Tales of London, Day One & Two

I feel like everyone and their mother - or, let's not exaggerate, some Facebook friends and Belgium's blogger elite - was in London in September. So if you're feeling overwhelmed at the thought of yet another hip chick (well...) detailing her adventures in Shoreditch, do know that I feel the same way. I got back home last Friday night to a feed full of London, London and yes, more London. 

Still, please bear with me as I rave and ramble on about the likes of Islington, Primrose Hill, Saatchi Gallery, sharing a room with twenty other girls, really good guacamole, chain restaurants and all other things London.

I left for London only a couple of hours after the wedding had ended and arrived on Sunday afternoon in - quite frankly - a state of mild panic. Reason for my anxiety: hardly any of the Underground lines were operating and I had absolutely no clue how to get to my hostel otherwise. After some wrong stops and confused texts I had no other choice but to call Julie and ask her to come find me. She did, eventually and at last, Fundon 2012 was a fact!

First thing we did? Scour the floors of the Topshop mothership on Oxford Circus. This as we were swooning over the J.W. Anderson x Topshop collection and all its little trinkets. After what must have almost been two hours, we scored our first purchases. Overwhelmed by the madness at Topshop (an instore cupcake bar, really?), we headed straight to the Big Ben like just about every other proper tourist. We took in all the sights and just revelled in the fact that we were in London.

We wandered around Covent Garden for a bit, had Italian for dinner at what was unbeknownst to us just another chain restaurant. That same evening - and in the week to come - we would keep running into the same chain restaurants over and over again. The whole of London seems to be a brand of something. Finally, close to midnight, we headed back to our A+ hostel, Palmers Lodge in Swiss Cottage.

 On Monday we started off our day at the National Gallery where I treated myself to a little gift: a beautifully illustrated children's book called This is London. Julie shared some of her travel wisdom with me about lunch: just buy some French bread, sit down in a park somewhere, anywhere really, and save truckloads of money. Done. Honestly, after hours of walking around, nothing would have tasted better than our daily guacamole and houmous from Waitrose. On Monday we decided to head out all the way to Primrose Hill to have lunch. With a view. I had never been to this neighbourhood before but I couldn't help but love it, even in all of its unapologetic bourgeoisness. Primrose Hill itself was mostly deserted except for the nannies strolling around with their prams and us two, eating our lunch deliriously. 

As by sheer luck, we stumbled onto the Primrose Bakery on our way to Camden. Even though we had only finished gorging on bread and guacamole a while ago, we could not pass up on the opportunity to have a cup of coffee and a cupcake at this lovely little place. It was a quiet Monday afternoon. We sat there sipping our coffees as we observed all the schoolchildren and their mothers pass by on their way home. If there is such a thing as pure bliss, this must have been it.

Camden, on the other hand, never has been and never will be my thing. It's too loud, too in your face. The market at Camden Lock is basically one stall after another selling the exact same seven dresses and even worse, YOLO-printed leggings. I kid you not. One of the best things about this trip was that my friend Julie and I were on the exact same page all the time. She also wasn't feeling the Camden vibe at all. Needless to say, it didn't take long before we left there.


Later that evening, we dressed up a bit more sharply and headed out for delicious burgers and fries at Byron near Trafalgar Square. Another chain restaurant but every branch has its distinct own style and interior and the hamburgers were just so good that I won't fret over it too long.

Original dining tips is not something you'll get out of these London posts, I'm afraid. Still, I sincerely hope you enjoyed this one because there are two more coming up in the next week or so. Love, always - x

London calling

Source: Google

Today I am leaving for my absolute favourite city in the world (thusfar, I may add). My dear grandmother is taking me there for my fourth time. Since I'm going with my grandmother, the only things I'm packing are sensible and warm things: my A.P.C. wool coat, cotton dresses, knits and most importantly, no heels.

I have been making a to do-list for a couple of days now. Which museums this time? Do I want to see the changing of the guards again? Will my grandma dig the Tate Modern? There are so many things that one has to keep in consideration. She has explicitly told me that we won't be doing a lot of shopping, but Topshop is non-negotiable. If you go to London but not to Topshop in Oxford Circus, which is like the mothership, you might as well not go to London at all. That's not very true, but you get what I'm aiming at. Still, I'm not giving up and I've made up lists of all the other cute stores I have to visit this time.

I plan on taking home:

- one copy of the new issue of Lula
- a box of macarons at Ladurée
- gifts for my sister, mom and friends
- a Topshop jumper
- a pleated leather skirt by Zara

That's about it. I don't plan on raiding Topshop and bringing back tons of dresses, but I'd rather bring back a lot of lovely gifts for all the lovely people in my life. I'll see you in a couple of days! To all the Belgian girls who are still in high school like me, enjoy your Autumn break! xoxo