A Special Anniversary Weekend As A Couple In London

This month Adam and I have been married for seven years and in October we would have been together for seventeen years having met at school when were just 14 years old and so to celebrate I wanted to do something special for him and so I arranged us a couples trip to London for two nights. Adams parents, my in-laws, very kindly agreed to look after our boys and on Friday morning we set off on the train for what turned out to be one of the loveliest weekends that we've ever had.

Mirablis Apartments - Wells Court, Hampstead

When we arrived in London we headed straight over to Mirabilis apartments Wells Court in Hampstead where we were going to be staying for our the duration of our trip. From Euston, it was super easy to get straight there on the tube and the apartment itself was located just a minutes walk from Hampstead tube station which was very convenient! 

After meeting with the manager who was lovely and getting our key, we headed up to take a look around and as you can see from the photos that we took our apartment really was a home away from home and it even had very similar decor to the decor we have in our own home. The apartment was modern and totally spotless and they'd even left a few personal touches for us for our anniversary which was so kind! 

I'd never considered staying in an apartment in London before we were invited to stay with Mirabilis as I'd always assumed they'd be super-pricey but actually when I looked the price per night is pretty much on par with a lot of London hotels. We loved how much room we had and how we had the ability to eat and have drinks in our apartment. We also quite liked that Hampstead was a lot less busy compared to central London yet we could hop on a tube straight away and be in central in around 15-20 minutes. It was the perfect place to stay and I'd 100% stay with Mirabilis apartments again. 

Westminster Abbey

After we'd dropped our bags off we headed straight over to Westminster Abbey which was somewhere that I'd wanted to visit for such a long time and it really didn't disappoint. You aren't allowed to take photos or video inside the abbey which is why I don't have any, but it was truly stunning - the architecture is incredible! There are over 3,300 people buried and many more commemorated at Westminster Abbey and it's been the setting for every monarch's coronation since 1066 which I find so fascinating! 17 monarchs are buried at Westminster Abbey including many Tudor monarchs and important people such as Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Mary I, Henry VII and Queen Elizabeth of York, King Edward VI, Anne of Cleves, Mary, Queen of Scots and Lady Margaret Beaufort, the mother of Henry Tudor. (Henry VIII is buried in the chapel at Windsor Castle). 

Stepping into Westminster Abbey was liking stepping back in time, there is so much history there and is a complete must-visit for anyone interested in British history. We took advantage of the free audio guide and it was very worthwhile as otherwise, I would imagine it could feel a bit overwhelming with so much to look at and take in. And obviously, for any fans of the current royals, it's where Queen Elizabeth II was crowned and also where she married Prince Phillip and also where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were married also. If you want to visit this location, check out Paddington luggage storage, as it’s only a short tube ride from there.

Dirty Martini Cocktail Bar

After Westminster Abbey we headed over to a cocktail bar in Covent Garden called Dirty Martini which we'd been to before and absolutely loved. Their cocktail hour was on and so a lot of their cocktails were half price so it was the perfect place to grab a seat out of the blazing sun and sit and chill for a while. 

Dinner on the Thames 

After that, we headed back to our apartment to get changed and also to relax for a while before taking the tube over to Embankment where I surprised Adam with something I'd arranged through a company I've worked with quite a bit before here on my blog - Buyagift. I've done a few experiences with Buyagift and we've loved every single one of them, a couple of them being a couples spa day and another being a trip to London for a meal and to go to the theatre to see Thriller which was incredible! 

This time I'd booked us in for a 5-course dinner cruise on the Thames with Bateaux Cruises and Adam was delighted when he realised what we were doing. Unfortunately, as we boarded we found out that we had been downgraded from the Glass Room to their other boat, which was fine, but it wasn't as nice as the Glass Room looked. When I questioned why we had been downgraded I was told it had been privately hired and that I should have received an email, though I hadn't. They offered to let us re-book but obviously, we aren't in a position where we can come to London for the evening easily as we have to arrange childcare, so we went ahead anyway. 

The experience itself asides from that was amazing in terms of being able to eat dinner and sightsee from a boat on the Thames from early evening to night time but I do have to say that the food wasn't exactly what we had hoped it would be, however, it was still a fantastic experience and the bottle of wine that came with the dinner went down very well! And Adam and I really enjoyed ourselves.

Obviously, none of this was a fault of Buyagift who we've worked with and used personally on many occasions and have always had incredible experiences with and continue to highly recommend, but it is something I will feedback to them as I felt like Bateaux could do more to improve what they are offering within the experience itself of having dinner on the Thames which is amazing.

Watching Wicked in the theatre

The next morning we headed over to Leicester Square where my mother in law had told us that we could get discounted theatre tickets on the day from. There were many booths and shops selling last minute theatre tickets at a reduced rate so we found that the best thing to do was to work out what show we wanted to see and then walk between the booths and shops and ask the best price and seats they could offer for that day. 

In the end, we managed to get tickets in the stalls to see Wicked for £42.50 down from their original price of £62.00. I'd only ever been to the West End once to see Thriller and Adam had never been so we were very excited to try something a bit different for us. The show was quite long at nearly three hours and I have to say I enjoyed the second half more than the first, but actually, since we saw it I have thought about it a lot and have decided I liked it a lot more than I realised I did at the time. It helps that the production was such high quality and the cast clearly put 110% into the entire thing.

  

 Lunch at Leon

We unexpectedly found ourselves in a fast food cafe called Leon on Shaftesbury Avenue for lunch after we'd bought our theatre tickets and I just have to mention it here as the food was amazing! We ordered the Jack Wings and the Caribbean Plantain Curry with some LEON Baked Fries from their vegan range and they were absolutely delicious! I SO wish they had a restaurant nearer to where we live as we'd be there all the time for lunch! 

The Sky Garden 

Later that day I had booked us into the Sky Garden as I knew it was somewhere that Adam had wanted to visit. When choosing between the Sky Garden and The Shard I opted for the Sky Garden as it was free to go up and also because it seemed a lot less scary in terms of height than the Shard did. Although it is free to go up, you do need to book the Sky Garden in advance, I think I was able to book around three weeks or so in advance online via their website so it's best to do this if you do visit as otherwise there can be a big queue or you can be sent away and asked to come back when it's less busy if you decide to turn up on the day. 

The views from the top are just amazing. In fact, it's worth going up for the views over the Tower of London alone. I just stood there staring down at in awe for ages - it was amazing. There are so many London landmarks to spot! The only thing I would say is that the drinks are super pricey - we treated ourselves as we wanted to make the most of it and we paid £27 for a cocktail each. (They were very good cocktails though!). ;) 

Dinner at Tibits

After that we were booked in for dinner at Tibits at their Bankside location which is not far from the Tate Modern. I know a lot of you will be meat-eaters as well as some of you being fellow veggies, but I seriously can’t recommend the vegetarian and vegan restaurant Tibits enough whatever your food preference is. Their food is utterly divine and I polished off all the food that you can see below on my plate and then even managed to somehow fit in pudding! 

We’ve been to both of their restaurants in London before and they’re both equally as fantastic. They do the dining experience a bit different in that you chose from a buffet-style spread (of the tastiest food) and then you pay by weight. You can order drinks including cocktails and the whole vibe of the restaurant is really calm, relaxing and cool. It is meat-free heaven and one of our favourite ever restaurants! 

 

I seriously can't express how lovely it was to have a weekend away with Adam to recharge, reconnect and totally relax. We ticked so many things off our London bucket list and have come back with so many fantastic memories! We're so fortunate to have so many amazing things to do and see here in the UK and London is somewhere that after this past weekend we've totally fallen in love with! 

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*Our accommodation and both our meals were kindly provided to us free of charge in exchange for mentions here on my blog. However, as always, all opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Thank you for reading. 

  Alex xo

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