Alison

East to West London in a Day

On a freezing cold day we travelled up to London by train for the first time in two years. From Basildon to Fenchurch Street Station takes around 30 minutes. From here we walked around to Tower Hill and instead of hopping on the tube we caught a taxi to Brick Lane! We could have walked really. Our first stop was my dear hubby’s favourite clothes shop Son of a Stag where he buys his jeans. While he was shopping I had a quick walk around to see if there was anything interesting to see.

Can you spot me in the corner?

From here we walked to Liverpool Street to catch a bus to New Bond Street, but first we stopped for lunch. We decided on The Ivy City Garden. A truly magnificent restaurant, exactly like a garden inside. Our lunch was sublime.

Roasted Scallops topped with crispy prosciutto on pureed potato in a red wine sauce
Salmon and smoked haddock fish cake on a pea and herb sauce and poached egg on top

Outside this restaurant was a building I had never seen before, in all the years I had worked in London! It was just amazing.

This building first opened in 1895 to cater for the growing demand for luxury Turkish bath houses. This is now a private cocktail bar and you need an appointment to look around. The turquoise tiles are still beautiful to look at.

We then caught a bus to our next destination, enjoying the ride through the streets of London. As it was “the eleventh day of Christmas” the lights were still up.

St. Paul’s Cathedral

I was quite happy to wear a mask as it was getting colder by the minute, but at least the sun was shining. Masks are compulsory in the UK now but I don’t see any enforcement of this going on.

After walking down New Bond Street and South Molton Street it was time to head back. What a long walk we had before we could find the correct bus stop, then we found the road was closed and had to revise our plan. It was wonderful to walk though as I could stop frequently and take photos.

New Bond Street
South Molton Street
Oxford Street

We had planned on having dinner at a favourite tapas restaurant near Fenchurch Street, but sadly this was not open. I had also made us get off the bus far too soon and we ended up having to walk another 20 minutes to our last stop! We walked around in a complete circle at one point due to the signal dropping out from Google maps. Dear hubby kept saying “you must know these streets, you worked here long enough”. Everywhere is so different now and there were certainly no high rise buildings when I worked there 30 years ago!

We had a brilliant day though and will be planning another day trip very soon.

~ Until the next trip ~

24 comments

  1. Hope the shopping went well and that you felt nice and warm when you got home. I used to work in Davies Street (just round the corner from Bond Street Tube and parallel with S. Molton Street, and later on I worked further down that street at Grafton Street in a lovely old building, now sadly demolished. Thanks for taking me back there to very happy days. I’m still BF with someone I met there.

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  6. I always used to walk my legs off when I lived there. Always getting lost or thinking it was just ’round the next corner…..’ Love the lights, especially the peacock feathers.

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  7. You’ve shown our Christmas lights at their best – so pretty! And that lunch at the Ivy City Garden looks fantastic (although I wouldn’t enjoy the pea sauce!) We must add it to our list of restaurants to try 🙂 I’m not surprised you found London so changed and hard to navigate after 30 years – I live here and see it changing all the time!

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    • Thanks for your comments Sarah. We are looking forward to a few more trips during our stay. I think there are a few of those restaurants but each has a different theme

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  10. Many thanks for this virtual tour. I worked in the city for many years until 2014. I passed the bath house daily, had many meals and drinks there. Happy memories 🙂

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