Winter wonderland

Last weekend Kevin told me to wrap up and follow him - he'd planned an afternoon of surprise activities (the old romantic that he is).

After a momentary panic on his part when he realised that he'd got tube stations mixed up, he swiftly replotted our route and we emerged at the Spittalfields Market in the East End. Very nice it was too. We wandered around the various crafts stalls, although didn't buy anything on this occasion (apart from a v delicious leek & onion tartlette-type thing!). Then had a warming pint in the local boozer, which was as close to the Queen Vic as I've come across yet in London...

Having warmed up nicely (it was FREEZING here last weekend) we then set off on our merry way and after another 'ooh where are we going' tube journey for me, emerged at Hyde Park, where there is a big "Winter Wonderland". Totally tacky and the sort of thing I normally scoff at in Edinburgh, but that's half the fun of being somewhere new! I got the mulled wine while Kevin got the tickets for the Big Wheel and after a bit of a queue, we made our way up in nicely enclosed capsules for a slow meander round a 50m wheel. (www.hydeparkwinterwonderland.com)