London
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Review: Staycity Aparthotel Greenwich, London
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…
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Exploring Greenwich & London 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…
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A weekend in Greenwich, London – Day 1
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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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,…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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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