A foggy day in London town...

Actually it wasn't foggy at all, it was rainy but that's not how the song goes. Anyway....

Last Tuesday it was my birthday. I never really look forward to birthdays that much like I did in days of old but they always end up being amazing. Since being married, Seth has made my Birthdays absolutely amazing. We have gone to see Ludovico Einaudi in concert and for my 30th Birthday Seth surprised me with a trip to Paris. Last year wasn't the best Birthday ever as Seth was at work and I was at home with a 12 week old baby who cried pretty much non-stop due to colic. When I say I was at home with him, it was my first day in our new home, we were surrounded by boxes and nothing was unpacked. We celebrated it a couple of weeks later though and went to see Les Miserables. I was really looking forward to this Birthday though. Seth told me that he had taken the day off work for it and I couldn't wait to spend the day with the boys.

On my birthday morning, I woke up to Caleb and Seth coming in to the room, wishing me a happy birthday and handing me a large Costa hot chocolate with a shot of hazelnut in. They had gone out before I had woken up to get it, bless them! When we had all got ready, we headed into London. I think I've mentioned once or twice that I absolutely love London but even though we only live 20 minutes train journey away, I don't really get to go in that much. It's not really that practical to go on my own with Caleb, especially when it comes to going up and down the stairs at underground stations! So it was lovely to head to the big smoke again!

Even though it was raining for quite a lot of the day, it didn't ruin our time there at all. Caleb was wide-eyed and taking everything in. He, much like me, loves the hustle and bustle of London! We headed to my favourite place first, Covent Garden of course! No trip to London is complete without going to Covent Garden! They have some great shops there and I always love listening to the musicians who perform there.

They performed Pachelbel's Canon, which I love! I walked down the aisle to it so whenever I hear it, it brings back happy memories. We then went to do a little bit of shopping and I bought some sunglasses. Yes, I know it's October and yes, I appreciate the irony in that it was raining when I bought them but I have been lusting after them since March and couldn't really justify buying them beforehand! What better excuse than having a Birthday to finally buy them?!

We walked from Covent Garden to Leicester Square. It was buzzing with people who were there ready for the Thor 2 premiere that evening. I really want to go and see that film by the way, it looks so good!

We would have stuck around there to see the stars arrive, but instead we went to the Shard. For Seth's birthday I had bought him tickets to a View from the Shard and he hadn't used them yet so we kind of combined both of our Birthdays and did it that evening. Even though it was Seth's present, I was really excited about it. I love heights, I have been to the top of the Empire State Building, The Hancock Tower in Boston and the CN Tower in Toronto and I have loved them all, so I was equally as excited about being at the top of the Shard. It is a newly built 87 storey building in London and it's the tallest building in Europe. Fair enough, it may not be that tall compared to buildings in other countries but for us, it's pretty cool.

Before we went up, Caleb was doing his usual and charming everyone in the lobby. The staff there were wonderful with him, they were really interacting and playing with him, which he loved.

We went at around 5.00pm which gave us the opportunity to see the view over London at daytime, sunset and night. It was amazing being up there and being able to look out over the city. I could probably post a million pictures here as I took quite a lot but I will exercise some restraint and just post a few!

The view overlooking St. Paul's Cathedral (to the left of the building with the sun bouncing off it)

 

Tower Bridge and the HMS Belfast with Canary Wharf in the background.

Tower Bridge at night

I think you're only meant to stay up there for around half an hour. We ended up being there for just over two hours! We had so much fun seeing the wonderful city that is London from such a height, it was the perfect end to a perfect day.