Breakfast in the clouds at Duck and Waffle

Last weekend we woke up very early for a Saturday and headed into the City to try out breakfast at Duck and Waffle. The restaurant opened about a year ago on the 40th Floor of the Heron Tower, and it has amazing views over East London, all the way to the Olympic Stadium, and also out over the City towards the Southbank and St Paul's.

Duck and Waffle is open 24 hours a day, but if you want to visit at more sociable hours, then depending on what time you want to visit, you may have to book a few weeks in advance.

Turns out breakfast is a quiet time to visit, especially before 10.00 a.m., so we got a booking on a Saturday morning only a few days in advance.

We got into the City a bit earlier than anticipated, so wandered around the deserted streets, slowly making our way towards the Heron Tower. I will never get tired of wandering the City of London on a weekend, when it is completely void of any people or traffic, a far cry from the millions of people that stream in and out during the week. Myself included.

I love the random bits of art and sculptures you stumble upon around every corner, these were just down from The Gherkin.

To get to Duck and Waffle, you go up in a glass lift very quickly, and leave your stomach back on the ground floor. I very quickly realised my fear of flying is completely based on a terrible fear of heights and falling. Excellent. I spent the whole ride up in the elevator holding onto the railing and facing the doors, ready to jump out the moment we reached the top, which was roughly a minute after leaving the ground floor.

Even for someone with a fear of heights, the views as you step out of the lift and enter the restaurant are just amazing. The restaurants busiest time is after dark, for drinks and dinner, but I loved being able to see everything clearly in the daylight. I imagine sunset or sunrise would be a close second to a daytime view.

The restaurant was only half full when we arrived at 9.00 a.m., and we got a window seat which I requested, but thought it might be too busy for them to fulfil that request!

Our view was looking directly out over Liverpool Street station, and towards the Olympic Park. I did angle myself slightly away from the window as there really isn't anything between you and the ground, aside from what seems like a thin window pane..

Duck and Waffle is slightly on the pricey side, obviously such a stunning location comes at a price, but the food was fantastic and definitely nowhere near as expensive as the restaurants in the Shard, or even at Sushi Samba, a Japanese restaurant one floor down from Duck and Waffle. If you are on a budget though, breakfast is the time to go.

I ordered a selection of pastries and Bradley ordered waffles with banana and Nutella, plus some scrambled eggs to share. Everything was so delicious, the pastries still hot out of the oven, and the eggs light and fluffy.

A cup of coffee and a pastry later, I relaxed and could really appreciate the view. The London skyline isn't super impressive from above, but we loved looking at all the buildings we recognised and seeing how many had roof gardens and just watching the tiny people so far below.

Looking along the Thames towards Canary Wharf

All the food was served very quickly, so to savour the experience and spend a bit more time up in the clouds, we ordered some peppermint tea to help the food go down.

By this time the restaurant was starting to fill up, but we didn't feel rushed in any way.

After drinking in both the view and our tea, we headed back down. We stopped in the bar for a while and took some photos of the different sides of London. We watched some construction workers being hoisted up the side of a very tall building in a very small open top lift, dangling at the end of the crane.

Watching several men going up the side of the building in a small lift was too much for me, especially when they started dangling back and forth, so I went off to the bathroom before we went, and left Bradley to watch. I came back to find that luckily no-one had fallen out!

The day was turning out to be lovely and sunny, so we meandered through the City towards St Paul's.

Mmm Macarons

The Royal Exchange

We stopped to take some photos of the Royal Exchange and the Bank of England, it's very rare to see both these buildings not surrounded by people.

Often on my way to work, I see Police Officers outside the Bank of England with big guns.

The Bank of England

Our next stop was Postmans Park, but we stopped off for a quick photo of St Paul's. St Paul's is so beautiful, I must have hundreds of photos of the Church. Probably as many as of the Tower Bridge.

Postmans Park is a tiny park located between St Paul's and the Museum of London. I've wanted to visit because it is the site of a lovely wall full of memorial plaques for those who have lost their lives trying to save another.

There are lots of stories of Policemen, or Firefighters, but the most tragic are of the children drowning or suffocating trying to save their siblings from the same fate.