Day Trip To London- WE MET THE QUEEN!!

LONDON BOUND

Our (my mother and my self) day began with an early rise at six o'clock in the morning (not ideal!) which consisted of a frantic run round the house collecting all the nick knacks and snacks we needed for our trip- in hindsight we totally should have done this the night before but then where would be the fun when you get half way around the block and realise you have forgotten your ticket? oh yes.

#OOTD   -OUTFIT OF THE DAY

Taking into consideration the fact that we would be on our feet all day in the hustle and bustle and smog of the big city my mother and myself both opted for dresses - to keep cool in all the madness! In our mad-dash-morning I quickly checked the weather forecast for London which predicted 18 degrees cloudy with a chance of rain (not meatballs!) thus, decided to shove my jeans and a T-Shirt into my bag, just in case.

I wore: a pale pink skater dress (warehouse bargain at £15 last summer) with my silver converse accessorized with a golden butterfly necklace (£2 in the Republic closing down super-sale, am I the only one who misses that shop?)

I did however, change into my trustee black jeans and white peplum top (£10 Topshop) shortly after arrival as as you will see from the pictures it was cool and rainy in the morning.























My Mum wore: a long black, pink, and yellow patterned maxi dress
( I realise this discription does not do the dress justice at all but I hope the picture serf-ices!)
( £25 Marks and Spencer)


with pink flower, open toe sandles (£30 from Clarkes)




































We were travelling from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston, our train was due to depart at 8:50am on the dot. We arrived at Piccadilly at 8:30am and took the opportunity to wander around the overly priced shops and grab a much needed caffeine boost from Starbucks, before heading onto the Virgin Train.












We arrived in Euston at 11:30am


There was some confusion and little help from the man sat in the booth titled "Information" as to where we could purchase tickets for the tube and what ticket would be best for our plans for the day- most likely some form of a 'Daysaver'. However, we yoyo'd back and forth from machines titled "Rail Tickets" clicking the "Tube" option and ip-dip-doo-ing between Z-19865, C-45692 and some other random letter options. We grabbed our tickets and headed down onto the under ground hoping we would make it through the ticket system. We did, the ip-dip-doo-ing had payed off!

A ROYAL ENCOUNTER

After hopping off the Tube we headed through Green Park towards Buckingham Palace (like proper tourists) unaware that today was the Queen's official birthday and the mass crowd were awaiting her birthday Flypast.

SUDDENLY, 

we heard the faint sound of trumpets and drumming in the distance and the crowd started to clap and cheer as row upon row of red guards dashed past with their drums and trumpets preparing the crowd for what awaited...

There was a momentary pause before the cheering returned as a open carriage past by. Inside, perfectly sat as though they were statues was Kate Middleton, Camilla and Prince Harry.

(Top left)

Then the cheering grew louder as a group of horses trotted by. A white horse beamed and stood out from the rest in all it's beauty. Who was riding c'est horse you ask? Only Prince William.

He was shortly followed by another carriage in which the Queen herself was situated as she did her scooped her hand mid-air wave whilst nodding ( I bet you just did that).

A few snaps from the fly-past:

LUNCH TIME:

After the madness, we decided it was time for some lunch and began to make our way into Green Park.
We found a lovely bench and whipped out our sandwiches.

SHOPPING:

After that,  we decided to head for the huge world of Harrods. Once inside, we some how (typical) found ourselves in the sweet tooth area, like smeagle we beckoned at the preciousness that lay in every counter. Maccaroons, chocolates, tea, coffee... HEAVEN.

We quickly made our way out of this section realising how expensive everything was and if we stayed any longer, we would be bank-rupt.

I remembered that the last time we ventured into Harrods they had a whole floor dedicated to the wonderful and wacky, all things pets. However, after wondering round every floor we found that the pets floor no longer existed (noooooooo) after Harrods had decided to expand their clothing range.



Once we escaped the vast, posh floors and came crashing back down to reality, we were in need of refreshments. We spotted a cafe opposite and deicded ( in true British fashion) that it was time for tea.
We walked into the cafe and sat down at which point the Italian waiter informed us that if we were not buying any food we could not sit down. (How rude)

So we left the cafe and headed for Oxford Circus (YAY!)
Once we hopped of the tube, we found a very resonably priced Costa Coffee where we enjoyed two large teas for £2.50 (all together)!

We ventured into New Look and I decided to invest in a pastel, limey greeny colour (helpful chloe) blazer for the spring and summer time.

Next, we slithered into the Topshop/Misselfridge store.
I don't whether it's just me but because that Topshop is so huge I kind of get overwhelmed and dont know where to start so we ended up in the smaller Misselfridge section  where I purchased a short sleeve jumper in the same limey green colour as the blazer.

I thought this would be perfect for British Summer as it would definitely keep me warm if the weather was abit iffy.







Then we headed for Leicester Square and found a massive blue chicken.
We guessed it had something to do with the World Cup?

The time was around 5:30pm and we began to feel hungry. Mum spotted a 'Bella Italia' so we headed in there. I ordered a massive cheese and tomato pizza

and Mum ordered a chicken burger (not very italian but hey)

At this point we were feeling very tired and only had around two hours left in London so we thought we would walk up to Big Ben and then head back to Euston Station.

We arrived at the station with about half an hour to spare so we thought we would invest in a caffeine boost.

You know it's been a hard day when your coffee is bigger than your head. lol.















Home Bound!

We arrived back in Manchester at 12:15 am and had arranged to get the metrolink  to a station closer to home (Sale Station) where my Grandpa would pick us up and drop us home because it is slightly too far to walk home from the station. However, Grandpa thought that Sale Station was another Station (Dane Road) and also forgot to take his phone with him. So while we both sat and waited for each other, the time ticked by. After a good 40 minutes, Grandpa still hadn't realised his mistake. At this point, we flagged down a taxi with the plan to head to the other station to tell Grandpa that we were okay and that he could go home. But when we got into the taxi, the phone rang and Grandpa had gone home thinking that we had decided to walk home and forgot about him. Family hey?

So at around half past one I was reunited with my one true love- my bed!!