Choosing somewhere to stay in London hasn’t been something we’ve needed to do, until recently, but with two nights in town meeting friends and family we wanted to stay somewhere that was easy to get to both the City and the West End, and which didn’t cost the earth.
After some internet research - especially on prices - we settled for a Travelodge in Waterloo, and we couldn’t have chosen a better location. We arrived at Kings Cross and got on the Northern line to Bank, changing there for the Waterloo & City line - and bam, we where in Waterloo and checked in.
We headed out for lunch at Pizza Pilgrims on Lower Marsh - I had the double pepperoni and hot honey - which was good, I could take or leave the honey though, but the stacked tin tomatoes were as impressive.
Soon we were back on the Waterloo & City line heading to the City where we met up with plenty of friends to mark our escape to the country and it was great to see so many of our friends to catch up and plan future visits over a drink or two and way too much food! A final trip on the Waterloo & City line for the day saw us back at the hotel for the night.
The next morning, after a relaxed start, we headed out for breakfast looking for a proper caff, rather than a chain. Our instincts told us to head down The Cut, which looked quite different to our previous visits with many more chains moving in. We spotted what we were looking for though, and found a cafe serving the largest plate of full English (for MOH) and a bacon and egg sandwich for me. We weren’t disappointed, the place was buzzing with builders, taxi drivers and a few bemused tourists from overseas.
Our plan for the day was to check out some furniture I’d seen online over at Marble Arch and then head over to Brick Lane to get some bagels. From Waterloo we arrived at Bond Street on the Bakerloo line and headed straight to Fortnums to buy our mince pie treat - they’re pricey, but they’re oh so nice, and for the last few years or so, a box has been ours. Moving out of London wasn’t going to change this, and it made sense for us to get them on our visit, once we’d checked out the Christmas windows and their decorations.
Armed with mince pies, our next stop was Marble Arch and our plan was to get there through the back streets avoiding the busier streets, as you never quite know what you’ll find. And we weren’t disappointed as we came across the Ever After Garden in Grosvenor Square, which was quite a moving sight.
And then we looked up at the most fantastic yellow leaved tree, which no doubt looked even better against the sunlit white building and the blue sky. A joyous sight that’s for sure.
We carried on walking to Marble Arch only to find that the store didn’t have any of the range I wanted to look at anyway, typically. However the sales assistant was familiar with the range, and could answer the questions I had, so that was something.
After a quick coffee and a pastry, we headed off to Liverpool Street on the Central line. Above ground again and we walked through Spitalfields to Brick Lane and to our favourite bagel shop. Bagels secured, we headed back to Spitalfields Market to share lunch, stopping briefly to admire the the graffiti, which if you look more closely at you’ll see it’s sprayed onto electrical sockets.
Back to the hotel, on the Waterloo & City line again, after walking to and past Bank for a final time on this visit. That evening we met up with family in the West End so we were back on the Bakerloo line, this time to Piccadilly Circus. A pre-dinner drink (or two) in a pub before heading over to our favourite Hawksmoor restaurant on Air Street.
Still full from the night before, we skipped breakfast the next morning opting for a coffee and pastry in Tottenham Court Road - a quick hop over from Waterloo on the Northern line. Then we were off to check out what Heals and West Elm had to offer furniture-wise - in short, nothing grabbed us this time round, so we headed up towards Market Halls, but first stopping in John Lewis. There we had more success, looking at several items which we added to our Black Friday shopping list.
We had just one more tube journey ahead of us - from Oxford Circus back to Kings Cross and our train home.
In those three days we clocked up just over 39,200 steps (with half of those on the middle day) and twelve and a half miles, let alone the numerous tube rides - so quite a trip. It was good to be back in London, but it was oh so much better to be home.
And Waterloo, definitely a location we’ll check out again for future stays.
