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| Patiently waiting for Hugh Grant in Notting Hill |
There is nothing better than seeing someone you know from home overseas. It's such an exciting yet surreal feeling, catching up with a familiar face in a completely different part of the world. It's just plain awesome. Although I was only going to London for the weekend, I was as excited as I would be if I was doing a weekend trip to an exotic country outside of the UK! I packed my gear for the weekend into my average sized handbag and jumped onto a train to London's Euston Station before taking the tube to Angel. Yes you read right, my handbag. Damn, I had become a good packer at this point...
I was set to stay with a fellow Melbournean family friend who had been living and working in London for almost a year. She had promised me a weekend filled with good food, great nights and life as a "quasi-local". As she had been living in London for almost a year, she had figured out the ins and outs, such as where to eat, where to hang out and where to have drinks. We, along with her visiting Parisian cousin and friend, spent the weekend visiting her favourite spots around London, along with some of the spots that we were keen to see as well.
The night I arrived, we ate at the most delicious Indian restaurant and I was stoked because Indian is hands down one of my favourite cuisines. At this point, I realised how serious my family friend's promise to deliver good food was and I knew that this weekend would be a good one. I've decided to keep this blog post shorter than usual, listing just my highlights of the weekend instead of narrating everything that I got up to.
DAY ONE HIGHLIGHTS: SATURDAY
- Visiting a Melbournesque cafe for the first time since leaving home
- Walking along Regent's Canal and enjoying the gorgeous London Spring weather
- Broadway Market, with the endless amounts of food stalls and lack of tourists
- Enjoying the beer battered chicken burger from Broadway Market while sitting in the London Fields
- Taking advantage of every free sample available at Borough Market
- Creating a personalised alarm clock and meeting the (Lego) Royal Family in Hamley's, the oldest toy shop in the world
- Having pho for the first time since leaving home
- "Crashing" a Frenchman's 30th Birthday at a cocktail bar that's fire alarm continued to go off multiple times throughout the night
- Befriending the bartenders at said cocktail bar and helping them create their new weekly special
- Having Duck & Waffle at 3am, the highest restaurant in the UK with views over London
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| Starting the day at Saint Espresso, Angel |
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| Walking along Regent's Canal |
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| Walking along Regent's Canal |
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| Broadway Market |
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| Broadway Market |
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| Broadway Market |
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| Vietnamese drip coffee |
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| Making confit duck burgers |
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| Confit duck burger |
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| Broadway Market |
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| Croissant loaves? |
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| London Fields |
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| Best chicken burger ever |
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| Coconut water |
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| Decided that it is definitely the best brownie in London |
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| Borough Market |
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| Borough Market |
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| Iced Tea |
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| Iced Tea |
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| River Thames |
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| Tower Bridge |
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| River Thames |
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| Lego Royal Family at Hamley's |
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| West End |
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| M&M's World |
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| My beloved pho |
DAY TWO HIGHLIGHTS: SUNDAY
- Discovering that The Tube does not only go underground (That was a shocker and a half)
- Enjoying the live music at Portobello Market with lunch and pints
- Having one of the most amazing kebabs of my life (In the UK what???)
- Finding the iconic blue Notting Hill door (Unfortunately didn't catch Hugh Grant. Maybe next time)
- Visiting Poundland for the first time and seeing that everything was literally a pound, unlike our $2 shops back at home
- Walking down Portobello Road and reliving one of my favourite childhood books
- Finding waffles that were as good as the ones I had in Belgium
- Bumping into Payne on Portobello Road
- Visiting Camden Markets for the second time, one of my favourite places in London
- Actually exploring more Camden Market this time, instead of just the food stalls section
- Convincing Payne to buy a gorgeous jacket at Camden Market
- Satisfying my sushi craving at an amazing sushi restaurant
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| Breakfast |
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| Coolest train sighting |
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| Portobello Market |
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| One of the best kebabs of my life |
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| Act two |
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| The coloured houses of Notting Hill |
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| The iconic blue Notting Hill door |
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| Notting Hill |
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| Notting Hill coloured houses |
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| Love of my life |
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| As good as authentic Belgian waffles from Beligum |
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| Camden Market |
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| Camden Market |
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| Camden Market |
Spending my weekend with my family friend who had been living and working in London for almost a year made me realise that I want to do the same thing one day in the future. I would honestly love to move to London one day and live there for a year or two. I am so obsessed with London as a city and because it's so big, I feel like it would be a place where you are constantly discovering new places to hang out or restaurants to try. I can't wait to head back one day soon.
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