We've been to London ........

and now I'm in my chair with feet up and a cuppa!

Our first stop was the Spirit of Christmas Fair at Olympia .... packed with a huge variety of stalls with some very high end gift ideas down to some really good value items.  It is a spacious venue with lots of room to move around to browse comfortably without getting crushed.  Last year's Country Living Fair at the London Business Centre although good had a very claustrophobic atmosphere in some parts with very little room to  manoeuvre.  No photos inside the Fair I am afraid and I did notice that some stalls had notices stating 'no photography' so I didn't want to upset anyone.  One thing I did notice is that a lot of the goods do seem to be mass produced and most likely imported 'handcrafted' items with quite a bit of repetition  and dare I say copy cats ..... there is a lot more originality & quality in blog shops on here and my local craft markets so I think I know where I will be spending my hard earned this year.

Next stop was Covent Garden and thank goodness the trains back in weren't as crushed as our journey down .... so much room in fact that you could swing a ....

a daft daughter who has never grown up !!  Can't blame her for having a bit of fun .... she devotes so much of her time to the children and doesn't get out much.

I'd told Ellie that in Covent Garden there would be musicians and some special statues .... I don't really think so Nanny she said but she had to eat her words

he looked fantastic and took her totally by surprise!

After a lovely lunch in TGIs we headed for Leicester Square

excuse the quality of the photos but I only had my mobile with me ..... this is the Hippodrome (formerly The Talk of the Town)  which has a magnificent chariot & horses on the roof.

then on through Piccadilly with the statue of Eros against the early evening sky

then just at the start of our walk up Regent Street we looked down towards Trafalgar Square with Nelson's Column standing proudly in the centre.  As we continued up Regent Street we were greeted with the magnificent sight of a parade of vintage motor cars and then I remembered it was the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run today and this was the finale.

Our final stop was here .....

The top floor is the Christmas Department which looked magical with lots of twinkly lights and some beautiful decorations and of course I couldn't leave without taking a peek at the Haberdashery & Fabric department  ..... and a peek it was after turning over some of the price tags!   Beautiful nevertheless.

We then hit Oxford Circus which was absolutely heaving ..... people dashing here and there and so many of them ..... London is a place I could never live in, far too busy and overcrowded, but I do like to visit occasionally if only to admire the history and magnificent old architecture of the place.

Now my poor old legs and tootsies are having a well earned rest .... have a lovely weekend all x