Ahh London, the sights, the shops, the bars, the restaurants, so much to see and so much to do!

My family and I travelled to London to catch up with relatives, explore the city and have some retail therapy.

London is the largest and the capital city of England and the United Kingdom. It boasts some of the greatest architecture such as the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and Somerset House. Also in London you will find top class restaurants, amazing West-end shows, and some famous department stores such as Harrods and Selfridges. London is also home to the popular Harry Potter Museum.

Our flight was a little on the turbulent side due to a bad storm, however we were lucky to get out at all and most of the flights had been cancelled. When we arrived at Heathrow, we heard that the strong winds had ripped the roof off the O2 in London and some of the tubes had been suspended for a while. We managed to hop on a bus to Uxbridge to visit our relatives. Just in time for a delicious dinner and a few glasses of red wine.

After a good nights rest we set off the following day for some retail therapy in a large shopping centre called Westfield. This centre had a vast array of shops, that the couple of hours we spent there was not enough, but we had our fill of the shops at that stage and we dined in the famous restaurant chain Bills. Bills Restaurants are franchised across London, so you are never far away from one. The inside of the eatery was tastefully decorated with vibrant colours and I opted for the Buttermilk Chicken Burger and some family members ate the Greek dish of Chicken Tzatziki.

Our dreams of taking the Cable Cars across the River Thames were dashed as the storm had damaged much of the surrounding area and it was still quite windy, so I didn’t want to take a chance. We got off at Westminister Abbey and explored the buildings such as the Houses of Parliament and saw the towering London Eye. We had bought tickets for Beano Exhibition in Somerset House online. This grand building was built in Tudor Times as a gift from Henry VIII to Lord Somerset and it was used down the line with the Royal Family. The Beano exhibition was very interesting and it gave us an insight into how the comic started in 1938. We listened to Beanotown Records and strolled around looking at the sketches drawn and how stunts were performed before the comic was published. After the exhibit we headed to Covent Garden to listen to the sweet melodic music of the many talented artists. We passed Leicester Square, and Buskers were making an impression on the crowd gathered around them. We wanted to look in the M&Ms store, but the queues were a mile long, so we decided to shop in a cheaper place. Afterwards we tucked into large pizzas and garlic bread in Pizza Hut.

The last day was spent shopping and having lunch in Miller’s Tap, before taking the bus to Heathrow airport for our flight home to Dublin.

Fact file: We booked our flights with http://www.aerlingus.com

For more information on the exhibitions in Somerset House, log onto https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/