Playing tourist in London

My Dad visited at the weekend which meant playing tourist in London! I won't tell you about the visit to the Imperial War Museum on Friday afternoon as I've mentioned there before but I will tell you about Le Sacre Coeur where we went for dinner on Friday night. We ate there on my birthday but I never mentioned it and it was as delightful as always. If you want reasonably priced French food with generous portions and you're in the Islington area, drop in! I had their French onion soup to start, followed by a delicious grilled scallops and monkfish main which was a special of the day. 

On Saturday morning it was time for more food so we went for brunch at Wahaca to try out their new breakfast offering at their Charlotte Street restaurant. This is the second Wahaca opening I've been fortunate enough to get to try out for free - the other was their Southbank Experiment - and they didn't disappoint.

I had Mexixan eggs on sourdough bread with bacon and refried beans and Olly tried their chorizo-filled Breakfast Burrito. It's rich food so whereas I couldn't see myself having an early breakfast of Wahaca, it is perfect for a weekend brunch. Yummy! Menu here.

After brunch, we headed to The O2 for the British Music Experience - an interactive museum that explores the British music industry from the 1940s onwards. It's £12 to get in, but we used a 2 for 1 offer - it's definitely worth going though if you have to pay full price. It's not just memorabilia and what not, but we got to learn to play the piano, drums and keyboard as well as record our vocal talents - we didn't, we have no talent - and learn some dance moves.

You get a "smart ticket" for your experience which lets you store information that you've liked as well as your musical efforts to look at when you get home (have yet to try this out). As well as the exhibitions separated more-or-less into decades of music, there was also a Bob Marley exhibition. Basically, there's too much for me to go into but it was a really enjoyable few hours spent there and I'd highly recommend it!

After that it was back to Central London for the Churchill War Rooms - it's part of the Imperial War Museums but unlike the Imperial War Museum which is free, entry is £16.50. Again, we used a 2 for 1 but the price is quite steep I'd say if you didn't have a discounted offer to use.

The Churchill War Rooms were the secret underground HQ for the Government during World War II and you can now see those Cabinet Rooms as well as find out about Sir Winston Churchill who was in office for the majority of the Second World War. All interesting stuff and Churchill was a great Prime Minister who definitely deserves recognition and his own museum celebrating his achievements.

Dinner on Saturday night was in Chinatown at Joy King Lau - unfortunately Chuen Cheng Ku was only accepting cash and I never have any on me - followed by Chariots of Fire. I wasn't sure what to expect as I've never seen the film version of Chariots of Fire and my knowledge is limited to knowing that they used West Sands in St Andrews to film the famous beach run scene and Vangelis' score - lampooned by Mr Bean at the Opening Ceremony at the Olympics - and that it was about two British runners going for gold at the 1924 Paris Olympics.

I have to say though, Chariots of Fire was an utter delight. The clever use of the stage and it's figure of eight running track really added to the somewhat twee production making it a thoroughly charming affair. The story of Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell is one worth knowing and I'd definitely recommend you catch it on the West End if you can!

I'm not going to go into what we did on Sunday in this post but it was very apt that we saw Chariots of Fire because on Sunday we went to the Olympic Park to see the Athletics, an amazing experience. What have you all been up to? x