It nearly has been a month since I went to London and I haven't blogged about it already?? Well, it's better late than never.
The easiest and fastest way to go to London from Belgium is by riding on the Eurostar. Having travelled to the Big Smoke a dozen times already by train, bus or ferry, the Eurostar is definitely my favourite choice of transportation.
This time, the bf and I opted to stay in a (uninteresting, expensive and pretty bland) hotel situated near Whitechapel. We used to book rooms around Earl's Court the previous times we stayed in London and we always saw and did the same things over and over again.
We arrived on a Friday, late in the afternoon and we spent our first evening like I always try to spend my Friday evenings in London: by going shopping. I have this idea that shopping in central London is a nightmare - especially if I want to visit the basic highstreet shops. By going to the Westfield shopping centers in White City or at Stradford's, it's easier to wander around because everything is at the same place. That way, shopping is out of the way for the weekend and we have plenty of time to do everything we planned to do and see.
Don't get me wrong, there are many stores I want to visit each time I am in London but I have to make choices. The tube is always very busy on weekends and I don't want to waste too much time traveling all over London to do/see/buy all the things I want. There are times when we casually visit all the places we usually like to go to and other times when we want to discover a new part of town and that's why we limit our travels by tube and keep ourselves to one area.
So, we stayed near a mosque, not too far away from the City. In the morning we had breakfast at a random cafe and we headed to Spitafields market. Unfortunately we arrived too early and didn't see a thing. I was amazed at the bf who had just discovered Snapchat (he had just bought a new phone) and he was documenting all of our trip! It was funny, he was worst than me!
After all that, we walked along the Thames and even took a train to Canary Wharf.
We stopped by Borough Market for lunch and enjoyed the atmosphere and the beautiful stands. I always keep an eye out just in case I stumble upon Jamie Oliver. You know... but I guess he visits early in the morning. I tried to spot Bridget Jones' house but I didn't find it.
On Saturday afternoon we went to the Tate to see their current exhibition...
... and we crossed the bridge to reach the National Gallery and see a different kind of art. We also had a nice cup of tea and a piece of cake.
In the evening, we weren't sure of what to do - we wanted to go on a Jack The Ripper tour but we couldn't choose which one and I had complained about our lack of reservation to see the Agatha Christie's play. As we were walking past Covent Garden, I saw at the end of a street the big sign for The Mousetrap. In no time, we had bought two tickets! Now, we know who dunnit and it was quite an experience to go the theatre with the English - it's pretty different than at home!
We were leaving early in the afternoon on Sunday so we simply visited the Colombia Road Flower Market in the morning and enjoyed a relaxing breakfast in a cute café (delicious!) before heading back to Brussels.
I miss you already London! I was a bit disappointed to be there and not go to all my favourite spots but a weekend is so short, we definitely would need a whole week next time!
I miss you already London! I was a bit disappointed to be there and not go to all my favourite spots but a weekend is so short, we definitely would need a whole week next time!
