My dear readers, here's my first post about our fantastic trip to London!
Did I mention that I booked the flight to the UK for my sister and me for her birthday in July? So the trip was her present and she surely loved it! It was her first time in London, for me it was the second time. I went to the city when I was 14 or 15 with my English class and barely remember any of it. I visited the Tower, London Eye, Piccadilly Circus and much more but always wanted to go back to London just because it's a totally different experience when you're a grown-up. Now, after our three-day trip, I can't wait to go back! We visited so many great places, discovered wonderful shops, met exciting people and just enjoyed the big city life. For three days I felt a little like I was back in New York, we went to Victoria's Secret and had our favorite burrito at Chipotle, which I haven't eaten since my last trip to the big apple. London, you made me fall in love with you!
Since we checked out so many different places, I'm gonna write a few posts about this exciting city, hopefully you get inspired. So today and the next few posts I'll be your London guide...
We got on the plane in Hamburg and landed after only one and a half hours at the London Gatwick airport. From there we took a train, the Gatwick Express, to Victoria Station. You can easily catch the tube from there, which we did to get to Liverpool street where our friend works. We stayed three nights with my very good friend Victoria from Mallorca, thank you for taking such good care of us, love! So Victoria worked at Duck&Waffle, an amazing restaurant with a great view over the city. Their food and interior design is totally worth a visit, plus the elevator that takes you up to the restaurant is crazy. I think the only elevator I know that's running so fast is the one at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan. Anyway, we had some breakfast at Duck&Waffle, left our luggage there and started our sightseeing trip.
We really had no idea where to go, so when we left the building we just walked a couple of streets to check out the area, which reminded me of New York City's financial district - businessmen wherever you go. Between all the huge office buildings we found this pretty place called Leadenhall Market. It looked like an ancient mall with some cute restaurants and pubs. We didn't stay too long though because we didn't wanna waste much time on our first day, so we took the tube to Notting Hill.
On our first day we decided to explore Notting Hill, I couldn't wait to see all the pretty colorful houses and the charming Portobello Road. My favorite shops on this street were Alice's, a quirky shop with beautiful antiques, and the Hummingbird Bakery, where we had the most delicious cupcake I ever tried. We also checked out some streets in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, which is beautiful, some Upper East Side glam in London.
Later that day we went to Oxford Street, definitely one of London's best shopping areas! They have all kinds of different shops, from Topshop and Urban Outfitters to great cookie stores.
We found a wonderful candy shop called 'Kingdom of Sweets', a true paradise for people with a sweet tooth like me.
From Oxford Street we walked down Carnaby Street and visited Soho, where we had a burrito at Chipotle, Chinatown, Leicester Square and Covent Garden. The city is just beautiful at night, especially Chinatown was magical with all its lanterns. A perfect end of our first day!
