I was at Heathrow Airport a couple of weeks ago waiting for my flight to Melbourne via Singapore. It was early in the morning and as I hadn’t had breakfast I was looking for a place to grab a bite in the food court area of Terminal 3. It was quite busy and I didn’t really want to wait in a queue so I decided to head into the Rhubarb Food Bar.

The Rhubarb Food Bar is a little restaurant/cafe type place with nicely dressed waiters. I sat down a looked through the menu and remembered thinking that the breakfast items seemed a little pricey especially amongst the other fast food outlets in the food court. I ended up settling for the miniature English breakfast which came with a miniature bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese and a sweet pastry. It seemed to offer the best value for money.

I didn’t realise that miniature really meant miniature until I saw it. Everything was so tiny even the fried egg. All quite cute actually. The whole meal was also surprisingly satisfying considering its small size. The total cost was £15.50 including a cup of coffee.

I woke up this morning to see a beautiful light covering of snow in Willesden, the area in London where I currently live. Because it was so cold, minus 4 degrees Celsius to be exact, light snow feel instead of the usual misty rain that we usually get.

It doesn’t snow that often here so I just had to go out and take some photos. The snow fell ever so lightly, very beautiful indeed. Here’s a photo of my street where you can see the light covering of snow on the road and parked cars.

Today we went on a day tour by coach and visited the city of Bath, Stonehenge and the city of Winchester. Our first stop was Bath, a historic city with beautiful limestone buildings and the Great Bath, a well preserved ancient Roman bath.

Next was Stonehenge (pictured below), the famous prehistoric monument believed to have been built prior to 2500 BC. It’s just mind boggling thinking about how these massive stones could have been moved and erected such a long time ago when modern construction equipment as we know it today did not exist.

Last on the list was Winchester, another historic city and home to the beautiful Winchester Cathedral. It was originally built in 1079 is said to be the longest cathedral in Europe.

We headed into the London city yesterday for some dinner and to check out the Christmas lights and winter decorations that were recently put up around the city.

We also headed to Carnaby Street and saw massive snowmen suspended between the buildings surrounded by snowflakes. These massive inflatable snowmen were suspended from cables above pretty much the entire length of Carnaby Street as well as other streets around the area. Very cool indeed.

Tonight Xuan and I visited the National Portrait Gallery which is located right behind the National Gallery (pictured below) on Trafalgar Square in London. We thought we’d check it out since it’s one of the recommended places to visit here plus entrance to the gallery is free.

We saw some really amazing paintings going right back to the 16th century featuring influential people throughout British history. The gallery also featured some spectacular photography. I was especially impressed by Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2008 exhibition which showcased the work of emerging photographers, students and even some gifted amateurs alongside professionals.

So if you’re in London and looking for something to do this winter that won’t cost you anything then go and check it out. It’s well worth it and a good way to escape the cold outside for a little while.