Snapshots from London is a short travel post, mainly consisting of photographs from my latest London trip. I celebrated my 40^th birthday in London in December. It was a wonderful birthday trip with my husband. This December London trip was a mix of old haunts and some of my favourite places with new places and discovering yet another charming part of Greater London (Richmond upon Thames).

Snapshots from London

We landed on Saturday late in the night so we spent our first night in London in a hotel on Stansted airport. On Sunday morning we got on the Stansted express train and ventured into the City of London. I wanted to wander around Leadenhall market for a while. Then, we caught double-decker bus no. 26 at the Royal Exchange bus stop heading towards Big Ben. Alas, the top deck of the bus was full so it wasn’t such a great sightseeing experience as I had hoped but it was still an enjoyable ride through the center of London. After a few obligatory photos of Big Ben and the London Eye we continued to Waterloo station where we boarded the train to Richmond upon Thames in the afternoon.

Richmond upon Thames

We spent Sunday afternoon in Richmond upon Thames. Richmond is still actually London (Greater London), like Kingston upon Thames which I visited in 2022. We had a friendly chat with an old man at a tourist office kiosk at the train station and then walked towards Richmond Green and Ted Lasso pub. You see, both my husband and I enjoyed a humorous TV series Ted Lasso about an American college football coach managing an English soccer club so we wanted to see some of its filming locations. It felt surreal to have a drink at the Prince’s Head pub ( known as the Crown & Anchor in TV series) and to (pretend) to knock on Ted Lasso’s door. After that I perused books in Open book bookstore and we had a traditional fish & chips lunch. Later, we explored Richmond’s main street and its riverside and even came across a choir practice in St. Mary Magdalene’s church. Richmond like Kingston has that feel of a small town, and yet you’re only half an hour from the hustle and bustle of central London.

the obligatory red phone box photo:)

London

After a hearty breakfast and a slow birthday morning in Richmond it was time to get back to central London. First port of call was Covent garden which is especially beautifully decorated for Christmas. Then, it was onto to Daunt bookshop and House of MinaLima with an obligatory stop at a few shops in Oxford street because it is usually not very crowded on Mondays. My husband was very disappointed that he didn’t’ get any free promo stuff at Warhammer store while I was pleasantly surprised to see a book by my former university teacher in Daunt bookstore (I’ll blog about this interesting bookstore separately). I loved House of MinaLima, it’s a great gallery/shop for any Harry Potter fan. During our walk we unintentionally came across a few pretty mews, great deal of gorgeous doors and festive wreaths. I was happy that I managed to tick off so many new places on this trip including Churchill arms pub as well. However, we came there before its Christmas decorations on the building itself were turned on.

Next, we headed to Christmas market by the Thames (Winter by the river), on the stretch of riverside between the Tower bridge and Haymarket galleria. To get there we took the tube to Tower hill so that we could saunter by the Tower of London and across the Tower Bridge. Refuelled and replenished we took the tube back to Piccadilly circus. I walked past Lego store at Leicester square numerous times but my husband wanted to have a look inside so we did just that. I can’t believe that I sat on Lego bricks armchair in a Christmas set. We even got free Lego passports with Lego stamps (we would never have been able to leave this store if our kids were there). Then, it was time for another hot chocolate, but this time at the Christmas market at Trafalgar square. There were even some carolers near Nelson’ s column. With one last glance up and down the square and towards Big Ben it was time to say goodbye to London and spend another night at one of Stansted airport’s hotels due to our early morning flight home.

As always, London was wonderful. I’d like to revisit Richmond in warmer months so that I could wander around Richmond park and see the deer and take a stroll along the Thames to Ham house.

Until next time, my London..

Read all my London posts here.