Tuesday 16 October 2018

5 Days In London - Exploring Notting Hill, Heathers The Musical & Theatre Spotting

Why is it even when you take a break from blogging, you still can't stop thinking about it? I took a week off last week as we went to London yet I still don't feel like I properly disconnected from it. Is anyone else the same? Once I was back too, my to do list was ridiculous, I'm still kind of avoiding most of it! Anyway, I always write up about any places George and I have been to and last week we had another break to London, this time for 5 days which is the longest we've ever stayed. I've written countless times about London on my blog now so I'm sure you know just how much I love it, and it would be weird for me now to not document our trip there. 
Tower Bridge

Day 1 - Piccadilly and Theatre Spotting

We arrived on a Sunday afternoon so we had most of that day after checking in at our hotel. We got the tube straight to Piccadilly Circus which is one of my favourite areas of London and headed to our favourite shop, Whole Foods. Unfortunately they didn't have the Crosstown Doughnuts that we always get this time but we did pick up a few bits and OMG they were all amazing. The main thing being their fresh out of the oven Pizza which just tastes incredible. Honestly it was some of the best pizza I've ever had, definitely try a slice if you get chance. I think Piccadilly sort of epitomises London for me, it's always buzzing and the atmosphere is amazing, and every time I feel like there is more and more to see each time you turn a corner. After some good food we walked down to Leicester Square and ended up finding loads of different theatres. It was so much fun to see all of the different musicals that are currently playing as I just love all things musical theatre and I've already found loads more to add my ever growing list. We found where The Phantom Of The Opera plays, Everybody's Talking About Jamie, Company, Les Mis and more.
Piccadilly Circus
Selfie
The Phantom Of The Opera

Day 2 - Notting Hill and Heathers The Musical

As this trip to London was primarily a work trip for George it meant, just like when we went to Manchester, I pretty much had the days to myself to explore and then we'd meet up in the evening. After spending the Sunday together, on day 2 I ventured out a bit further to Notting Hill. I mean, it's not ages away but we do tend to stick to the same sorts of places whenever we're in London and Notting Hill was somewhere we'd not yet been too. After a lengthy tube trip, I finally arrived at Alice's on Portobello Road. If you're a fan of the Paddington films you might recognise this as Mr Gruber's Antique Shop. I was so excited to find this! It was one of the main places I knew I wanted to visit that week and it looked just as special up close as I imagined. Unfortunately it was actually closed that day so I didn't get to go inside but I definitely want to go back again in the future.
Alice's, Portobello Road
There were so many lovely little shops on Portobello Road, from souvenir shops to bakeries, book shops and jewellery stands, it's a wonderful place and so colourful. All of the pastel coloured houses were gorgeous! One place I did find was the original Notting Hill Bookshop. After finally watching the film in August, I knew that the next time I was in London I had to try and visit and it's just as beautiful as you'd imagine. It was really busy but I expect it's like that most days and it seemed people were always stopping to have their photo taken outside of it. 
The Notting Hill Bookshop
One of the things I loved about Portobello Road was the array of bakeries and cafes. Everywhere you look you spot another and you are spoilt for choice! I couldn't resist picking us up a cupcake each from The Hummingbird Bakery, and honestly it was the best cupcake I've ever had. I would go back just for another of those. I also found the famous Doughnut Time which is actually right next to the Notting Hill Bookshop. I'd heard only positive things about their doughnuts and they did not disappoint. Just the names of them are genius.
The Hummingbird Bakery
Doughnut Time
After a few hours in Notting Hill, I headed back to the hotel to meet up with George and get ready for a show that night. The musical we decided on this time was Heathers which was insane! I've got a full review going up this week so I won't go on too much but it was just brilliant in every way. I think it would be weird now for us to go to London and not see a show and I'm so glad Heathers was the one we went for this time. All of the cast were incredible, the audience was nothing like I'd experienced at a musical before and the theatre was stunning!
Heathers The Musical

Day 3 & 4 - Christmas Shopping on Oxford Street and Covent Garden

I've put day 3 and 4 together as both kind of consisted of Christmas shopping! On Tuesday I went to Oxford Street which just looked absolutely beautiful. The Christmas lights are up already! Not that I'm complaining at all. I'm so ready to get festive now. As much as I love London around Christmas when it's colder and really dark, you can't deny how beautiful it is in the sun. It ended up being strangely warm and sunny while we were there and whilst I don't particularly like that, being such an Autumn girl, everywhere I looked was stunning. I didn't end up getting much on Oxford Street which was a bit disappointing this time but Covent Garden on Wednesday was a winner. 
Oxford Street
Covent Garden is definitely up there as one of my favourite places in London, no matter the time of year. Though it's busy like everywhere you go in London, there's just something about it that feels much more relaxed and carefree and I always enjoy any time I spend there. The sun was shining when I got there but by the time we left it was just starting to set and the sky was incredible. I could have spent hours and hours there. It has some of the loveliest shops and you can always find the nicest food. We went back to our beloved Shake Shack and OMG I could eat it again now, also Ben's Cookies is a must if you visit!
Covent Garden
On our way round we found a few more theatres too including the Theatre Royal Drury Lane which is currently playing 42nd Street aswell as Mamma Mia, The Lion King and finally the Noel Coward Theatre which is currently playing the The Inheritance. They've just announced that's where Dear Evan Hansen will be opening next year so I can't wait to visit for that as it's one of the shows I've been waiting to transfer to the West End.
Theatre Royal Drury Lane
Noel Coward Theatre
Our last day was really chilled as we knew we were getting the train back in the afternoon so we didn't get much chance to do anything but I think we packed loads in on the other days. I'm so happy with everything we got to do and see and like all of our trips to London, it was just so nice to be back. Notting Hill exceeded any expectations and I can't wait to go back in future with George so he can see it too and Heathers The Musical was the best. Look out for my review later on in the week if you want to hear more about it!
The Shard
You can see The Shard from our hotel and when the sun was setting, it looked incredible.
Have you got any favourite places to visit in London?


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