This year, I continued my tradition of visiting Europe right before Christmas. I flew out of DFW on December 12th and landed at London's Heathrow around 7:20 a.m. on December 13th. I was only going to be in London for a day, and had a flight out of London's Gatwick Airport early on December 14th, so that complicated things a bit.
I changed clothes and freshened up in a bathroom at Heathrow after baggage claim and immigration, but before walking through border control, and then took the underground into London. My first stop was Victoria Station to store my luggage. There is a Left Luggage location there where you can store your luggage easily (though for a hefty fee...I think it was 36 pounds).
I didn't have much of a plan for the day other than to wander around my favorite city for a few hours so I left my big camera in my luggage and only have iPhone photos for the day. Cath Kidston has always been a favorite stop and it closed down a few years ago. In the fall they opened a new store, though not at the convenient location they had before. This one is at Westfield mall. I wasn't planning to go, but got it in my head it was just near the Hammersmith stop on the tube (spoiler: It is not!) and decided to run out there first. Somewhere along the way, I remembered it was at Shepherd's Bush, not Hammersmith, and rerouted. Sadly, the new store is much smaller and not near as exciting as the old store.
After a quick visit to Cath Kidston, I went ALL the way across London to a location I've never visited before... Leadenhall Market.
Most people are familiar with it because it's a Harry Potter filming location (which I still have neither read or seen), but I have always thought the pictures were pretty...
...and it also has an Aux Merveilleux de Fred (which I visited in Bruges) and I wanted to pick up a dessert to have later for dinner . I also grabbed a fantastic brioche bun to nibble while I walked.
I crossed the Thames and got a view of Tower Bridge...
... on my way to Borough Market.
Did you even go to London if you didn't have fish and chips?
I made my way to Selfridges to see their holiday decor.
Liberty is also a must visit.
Gosh I loved their Liberty print stockings!
Old Bond Street was next to see the fabulous store decorations.
Walked through a couple of Arcades for their decor...
Finally, I made it to Fortnum & Masons.
I was sad I didn't need a new Christmas tea as I had just cracked open a new tin this year, but I loved the pink packaging this year! But also now wondering why the heck I didn't just buy it anyway? I'm going to blame a lack of sleep!
Fortnum's hit it out of the park this year with their Christmas decor. The "dancing" pinecones were just phenomenal!
I went to Trafalgar Square to see the Oslo Tree. People like to make fun of it, but I always like to see this lovely gift from the people of Oslo each year. They've given a tree every year since 1947 to show gratitude for the British support of Norway during WW2.
I walked through Leicester Square on the way to Covent Garden which was decked out as always.
For a variety of reasons, I called it at day at this point. I went back to Victoria Station and collected my bags and boarded the Gatwick Express Train to Gatwick Airport. Since I needed to be at the airport around 5:30 a.m. the next day I decided to stay at the Hilton at Gatwick that is connected to the terminal where I flew out of. Another perk, a M&S food. No seriously! I love M&S food!
I can get Percy Pigs.
and my favorite sandwich (this is a screen shot of a video so it's not great, but the sandwich, now THAT was great!)....
The Hilton is just a basic Hilton, but convenient because it was just a couple of minutes walk from the Gatwick Express train and also to the terminal the next morning.
A recurring photo at each location is me icing my knee. I had been having issues for about a month prior to my trip. My PCP thought it was bursitis and I took a lot of Celebrex and a round of steroids to bring down the swelling. When that didn't help, I saw an orthopedic specialist who diagnosed me with a torn meniscus. I got a hefty shot in the knee the Monday before I left in the hopes that I could make it on vacation without pain. To try and make it through, I walked about 15,000 steps a day instead of my usual 20,000 and I iced it every night.
That's a wrap on day one, but stay tuned because I have three other countries to hit up!
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