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At Christmas, we book tickets to see a play or a musical as a family present and turn it into a mini-break. This year we decided to go and see Back to the Future at the Adelphi Theatre in London during the February half term break
Wednesday 23rd February 2022
The Premier Inn County Hall was fully booked so we opted for the nearby Premier Inn Waterloo – just behind the Station and it was just two roads back from the river and County Hall. We dropped our bags off at the hotel and made our way to Borough Market – a favourite of ours for lunch. The street food choice is amazing. Our usual “fish and prawn” wrap stall was late opening so Jon and I opted for stuffed pittas from Shuk and Callum a Ciabatta roll.
After lunch we headed back towards the hotel via Southbank and noticed that Big Ben was start to be unwrapped. It had been covered up for quite a few years whilst they restore the Elizabeth Tower to its full glory. Looking really good – especially when the sun shines and highlights the golden around the clock faces.
We noticed Leake Street Arches on the way back to the hotel and did a little detour to explore. The graffiti in the arches were stunning; the talent of the artists is incredible. It was here we discovered Draughts (the bar cum games room) – we stopped off for a game or two (tip – don’t try a new, really complicated game – choose one you’ve played previously but may not own or one that’s relatively simple and easy to learn!). We booked a table for the following night – with Callum being a little older, it seemed a great place to go in the evening before heading back to the hotel.
A quick detour back to the hotel to retrieve our cases from storage before heading out for a pre-show meal. After several attempts of trying, we managed to get a table at Dishoom. We let ourselves be guided on the menu dishes from our waitress and she really did come up trumps. The cheese naan was a revelation (don’t knock it until you try it – it was delicious). The bill also a pleasant surprise – much cheaper than other places we’ve eaten!
We had a little time to kill before the theatre opened its doors so we wandered down to Trafalgar Square. It was pretty busy and lots of people hanging around.
Onto the theatre – we really hadn’t a clue what to expect and how the movie would transfer onto the stage. It had to be said, it wasn’t one of Jon’s favourite shows he’s seen (although he did admit the De’Lorean scenes were pretty cool) – he wasn’t expecting everything to be sung (!).
Callum and I enjoyed it though.
It was really mild for February so we walked back to hotel over Westminster Bridge. County Hall and the London Eye all illuminated. Like many buildings in the capital, County Hall was light up in the colours of Ukraine as a show of support.
Thursday 24th February 2022 – The Tale of Two Ships …
Thursday morning and had a busy day planned ahead. Today would be the tale of two ships. First stop was The Titanic Exhibition. We’d seen it advertised and thought it would be really interesting. Alas, it was all a little underwhelming. The audio guides you had to configure from your phone and you HAD to have ear phones (we don’t usually wear these so found them very uncomfortable to wear for any length of time). The vast majority of the exhibits were boards and photos that were hung on the wall with everyone crowding around.
From the way it was billed, we were expecting more to have been recreated from the original – rooms. The staircase that was featured (and gave the impression it was a recreation) was in fact a mural. The best bit was the model ship which had had half cutaway so you could see in rooms inside the ship.
We would have learnt more by watching programmes on Nat Geo/Discovery or even on YouTube.
A 1 out of 5 stars from us.
From here, headed over to Canary Wharf and everything was gearing up to the opening of Crossrail. One new addition since we last visited was Crossrail Place Roof Garden. A really quiet and tranquil spot in the heart of Canary Wharf. Bet it won’t be once the workers start to come back to working from the office.
We popped into The Big Easy for a bite to eat – one of our go-to restaurants in London. We’d eaten at their Covent Garden and Kings Road restaurants but this was the first time we had tried here. It was really nice and a little more spacious than the other two. Their lunchtime menu is usually really good value for money (for London prices!).
Now we were ready for Ship II – we were visiting the Cutty Sark for the first time. It had been on our “To Do” list for a while and was only a couple of stops on the tube along from the Titanic Exhibition. We bought tickets in advance – and thanks to someone posting up on TripAdvisor, we got discounted entry tickets as we were National Trust members. That offer has since stopped.
Such a contrast to the Titanic Exhibition – lots on interesting facts to learn but done in a fun, educational way. Callum and Jon both pitting their wits on the simulator – how quickly could you sail the Cutty Sark from Australia to England in (and hopefully avoid crashing it into rocks off New Zealand!).
There weren’t many people exploring so it felt we had the ship to ourselves at times. Some great views across to the city as well!
We had booked a table at Flat Iron Spitalfields this evening – they were busy as this was the only restaurant we could get a table! We were in a bit of a rush and it didn’t help that I headed off the wrong way down the street meaning we took evening longer to get there! We called the restaurant and they could hold out table for 15 mins which was fair enough – totally my fault!
We finally made it and had the loveliest server ever – Chily – there wasn’t much to decide. You had a choice of Flat Iron Steak, Bavette Steak or a Burger (that was it!). The choice of sides – Fries, Green Salad or Spinach … and sauce if you wanted one. The knives were pretty cool too. Again, for London, the prices were very reasonable and we’ll certainly be back.
From here, we headed back to Draughts in Leake Street where we had a table booked until closing time. It really is a fab place to hang out with younger people. Callum chose another complicated game (Jaws) to start with. We quickly gave up on that and switched to a new favourite – Blockus. A very simple game that is really easy to pick up. We ended the evening with a game of draughts – Jon and I called our game a draw as we were going around in circles and making no headway.
Friday 25th February 2022
Somewhere I’ve been wanting to try for ages but it was always full when I tried to book. We had booked breakfast/brunch at the Duck and Waffle – located on the 40th floor of Heron Tower. Pretty cool as you get to look down onto the Gherkin!
The menu was good, but Callum and I both opted for the signature dish – Duck and Waffle and it was really good. Jon went for Columbian Eggs with Smoked Salmon – a very generous potion.
We needed to walk the breakfast off and had found a Treasure Trail that started just across the road from Heron Tower. This time we opted for a Spy Trail – City of London – The Gherkin. It’s an area we haven’t explored before and for Callum and I it was a chance to see the Gherkin up close.
The trail took us into the City of London. We were aware the City had it’s own Police Force (not the Metropolitan Police) but we didn’t realise that the City had it’s own licensing laws too. We saw a pub serving food (usually a sign children can go in) and got to the bar and Jon started ordering drinks. The manager came running up asking Callum how old he was. It turns out no-one under the age of 18 are allowed in pubs / bars / restaurants even though they are drinking soft drinks. He was very apologetic – as was Jon as he saw his pint of cider being poured away!!
Some amazing buildings and the Gherkin is pretty cool with the reflections in the glass. Quite how they keep it so clean as it was spotless.
Another really good break in London. We’ve eaten well and found some new restaurants to add to our “go-to” list.
