Lighting Up

For a while we'd been thinking of taking the boys down to the Smoke to see the Christmas Lights. But I had dreadful visions of epic crowds, spending a fortune and disappointment.

So we had a think of how we could do it and good old public transport came the rescue. We started off our day at the marvellous Museum of London. Free, lots of space and great collections including the newly represented Medieval Galleries. I studied medieval history at university and I was pretty transfixed by the haul of gold and silver coins and ancient swords found in the muddy reaches of the Thames.

And then onto the Tower, my old stamping ground. I worked here for my very first post-uni job. It was superb but I got lonely and returned North after a couple of years. It was great to be back with my boys but we're saving visiting for another time. Last Saturday was all about skating and we loved it!

And as the light fell while we whizzed around the rink, London put on her party face and

 the skies lit up all around.

Instead of traipsing through the crowds we jumped on the No. 15 bus, a proper red Routemaster that wound it's way up Eastcheap, past St Paul's, down Ludgate Hill, past Pudding Lane and the Monument to the Great Fire, onto Fleet Street and the Strand.

We changed easily at Charing Cross, hopping on a sleek new No. 6 to join the crawl up Regent Street, past Eros in his protective bubble and the throngs of shoppers, all the while with stunning lights strewn above us on the top deck. It was slow going along Oxford Street but that gave us plenty of time to take in the fantastic shop window displays where the crowds were half a dozen deep.

At Marble Arch we jumped off and caught the tube back to the station and sailed home. All included in our Travelcard. It was such an easy trip and we saw so much without the hassle or stress. Properly festive and unforgettable.