I kind of booked it on a whim and stayed at a friend of mine who recently moved there. My flight departed on a very early Thursday morning and after dropping my luggage off at Victoria station I went for some breakfast at Sunday, a little cafe near Highbury & Islington. It had been on my 'London hotspot list' for years, so I was happy to finally pay a visit. I went for the French toast with salted caramel and banana -like I would order anything else- and it was everything I could've hoped for. There was A LOT of food, and I sadly didn't finish it all. I also had a chai latte - of course - and I felt really comfortable and happy eating this by myself.
After my delicious breakfast I went on a Mews hunt. London has the most instagrammable streets and houses and it's safe to say that I photographed a lot of them on this trip. Especially on the second day.
I actually planned to go to Palm Vaults again, but unfortunately they were closed, so I couldn't drink one of their colourful lattes. To make up for this terrible loss -only joking- I did a bit of shopping. My favourite places to go to are New Look, Topshop, Primark, Boots and Anthropologie. The craziest thing happened at Topshop though, because I spotted blogger Megan Ellaby. I only recently discovered her, but I love her style and videos a lot. I thought about going up to her and start a conversation, but part of me found that it was awkward and before I knew it she was gone. No surprise there because I lose friends all the time in the Oxford Street Topshop.
After that freak out I stopped at the Selfridges Food Hall to pick up a green juice from PRESS. You know to balance out the French toast and the dinner that I was going to have (a Pret sandwich and salt & vinegar crisps). I had a really great evening though. Just catching up and watching Sex and the City.
The next morning I had a slow start and went out later than I initially planned. So I changed up my schedule as well. First, I decided to go to Trevor Square again. I had taken a photo of the gorgeous pink house on my last trip, but I was not happy with the lightning, so I went again. Since I was near Harvey Nichols I also wanted to check out Fenty Beauty, but it turned out there was a huge queue so I passed. From there I walked to Élan cafe. A cute little bistro including floral bikes and marble tables. I grabbed a chai latte to go and walked a bit more around Soho. The sun was out that day so I didn't mind at all.
The next thing on my list was to go to WALALAxPLAY at Now Gallery. It's a colourful art maze with mirrors everywhere. It was really cool, but a bit small. After fifteen minutes of walking around on my socks -no shoes are aloud- and taking shameless mirror selfies I had seen it all and went off to Notting Hill.
Now in Notting Hill all I wanted to do was taking photos of houses and eat. I had lunch at The Dayrooms cafe. The cutest cafe one street away from Portobello Road. I planted myself on the table near the window so I could watch people outside and had a honeycomb hotcake and a turmeric latte by my side. It was my first yellow latte and I have to say I really liked it! They dusted cinnamon on top as well which made it the dreamiest drink ever. I then walked all around Notting Hill on the hunt for pretty houses. I am actually thinking about creating a post about them, since there are many hidden gems waiting to be photographed.
After all those photos I went to Covent Garden for an ice cream at Milk Train. I need to do better research about the hotspots that I go to because it was closed. Like which shop is closed on a Friday?! A bit disappointed I walked into TK Maxx and wondered around Covent Garden a bit more. My friend was also done with work so I headed to her place where we again had a lovely night of chatting and laughing. Her roommate and friend from Manchester were there too and it was all so nice.
The next day we all went out for brunch at Muriel's Kitchen. It was quite busy but there was a table free with swings. The only one there I recall and I was really excited when we got the table. The chairs were swings and I swung around as happy as a kid. Again I went for the pancakes -shock- and ordered a lovely green tea. We then went out, did some errands and it was time for me to leave again. After my departure on the Gatwick Express it started raining so I guess London was sad that I left as well. It would have helped if it stopped raining when I boarded the aircraft (since you need to walk on the platform up the stairs) but even those drops of water couldn't ruin my mood.
I had a lovely time exploring, eating and shopping my way around London and November can't come soon enough! Hopefully Megan will be in Topshop again, because this time around I will definitely walk up to her.
What is your favourite city in the world?