A London day from the V&A to a Notting Hill gastropub

A Danish bakery with a crescent-shaped counter on Old Brompton Road. Order a cinnamon social (a huge rolled pastry) and a flat white. Window seats look out on the street.

Start at the Cast Courts for the full-size replica of Michelangelo's David and the Trajan's Column cut in half to fit under the ceiling. Then the British Galleries. Two hours; skip the special exhibitions today.

Free. Walk directly to Hintze Hall for Hope — the 25-metre blue whale skeleton suspended from the ceiling. The dinosaur gallery on the east side is the kid magnet; Earth's Treasury is the underrated gem.

A proper French bistro open since 1972. Steak frites, escargot au beurre persillé, a glass of Sancerre. Zinc bar, mirrors, the smell of butter. Don't rush lunch here.

Walk north from Brompton Road into Hyde Park. Round the Serpentine lake, through Kensington Gardens past the Albert Memorial. An hour at a slow pace. Horseriders on Rotten Row in the mornings, swans on the lake.

Walk up Portobello Road from Notting Hill Gate. Market stalls pack down at 18:00 but the antique shops stay open later. The Ladbroke Grove pastel terraces are three streets over and photograph best in the evening light.

A Tom Conran gastropub. Downstairs is the saloon with Guinness on tap and the city's best Sunday roast; upstairs is the fish restaurant. Book upstairs; walk in downstairs. Order the potted crab on toast to start.