Day 15 London

Another change of hotel this morning.....

but first we had breakfast included in our accomodation package. We hadn't bothered with hotel breakfasts up to now, so were on a mission to get a good feed. After coffee and a pastry (didn't compare with Paris) we had cooked breakfast from the self serve area

....not a bad selection. There was also the usual fruit, cereals, bagels, toast etc which we bypassed. Cam was already full but I was determined to make a pig of myself and the chef would make pancakes or omelet to order. I'd spotted someone else's pancakes and they looked good so decided to give them a go. While waiting for these to be cooked dad skyped us....we had a quick chat but it was hard to hear with a lot of noise around us. The pancakes came and yum yum yum....best I've ever had (though I rarely have them) and extra nice with the berries.

I forced Cam to taste them, but he didn't have much as he always stops when he's full - strange boy!

We survived the underground with our bags and checked into the Strand Palace Hotel....our home for the next 4 nights...phew!  It's actually in a fabulous location, opposite the Savoy Hotel (wish we could afford that) & next to the Covent Garden Market. All in walking distance of Leicester Square, Charring Cross etc...The BAFTA Awards are in this area tonight so must be lots of celebrities staying nearby.

We started our sightseeing day at the Covent Garden Market...plenty going on with street performers but not many things we wanted to buy in the markets. All very colourful though.

We then caught the tube to Camden to check out their markets. What a crazy place this....Camden High St is littered with trashy, loud, weird & dark stores.

Does anyone really want flashing tee shirts or still want punk clothing?  We enjoyed taking it all in as we were pushed along with the crowds. We then came to the Camden Lock Market, which was a bit more classy (just) & we had a browse around this.

The food stalls were incredible - such diversity - food from every nationality you can think of, well priced & looking delicious. I was now regretting my pancakes!  We had a good look around here, lots of twists and turns so it got confusing where we had been. Heading towards the canal we came upon a food stall we decided to try- sharing between us a piadina with prosciutto, mozzarella, rocket, tomato & pesto - it was delicious and plenty for both of us. The Italians that served us were crazy and telling stories, singing and generally being stupid, to entertain us as we waited for them to make our food. Must be exhausting working there.

All of the many stalls had long queues.

To walk this off we headed down the canal as the piadina lady had told me there was a park with a nice view down the canal.

We walked quite a way to Regent Park, next to the zoo....saw the penguin show over the fence...but this large green park had no views.

We decided to head back towards Camden (as I wanted to buy a few trashy souvenirs- which Cam thinks are stupid).

On the way back I saw a sign for Primrose Hill & persuaded Cam we should have a look see if there was anything worthwhile. All I knew about was Hugh Grant's association with Primrose Hill....we headed towards a park and came upon a crowd of people walking up the hill....so we joined them.

There was a lovely view and it was a beautiful day, but it did feel strange that so many people were just randomly standing there.

The hill was minor compared to Wellington but it was a very nice area and walking up the hill was a breeze for us athletes.

It was a good diversion, but we still had to go back and follow the canal to Camden.

We went to the underground station we had arrived at and it was closed due to overcrowding on the weekends, so we had to walk to the next station...feeling very weary.

We were so tired of being on our feet all day that we went back to the hotel for a rest (it was almost 4pm by now).

After an hour or so with our feet up, we went in search of more food. Decided on dinner at Union Jacks - a Jamie Oliver restaurant at Covent Garden.

Their specialty is flatbread pizza with English toppings, so we both ordered pizza. Cam got a pulled pork with cider apple & rocket and mine had chillies, salami & cheese. Both were yum but quite different.

They looked huge but the bases with lovely and thin, so we managed to eat them all.  

Cam then went back to our room to watch a football match that was starting at 7:30pm and I wandered the bustling streets nearby for about an hour.  Have a big day planned for tomorrow....and will need to find a laundromat soon.