Christmas Time in London!

Last week, we took another trip down to London to spend a couple of days there while it was all lovely and Christmassy! Our main reason for going was to visit Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland but we squeezed in lots of other cool stuff too! London is just so exciting with so many things to do, especially at Christmas time- and I'm so glad we got to spend some time together there this year :D

First stop- early lunch at Dirty Burger in Whitechapel! Now, I feel like going to shake-shack a few months back has been kind of counter-productive as we now can't help but compare any other burgers we eat haha... We did enjoy eating here but it just wasn't the same as shake shack for us unfortunately...

We then did some shopping around all the beautiful streets lit with Christmas lights! The highlights for me were definitely going to Kiko- it was my first time going there but I really wish I'd stocked up much more because since trying out some things I bought, I've fallen in love... so good, and really reasonably priced too! My favourite purchase was one of their matte lipsticks- blog post coming soon. Another, was going to the Nike store with Matthew where he bought some really nice new trainers (which I also tried on haha... although we may have looked a bit like a TV advert if we both bought the same trainers).

Liberty's beauty hall was also so amazing! I picked up the Pixi Glow Tonic which I'm so excited to try! This led us out onto Carnaby Street which had gorgeous decorations and lights above the bustling shoppers. It had such a good atmosphere, and it's home to Muji and Ben's cookies- win, win!

I made sure to take Matthew to Hamleys while we were there too, as he'd never been and it's definitely his kind of thing- 7 floor toy shop haha! We went round it multiple times, and once we fought our way through all the bubbles and boomerangs being thrown around the store, we stepped out onto the street as it was getting dark and that's when the streets of London really did look so magical in all their Christmas light galore!

We stayed at a little hotel in Paddington just for the one night and it was really well priced and nice/functional to stay in! We'd definitely go back as it was perfect for any busy mini-break when you don't want to pay out lots of money for a hotel as you won't be in there apart from sleeping! We found it through a recommendation from a friend (thanks Lil! :D) as she's great with hotels- knowing where's good/bad and she was spot on with this one! Perfect for busy London trips!

I somehow adopted the nickname of sugar puff while I wore this super-fluffy pink coat haha- thanks for that Matthew! It was so warm and comfy!! I wore Mac's 48 false lashes for the first time and really liked them! Also, Tanya Burr's Afternoon Tea lip gloss never ceases to amaze- it's so good!

There it is! Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland from afar :)

Matthew fell in love with his salmon role haha... the food there was absolutely perfect! We ended up eating from four different places because there were just so many delicious things to chose from! I had pie and mash with gravy, and then we shared these cool crispy potato swirls with peri peri salt followed by nutella crepes... yup, hungry horrors!

The whole place was so gorgeous, with amazing food and music... loads of stuff to do! We didn't book any of the attractions (ice skating/ice kingdom etc.) and instead spent time strolling around all the little stalls having so many laughs :) We also won a fair few bears along the way haha. Fairground tradition! 

 My best buddy and I, back in the warm after a perfect (and super-cold) Christmassy evening! :)

Nice little michelin man neck going on there haha... having way too much fun eating chocolate covered grapes from the market (our favourite!) 

Now for day two! We headed over to get some dim sum for breakfast in China Town at our favourite restaurant (Lido). It was so delicious and I'm so glad we went there- the king prawn dumplings were one of my favourites!

Next, we visited the Natural History Museum! This is something we'd been looking forward to doing for a while and it more than lived up to our expectations! Still can't believe it's free to enter because it was so good, full of cool things to see- especially the dinosaur section! 

"A star in a stone"

I wish I could find the words to describe just how Christmassy Harrods was inside and out- but I'm not sure I can! We spent way too much money on chocolate, fudge, coffee and pies haha... had lots of "oh my god, look how much this costs!" moments and had a good look around all of the many floors! 

To end our special couple of days away, we got to Kings Cross station and had some really nice thai food- Matthew's chicken curry was amazing. However... typical "us" story coming up here haha... as we sat calmly enjoying our last bite to eat in London, we came to the realization that we had misread our train tickets, and missed our train by over an hour (yup!) So, having totally drained my bank account, poor Matthew ended up forking out a small fortune to get us home that night- oopsy! He then spent the entire journey home laughing at what we'd just done, and trying to catch me on camera saying that it was entirely my fault, and not his (and he seemed to enjoy being called batman because he'd saved the day haha!)

So apart from our little, yet expensive, mix-up at the end... we had a really wonderful time! London is so beautiful, and even more so at Christmas! Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland was SOOO good- we have decided to try and go there every year from now on as it was just so magical and we enjoyed every minute of it! I had the best time ever (thanks buby!) and it's made me super excited for the run up to Christmas!

:)