Hello thommsf

Just to clarify, there are some 10 major railway stations in the centre of London; Liverpool Street is the one for trains to Stansted and other north-easterly destinations. I only labour the difference to "Liverpool" (as in your original post), the city 200 miles north of here where the Beatles came from, because (believe it or not) there are stories of visitors mistakenly taking a train all the way up there when they want Liverpool Street station. I'm sure you wouldn't!

If you look at the London Underground map, which is how many visitors relate to London - www.londontransport.co.uk/images/jp_big.jpg if you don't have one - Liverpool Street is at the right hand end of the yellow Circle Line. The Circle Line is a commonly accepted definition of what is central London. You will see Leicester Square, where you are staying, right in the centre.

To steal a march when boarding the plane, Ryanair do not use jetways connecting the aircraft to the terminal (apparently they are charged for separately by airports), so you go down steps from the gate and walk across the apron. There are steps up to both front and rear doors of the aircraft. This is done to help the 20-minute turnrounds. Most casual travellers make for the front one, but walk round the wing and go up the back steps, and then move forward in the cabin. It's much quicker and you escape the holdups while families are being seated at the front of the plane.

Sorry, the weather here is just too unpredictable to even guess at; (I go flying myself weekends so weather is important to me). Last weekend was nice. Today was grey with low cloud; tomorrow will be colder and windy. That was not forecast a few days ago. Just have something warmer than you will need for Italy, and pack a compact umbrella. Imagine it's Seattle (sorry Seattle!). All the blossom is out so we are into spring. For a 5-day ahead forecast try www.bbc.co.uk/weather/