Marathon Weekend

I have been in London this weekend to watch my brother, Mark run the marathon. It feels like I have almost run a marathon myself! We have had a very busy weekend. My mother and I arrived by train on Saturday morning and then checked in to our hotel in Docklands. We had a great view of Canary Wharf and the O2 Arena. The next morning we met up with the rest of the family and stood for nearly two hours at the half way point on the marathon route, waiting for my brother to run past. He made it at pretty much the time he'd estimated but in the meantime we were entertained by all the fun runners and the celebrities and saw Gordon Ramsey and Richard Branson run past us.

The streets were strewn with empty water bottles.

We then set off to another part of the route to try and see my brother again and got the tube to Westminster. It was a really good atmosphere here but there were a lot of very tired runners who needed a lot of encouragement as it was only a mile from the finish.

After about two hours standing in the crowd we eventually saw my brother run past again and he looked okay considering he only had a mile left!

We then walked to the 'meet and greet' at Horse Guards to try and find Mark at the finish.

And here he is with my sister in law, Katherine, proudly showing off his medal!

Of course I couldn't go to London without doing a spot of shopping and first place on my list was my favourite shop, Liberty.

Lots of Liberty print goodies.

We spent the evening in Covent Garden and my nephew Rufus enjoyed watching the buskers in the street.

On the Monday my mother and I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum to see the wardrobe of one my favourite style icons, Princess Grace, on display. I have always loved her style so it was a real thrill to see the collection. There were gorgeous haute couture gowns from the 60's and 70's as well as dresses from her films.

The poster from the exhibition.

The dress she is wearing here, in the film High Society, was also on display and was really beautiful. It also made you realise how slim she was!

I hope you all enjoy the rest of your week. I'm having a blog giveaway next week of some souvenirs I have bought back from London so see you next week!

Susie