London: Somerset House and Covent Garden

After spending our first day in London shopping, the next two days were to be spent doing the usual tourist thing.

All seven of us walked from the hotel till Somerset House. It took twenty minutes and a quick stop at Boots on the way (one of Charlotte's favourite shops now....in London they're dotted all over the place)

Somerset House was beautiful, sitting on Thames, with a lovely open air skating ring there over the festive period...that was fully booked when we tried to reserve via internet.

The children found the visit boring, and we too, were disappointed, but

we did get a nice view upon leaving of The London Eye, and later on, after Covent Garden, that's where we were going to go.

 Despite the fairly mild weather, Covent garden had a very Christmassy feel.

Just because the weather wasn't freezing cold, it doesn't mean that you'd want to strip down to your underwear like this street entertainer. We left him to it, with his funny Father Christmas boxers and his knife juggling, and we went to eat round the corner and Wahaca (Mexican Restaurant) that we'd been to a couple of years ago and liked it, only this time it just got better and better.

London: Super Mexican Restaurant

Wahaca was really a great place to eat, fun, spicy and in. Just of Covent Garden, this place was Gabrielle's and perhaps my favourite restaurant that we dined in.

The children were really made to feel welcome, the staff gave them crayons to colour their menus, and they helped us choose suitable things for them to eat.

We arrived just before the rush and were lucky to have a place without waiting.

We shared some heavenly guacamole (best I've ever tasted), ate plenty of great food, shared a bottle of good wine and finished off with some churros and some mango sorbet for £70 with tips, the cheapest place we ate inIf only I knew how to make guacamole like this.

Next year this restaurant is first on my list to re-visit.