Adrian and I are on a short break in London.

I went with Ingrid six years ago (to see saw Hamilton and various sights). Now it’s Adrian’s turn.

The weather forecast promises rain for all of our four days here, although the prognosis has been improving the closer we get. Just a few days ago, the forecast for Friday and Saturday was torrential downpour; now it’s down to just fairly rainy. It was raining as we got to our hotel, but the afternoon was supposed to be one of a few dry-ish periods, so we headed out to see the town. To get the proper London experience, we took a double-decker bus from East London through the City to Trafalgar Square.

Saw Big Ben and Westminster Abbey; walked past Whitehall and a guard change, then onwards through St James Park. Debated whether the large white birds we saw in the distance were really pelicans, which seemed unlikely. Adrian argued that they were swans, but the shape was all wrong. It was getting dim and the birds weren’t posing very well, but Google confirmed that there are indeed pelicans in St James Park.

Buckingham palace, then along Piccadilly to Chinatown.

Tons of tourists everywhere. It’s autumn break in more places than Stockholm, I guess, although a lot of the tourists were not of an age to be there for a school break. I wonder if there is any space for locals left at all in central London. It definitely wasn’t like this when I lived here. I am contributing to the problem myself, and this does rather confirm my general preference for holidaying in less popular spots, outside of big cities.

We stopped by Fortnum & Mason on our way, and it is now more of a tourist attraction than a department store. Hysterically garish, rather crowded. Worth it, though – I now have an authentic English Christmas pudding for this Christmas!

This trip was for Adrian’s sake maybe even more than mine (although I do love London) and one of his wishes was to eat typical British food. We had Pret sandwiches for lunch, and ate dinner at an Indian restaurant in East London. (That one was too dim for photos.)

No afternoon tea, but we did treat ourselves to very decadent donuts at Donutelier

It’s the end of October and still warm enough to sit outside, even for me.