George visits London

Back in May my friend George visited London (you know George, she's the only one who reads this blog - yes that George).  George lives on the Isle of Wight so the plan was to visit and explore the places you can't get on the Island. I mean I'm pretty sure you can't buy these shoes anywhere on the IOW (not that you'd want to, to be honest!)

Sparkly shoes!

I met George at Victoria Station and as useful as the tube is I love to walk around London, everywhere is closer than you think and there is so much to see. Therefore with George already instructed to wear her walking shoes we headed through St James Park, past the Ritz and up through Bond Street. We did a little bit of window shopping in Bond Street. It seemed none of the shops wanted to advertise their prices, but I guess if you have to ask how much it cost you can't afford it. This means I will never know how much those sparkly shoes cost! We then headed to Carnaby Street, an area I am more comfortable in compared to extravagance of Bond Street. After a bit more browsing and popping into Choccywoccydoodah it was time for lunch.

Inside Choccywoccydoodah - so amazing!

How stunning is this cake - perhaps I can change my mind for our wedding cake design.

The original plan was to go to Pitt Cue Co. which is a small restaurant just off Carnaby Street which specialises in American style BBQ with pulled pork, sticky ribs and stacked burgers.  However Saturday lunchtime may not be the best time to visit this place as it was packed when we arrived.  It didn't look like it was going to quieten down at any point and George and I were both very hungry so we ditched this plan and ended up at Cha Cha Moon instead. Cha Cha Moon is a Chinese Noodle bar. George and I shared some Crispy Noodles with Shredded Chicken and a sharing plater with a range of different starters.

Very tasty!

Demolished!

After lunch, which was delicious, it was time for some culture. Leaving Carnaby Street we headed through Soho towards The National Gallery. Before we could reach The National Gallery we found my favourite bar, the O Bar. The O Bar has a happy hour which runs from opening time until 8pm. This happy hour lets you buy two cocktails for the price of one, and if you go there about 3pm (as we did) the place is almost empty so you will definitely get a seat! We enjoyed a couple of cocktails each (one of which was on fire!) we staggered out towards Trafalgar Square.

George enjoying an afternoon pick me up!

 Cocktails for two.

After a wander around the gallery we decided to head back to mine to freshen up, and watch a wonderfully tacky yet inspiring DVD - Stick it! One of the things that George and I share is a love for amazingly cheesy films, if they are about girls in sport (to inspire us for our up coming half marathon) all the better! For Stick It! think Bring it On (cheerleaders) but with gymnasts instead. Feeling revitalised it was time for dinner. To make up for the fact we couldn't get into Pitt Cue I took George to my favourite burger place - yep you guessed it Gourmet Burger Kitchen!

Windy Windsor

Back in September Stuart and I went to Windsor to pick and buy my engagement ring so we thought it would be fun to go back there today to buy our wedding rings. I was very motivated this morning and went for 6k run and by the time I'd finished my jog, had a shower and jumped on the train to Windsor it was the best time of the day - lunchtime! As soon as the train pulled into the station we headed to my favourite burger place, the Gourmet Burger Kitchen. Now I do like to try the different burgers they do but today I went for my old favourite, The Kiwi Burger. Don't worry no Kiwi's were killed to make this burger, it is named after New Zealanders tendency to put egg, beetroot and pineapple on their burgers.  It really is delicious and a lovely treat, especially with a cool can of L&P (world famous in New Zealand). Stuart had a mint lamb burger and we shared a portion of chips with some delicious smoked chilli mayo (normally I'd go for GBK's heavenly garlic mayo but I thought I'd better not breathe garlic around Windsor especially in the jewellers)! 

A masterpiece!

We made short work of our burgers and then headed into the streets of Windsor. Windsor is an absolutely lovely place, and if money was no issue it would be somewhere I would love to live. The shops are varied, with not too many of the general high street stores you see everywhere, all the houses seem quaint with beautiful gardens and it is right on the Thames (if I can't live by the sea I need to live near the Thames!) And then of course there is the great hulking castle looking over everything. However before we could go exploring we had to deal with the task in hand - ring shopping.  After window shopping we ended up the same shop where Stuart brought my engagement ring.  It didn't take us long to agree and perhaps closer to the time I will post a picture of them on here!  

The gates that welcome you to the shopping area in Windsor

With the rings purchased we were free to wander around.  Last time we came we walked around the outside of the castle and in the town centre so this time we decided to head to the Long Walk.  The Long Walk starts at Windsor Castle and heads in a straight line through Windsor Great Park.  Before we started we didn't realise quite how far it was, but it was worth it to reach the view at the end.  I will let some of my photos do the talking.

At the beginning of the Long Walk

Me - with Windsor Castle behind me!

The statue in the distance was the one we were aiming for!

Awwww, look, there's a few deer over there.

A few? There were hundreds!

Well worth the walk!

Stuart with the statue at the end -  and trying not to get blown off the hill!

Since I returned home I have looked on the Internet and discovered that the Long Walk is 2.65 miles long, which is a nice length for an afternoon walk.  Apparently Queen Victoria and Prince Albert used to get a coach up here with a picnic, finish the picnic, send the servants back with the dishes and walk home together, which is lovely really, until you realise they only had to walk one way! Once we had enjoyed the view and had a little rest we realised we had to walk all the way back to Windsor.  The return walk is not as much fun especially when the wind is howling around you, and you realise the view is getting pretty repetitive - it seemed like the castle was never getting closer! However Stuart and I battled on and made it back to Windsor.  I had a really good day out, and with my 6k jog, and a 5 mile walk completed I don't even feel slightly guilty about my massive, delicious burger - result!