December 29, 2014, by Olivia

A White Christmas (kinda)

It’s been two weeks since Christmas holidays have started but I have only spent 3 days in Nottingham. What have I been up to you might ask? Well for starters the Sunday after term ended I headed down to London just as an escape from Nottingham. As much as I love this little city I needed to get away and not be reminded of impending exams for a bit.

I love that no matter how many times I go to London I can always find something new to do or find a spot I haven’t explored yet, there are just so many options! Here are a couple of highlights.. On my second day in London I had brunch with friends at Duck & Waffle which had amazing views over London from the 40th floor of the Heron Tower. There was a good view 30 St Mary Axe (a.k.a The Gherkin) as it was pretty much next door. We could also see Tower Bridge and Canary Wharf in the distance. The food was pretty good however a little expensive if you’re on a student budget like me!

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I had their signature Duck & Waffle this, not very well photographed as I was just dying to dig in!

Duck Confit and Waffle with a duck egg on top.

Duck Confit and Waffle with a fried duck egg on top.

A friend also suggested that we head to Greenwich as there was a great panoramic view of the city of London from the top of the hill. Making our way to Greenwich Park we passed the Old Royal Naval College where they filmed Thor: The Dark World.

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The Old Royal Naval College. You can see the hill we climbed in the background.

After a little bit of work we were reach the top of the hill and were in Greenwich park at last and boy was the view worth it. I have included a couple of pictures below:

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Didn’t know 24 hour clocks like these existed!

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Plane flying over Greenwich Park

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The view from Greenwich Park

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More panoramic views of London from Greenwich Park

My friend and I then had to get into central London but didn’t fancy taking the tube so we decided to take a river bus. I had never been on one plus the views are supposed to be pretty good, we thought heh, why not?

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Onto the river bus we go

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Yeah I’d say that’s a pretty good view? Why take the tube!

On Christmas eve, I headed down to a town near Cambridge to spend Christmas with my family. I have eaten so much these past few days I do not know how my clothes still fit me! (No really though.)

Some of the food from the festivities!

Some of the food from the festivities!

While I was in Cambridge I also unfortunately missed the snowy Boxing Day in Nottingham which made me a little sad. If there is one thing I love almost as much as Christmas it is a good snow day. Here’s to hoping it will snow again because nothing takes the stress out of revision like a good snowball fight. However I was very glad to see that Nottingham was still blanketed in snow although it wasn’t soft enough to play with..

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Snow makes everything magical don’t you think?

Derby Road still has a little bit of snow left!

Derby Road still has a little bit of snow left!

I best get back on the revision grind now because I am off to London (again) for the New Year’s Eve fireworks. I hope all of you had a great Christmas and here’s to a Happy New Year!

Posted in Olivia