Christmas 2010 - London

This year we returned to England to spend Christmas with our families.  An offer by British Airways when we booked our flights included two nights in a Central London hotel which we decided to take at the beginning of our break.  We flew to Heathrow T5 and took the Piccadilly Line underground right through to Russell Square Station which was the closest to our hotel, the President Hotel on Russell Square.

It was already dusk by the time we checked-in, the view from our room overlooking Russell Square.

Our first evening we had arranged to go to the theatre to see a play that Davids uncle was starring in.  Ghost Stories was at the Duke of York’s Theatre on St Martins Lane, only a 10-15 minute walk from the hotel.  We took these photos the following day of the theatre.  It was a great performance and we enjoyed catching up with David’s uncle and his wife after the show over a bottle of wine.

Ghost Stories at the Duke of York’s Theatre.

The following morning we headed over to St. Thomas’ Hospital to visit a friend and ex-colleague of Davids who is working at the adjoining new Evelina Childrens Hospital.

It was a very cold, grey winters day so no spectacular views even though the hospitals are situated right on the River Thames just up from the London Eye.

After our visit to the hospital we cross Westminster Bridge to the North side of the river and get these views of the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben.

Closer views of the Houses of Parliament

And Big Ben

We walked along the embankment and up through Charing Cross to take photos of the Duke of York’s Theatre before then heading back past St Martin’s in The Field church.  This church was built in 1726 and named after an earlier church built on the site by Henry VIII in 1542 when at this time the location was literally ‘in the fields’ between the towns of London and Westminster.

We pass through Piccadilly Circus.

Then the excellent views up Regent Street.

The window displays of Hamleys Toy store.

Shortly after we met with Craig, an old family friend of Davids in Covent Garden, we did a little shopping and then had a drink in the Lamb & Flag pub on Rose Street.  Reputedly one of the oldest pubs in the area and believed to date back to 1623 the pub was small and bustling and very very British !
We spent the afternoon with Craig before heading out to his home in Shepherd Bush and meeting up with his wife Mia and enjoying a lovely meal in the Havelock Tavern.  After our meal David and I returned on the Piccadilly Line back into Central London and enjoyed some of the Christmas light displays on our way back to the hotel.

Beautiful Liberty Department store on Regent St was actually built in the 1920’s but to an authentic Tudor style.

Then we walk back past the British Museum to our hotel.

The following morning after breakfast we took a walk around the immediate neighbourhood of our hotel.  David had stayed in this part of London when he was working at Great Ormond St Hospital in 1997 so showed me where he had lived during that time in Nurses accommodation on Bernard St.

We walked around and past Great Ormond St Hospital and then through another beautiful city square – Queen Square

Then back to our hotel to collect our suitcases and check-out.  The daytime view from our room as we leave.

We then walk around to Russell Square tube station and take the underground to Kings Cross where we have booked tickets on an East Coast mainline train to Peterborough.