Valentines in London - Date Ideas

If you're anything like me you'll agree that showing love and affection to your significant other should be done year-round, not just on this one specific day. Having said that, I still can't help myself, I get caught up in the hype every year, and this year I am super excited that Valentines day falls on a Saturday!

While I love the big romantic gestures (I mean, what girl doesn't?), lately Riaan and I prefer to keep it simple and more intimate, since Valentine's is the day we started dating, it's a little more special for us with every year that passes. For the first few years that we were together we did the fancy dinners, but for the last few Valentines days we've done picnics, fondue's, the planetarium and a roof top market followed by an indoor picnic.

We've been in London for a month this weekend, and we've saved the touristy things for V-day! We haven't seen any of the big sights (apart from the ones outside my office) nor have we taken a single touristy photo! So this year will be a different kind of Valentines day for us, a day spent sightseeing and adventuring!

So with Valentines Day just around the corner I've decided to put together a few fun date ideas in London, I'm sure you can find similar locations/venues in your city/town.

First things first
Breakfast in bed is ALWAYS a good idea! AND the men don't always have to be the ones making the breakfast, sorry girls, the boys also deserve some love and appreciation!

For the movie lovers
The Nomad Cinema is hosting a pop up in Hyde Park for Valentines weekend, unfortunately Saturday's Goslingathon is already sold out but you can still get your hands on tickets for the screenings of Harold and Maude or The Graduate for Friday night.

For a more swanky affair you can head over to the Electric Cinema, where you can snuggle up on a velvet sofa under a cashmere blanket, I can't think of a better way to watch a movie!


For the active couple
If you're not afraid of the cold and looking for something a little more fun and active to do this Valentines Day head over to Broadgate's outdoor Ice Rink which is set to be adorned by hearts and all things love related for Valentines weekend.

For the big spenders
If you have £375 to spend you can book a Valentine's Cupid's Capsule on the Coca Cola London Eye, apart from the amazing city views, you will have a private capsule for 30 minutes with a host serving you a bottle of Pommery Brut Royal Champagne with Hotel Chocolat luxury chocolates, and a red rose.

Alternatively, if you fancy yourself a little less of a cliched Valentines day, for £175pp you can spend the night at the Museum of London. They will be hosting a Sherlock Holmes themed evening which includes, among other things, dinner, a 3 course meal, quizzes, a sleep over and much more!

Experience the Museum of London and the Sherlock Holmes exhibition like never before in our first ever all-night event! - See more at: http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/london-wall/whats-on/adult-events/sleeping-with-sherlock/#sthash.LKO0v6dY.dpuf

Experience the Museum of London and the Sherlock Holmes exhibition like never before in our first ever all-night event! - See more at: http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/london-wall/whats-on/adult-events/sleeping-with-sherlock/#sthash.LKO0v6dY.dpuf

For the romantics
A Lady and the Tramp style candlelit dinner for two, complete with red wine and spaghetti and meatballs - to share of course!! Add some romantic background music and voila! Perfect date night! P.S A good view never hurts!

Weather permitting, head out to one of the many parks for a picnic, if its not too cold you could spend the night gazing up at the stars from the Royal observatory at Greenwich park. If that's not quite your cup of tea, make your pick, you have Regent's Park with Queen Mary's Rose Garden, Primrose hill, Hyde Park, Parliament hill and Hampstead Heath to name a few.

For the culture lovers
London boasts a plethora of museums, art galleries, shows, markets and architectural magnificence. You are sure to find something up your alley, whether it's Tate Modern or a West End show. Skip the cliched over-crowded restaurants and do something fun that you'll remember for years to come. And no, I didn't mean for that to rhyme, BUT if it rhymes it's true, that's what Riaan says anyway...And if I'm being completely honest every dinner goes pretty much the same as the last, good wine, good food and good company but besides for the very first, I can't remember one specific dinner over another.

So what will you be getting up to this Valentines?

Pass me the champagne!

Because we have reason to celebrate!!

If you're here to read about day 4 in Paris, I'm sorry to let you down, but this is about something way more exciting!!

Yesterday my best friends got engaged!

When I got the news I squealed, literally!! I am so so so so super happy for them, they are such a special couple and they hold a dear place in my heart. I couldn't think of anyone that deserves this more than these two crazies!

They got engaged in Canada in a beautiful park, that was occupied by just the two of them, everything covered in snow. Like something out of a fairytale. So romantic!

Cindy and Marcelle, I wish you a lifetime of hapiness together. You bring out the best in one another. Congratulations my bests!! I love you guys millions and I can't wait to see you guys again!

A week in Paris - Day 3

On Wednesday we got off to a bit of a late start, but with good reason, we wanted to see Paris by night.

We left the hotel at about 10 and took the train to Montparnasse, we walked along the store-lined streets and stopped by a quaint little patisserie for croissants.

Our first stop for the day was the Catacombs, we fed the little birds the remaining crumbs of the croissants while we waited to go inside.

The Catacombs are situated 20m under the heart of Paris, they form a labyrinth housing the bones of approximately 6 million Parisians (including a few famous writers, architects and painters), which were transferred there gradually between the late eighteenth and mid-nineteenth centuries as graveyards were being closed because of the risk they posed to public health. Formerly the Catacombs were underground quarries working to supply the huge quantities of limestone required to build Notre-Dame Cathedral, the Louvre and city ramparts.

A few interesting facts about the Catacombs:
There are 213 steps during the tour (130 to go down and 83 to reach the exit), which covers a distance of 2 km. The average duration of the tour is 45 minutes and the constant temperature in the Catacombs is 14 degrees Celsius. The surface area of the ossuary is 11 000 square metres.

It was creepy but fascinating!

After the Catacombs we took a leisurely stroll through the streets of Paris, towards the Luxembourg Gardens, passing through the Fontaine de l'Observatoire.

The Luxembourg Gardens are impressive to say the least, I can only imagine how beautiful they are in summer when the trees are fully clothed with green leaves and the beds are full of colourful flowers.
The Gardens are substantial and as we walked through them we fantasised about what it would be like having a yard this size as children, all the mischief we could get up to riding bicycles, playing games and Riaan playing cricket.
Isn't it nice to dream a little...

We made our way to Saint Sulpice which was closed, as was Saint Germain des Prés. Unfortunately it seems that Paris undergoes a little facelift/maintenance in January.

We took a stroll along the Seine towards the Louvre, and crossed the Pont des Arts along the way, the sides of the bridge have been boarded up since it collapsed in mid 2014 due to the weight of all the love locks. As a result some of the fences are being removed and replaced with glass panels so that people cannot attach love locks to the bridge, the side railings however are still open, so we attached our love lock to the bridge and I tossed our key in the river. It really is a sweet romantic little thing to do in Paris and it was even more special since it was the 14th of January, exactly a month away from our 9 year anniversary!

 A young girl braving the cold in the name of art, doing a ballet photoshoot at the Louvre.

We paid a brief visit to the Louvre but we didn't stop by Mona, she had a lot of visitors that day and we were hungry, so instead we ventured into town to find ourselves a baguette OF COURSE!

Once we had our French lunch sorted we made our way to the Tulieries Gardens, sat down next to the Grand Bassin Rond and enjoyed our baguette with some cheese while we watched a French man feeding the birds bits of bread. Once our lunch was finished we walked through the gardens towards the Place de la Concorde.

From there we ventured up the Champs Elysees once again, but this time as the sun set. We stopped for dinner and then we were off to the Arc de Triomphe, again.

Paris is even prettier at night!
Oh and this traffic circle is the biggest I've seen ever since my life, and probably the most stressful to navigate. I got nervous just watching. So we left the madness of the traffic and made our way once again to the Eiffel Tower.

 Admiring the view, and passing time waiting for the sparkles!!

Another romantic thing to do is have a little bit of a smooch, right here, under the tower, it's a must, you know, when in Paris and all that jazz.

And there it is - the sparkle! It happens every hour and it is beautiful. Magical! Paris really lives up to it's name of the City of light!

And that was it, a wonderful end to a beautiful day in Paris.
You can read about the adventures of day one and two here!