  • White Tower, Tower of London

    St. Paul’s Cathedral, Tower of London & The Shard

    What fun, a weekend in London spending time being tourists in our own capital city and having an opportunity to visit some of the world’s most iconic sights.  We arrived into London Waterloo the previous evening giving us three full days to explore. After tucking into a hearty breakfast in the opulent Hamilton Hall, the…

  • Regent's Canal, London

    Regent’s Canal Walk: King’s Cross to Paddington

    This 5 mile walk along the Regent’s Canal passes through some of London’s best kept secrets including Regent’s Park and Little Venice whilst avoiding the congestion and crowds of life in the capital. Our walk started outside King’s Cross station from where we wandered around the corner to Granary Square and the vibrant Coal Drops…

  • Sloane Square, London

    Day 2. A walk through central London

    After breakfast at our hotel in Kensington, we took the District Line to East Putney with the intention of taking a stroll along the Thames Path towards Barnes.  However, our plans were dashed as it started to pour with rain just as we left the underground station.  Instead, we decided a morning’s shopping was more…

  • London Christmas Lights

    Day 1. A Festive London Break

    It’s always fun to spend time in London especially at Christmas and with exceptionally good timing we just managed to squeeze in a short break days before the Government announced stricter COVID-19 measures.  Hotel rates had dropped significantly in recent months meaning that we were able to book a bargain stay in the affluent borough…

  • StayCity ApartHotel, Greenwich

    Staycity Aparthotel Greenwich

    Hotel Review Location Staycity Aparthotel is located in the historic centre of Greenwich and is just a few minutes walk from Greenwich mainline railway station with frequent trains to and from London Bridge taking only 8 minutes.  The Docklands Light Railway (DLR) is also nearby with links from the London Underground at Bank taking 20…

  • Cutty Sark

    Day 2. Exploring Greenwich & Docklands

    After feeling refreshed following a good night’s sleep at the Staycity Aparthotel we utilised our apartment’s kitchen to prepare some breakfast and with a dishwasher on hand we soon had things tidied away and were ready to go out.  After popping our key cards in the express check-out box in the entrance lobby we jumped…

  • Greenwich Old Royal Naval College across the River Thames

    Day 1. A weekend in Greenwich

    I had a spring in my step as I boarded an LNER early morning train between Leeds and London Kings Cross.  Using public transport and travelling by train is something I do constantly but alas not in these strange times so I was excited to be taking my first journey for over four months. I’ll…

  • DLR Train at West India Quay, London

    Day 1.  London City Break

    I never tire of a few days in London so recently I managed to fit in a short break to the capital.  Travelling by train took just under three hours from my home in the north of England enabling me to arrive into the city around lunchtime. My first stop was at Piccadilly, a short…

  • London Underground Tube Train

    Day 2.  Exploring London’s East End

    Buffet style breakfast is included in the room rate at Ibis Styles hotels and there was a good selection of both hot and cold dishes to set us up for the day in its brightly coloured restaurant.  Setting off, I walked the short distance to Prince Regent DLR station and made my way via Canning…

  • London Olympic Park

    Day 3.   Exploring Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

    After eating breakfast in our hotel the Ibis Styles located in the Docklands we took the DLR the short distance to Stratford to visit Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park which was the venue for the Summer 2012 Olympic Games. On leaving the station we took the escalator up to ‘The Street’ which is an outdoor part…

  • Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A), London

    Day 1.  The Victoria & Albert Museum, London

    The start of another long weekend in London.  Arriving in the capital around lunchtime, I decided to take the Underground to South Kensington so that I could visit the Victoria & Albert Museum which is on Cromwell Road. The Victoria & Albert (V & A) is the world’s leading museum of art and design housing many of…

  • Big Ben and Houses of Parliament at dusk

    Day 2. The Faraday Museum & Wallace Collection, London

    A much brighter morning and gladly somewhat milder than yesterday.  After taking a train to Victoria from Clapham Junction, the country’s busiest railway station we rode the Underground one stop to Green Park as we wished to visit the Royal Institution on Albemarle Street, just off Piccadilly. In the basement of the Royal Institution you…

  • Chinese Lanterns, Chinatown, London

    Day 3.  The Imperial War Museum & Chinese New Year Celebrations

    I’ve visited the Imperial Museum North at Salford Quays, Manchester a couple of times but had not visited the main site in London so on this cold, dreary morning we decided to take a look.  The nearest underground station is Lambeth North but this is currently closed whilst the lifts are being replaced so as an alternative,…

  • Chinese Lanterns, Trafalgar Square, London

    Day 4.  Chinese New Year in London

    To round off our weekend in London we headed to Trafalgar Square where a huge festival to celebrate the Chinese New Year (Year of the Rooster) was taking place from 10.00 a.m.  No visit to London should take place without visiting this iconic square with Nelson’s Column at its centre surrounded by four lions.  Getting…

  • Ice rink outside London's National History Museum

    Day 1.  A late autumn visit to London

    A cold morning at home so before leaving the house I donned my winter coat and woollen scarf for my journey to London.  I find long distance train travel relaxing and, once on board, I settled down to reading ‘Mr. Gandy’s Grand Tour’ by Alan Titchmarsh and happily spent the journey with my book, some…

  • Tower Bridge, London at night

    Day 2.  A walk along the Thames Path 

    Leaving our hotel in Clapham Junction we walked the few steps across to the railway station in order to board a service to Putney in south west London, just 10 minutes away.  We then enjoyed a hearty breakfast on the high street before wandering round the shops and making our way towards the river. Strolling…

  • Historic Buildings, Kingston Upon Thames

    Day 3.  Kingston-upon-Thames to Richmond

    A 20 minute rail journey from Clapham Junction lies the south west London town of Kingston-upon-Thames and our starting point for today. The large town has some attractive Tudor buildings and a small market selling fruit and vegetables takes place in the central market square at weekends.   The town has a good range of shops including…

  • Former Naval College, Greenwich, London

    Day 4.  Maritime Greenwich and London’s South Bank

    We woke to clear blue skies and sunshine but needed to wrap up warm on this November morning.  After checking out of our Travelodge, we left our luggage and made our way to Greenwich taking the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) from Canary Wharf.  Please remember if using the DLR that there are no ticket barriers…

  • Big Ben, London

    Day 1. St James’s Park and the Mall, London

    This morning I took a Virgin East Coast train to London arriving into Kings Cross at 1.00 pm, from where I hopped on the Piccadilly Line for the short journey to Piccadilly Circus as I’d arranged to meet my older son in the Virgin Lounge.  I was first to arrive which gave me a few…

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