Hi guys!
Here's a new small blogpost about another travel that I did mid February, so already a while ago. Finally after COVID and the Brexit happening, I went back to London. I used to go there once a year, and finally we got to go back. The only thing that's changed with the Brexit happening is that you need a passport now and before you didn't need that. I went with my parents and we booked a hotel in Shoreditch, which is an upcoming area a little outside of the city center, with a lot of nice hotspots. You can take the train to the city center very easily and quickly so it was very nice. We stayed at the Mama Shelter Hotel which was a very nice and hip hotel in Shoreditch. We took the train from Brussels and arrived in London on Friday morning. It only takes 2 hours so we still had the full day, which was very nice.
On Friday we arrived at the hotel, left our luggages and drank a smoothie. After, we took the train to Oxford Circus because we had a reservation at a lunch spot at Circolo Popolare, which is one of the Italian restaurants of the Big Mamma Group. They have a lot of very nice Italian restaurants in a lot of European cities. I also went to one of them in Paris. We arrived in Oxford Circus and walked around a bit, before we went to the restaurant for lunch. It was a very nice spot with a very nice interior. We had a table next to the kitchen so that was very nice. We had a cocktail and shared some arancina, some bread with some burrata and also some truffle pasta, which was amazing. I actually wanted to try that one in Paris but I didn't do it back then, so I really enjoyed the pasta this time. After lunch we walked around a bit more and we did some shopping. Strolling around is just the best thing to do, in my opinion. We also went to Selfridges and checked out the Jacquemus store in there. And we took a look at the book area in there, I find it always very nice to just walk around and take a look at some books. After that we just kept on walking around and me and my mom did some more shopping. We met my dad at a pub and walked around a bit more. We went back to the hotel and relaxed a little before changing outfits to go walk to an Indian restaurant: Dishoom, which was recommended to us. You can't make a reservation there but you just wait the line outside and after a while you can already go inside to drink something, before having dinner. It was very nice, plain Indian food. We had some naan bread, shrimps, cheese, chicken and rice. After dinner we walked back to the hotel and had a relaxing evening, before going to bed. City tripping is always very tiring, because you walk around a lot and see a lot of things, which I find very nice but you can be very tired at the end of the day.
The next morning on Saturday we took the train back to the city center and we walked around a little before we walked to the Plants restaurant which is the restaurant by Deliciously Ella. She is a vegan cook that sells some of her food products, has some books and also this first restaurant. My mom and me really wanted to go there. I took an avocado toast and my parents had some pancakes. We also had some very nice smoothies. After breakfast, we walked around a bit more and we went in into Hamleys which is a very big toy store. It's always an experience to go take a look there. After, my mom and me went to H&M home and we bought some stuff for my new place. We also went to Carnaby Street and walked around a bit more. We had a little stop and drank something at a pub which was very nice. Then we walked around a bit more and saw some more nice stores. We ended at the Seven Dials, which are very nice streets with more nice and hip stores. We did some sightseeing and we ended up at Rock and Sole place which is a recommended place to eat fish and chips so we have them outside which is very nice because the weather was quite nice. After lunch we walked to Covent Garden and went to the Glossier store. We bought some stuff, also some things for my my sister. It was very nice, I always like their stores. Meanwhile my dad went to a museum. Me and my mom just walked around a bit and had a cake before walking to the waterside and heading back to the hotel. We had some relaxing time, before taking the uber to one of Ottolenghi's restaurants: Nopi. We had a very good experience with a-ma-zing food. We sat at a big table, next to the open kitchen. The concept of Ottolenghi is a lot of vegetables and sharing of the plates, which I really like. We had a very nice dinner and the dessert was amazing. We had some Citrus cake kind and some ice cream with chocolates and hazelnut crumbs. It really was was amazing and I would recommend everyone to go there. We went back to the hotel and did some face masks before going back to bed.
The next morning it was already our last day we took the bus Spitalfields market, which is a market for local brands. The sun was shining so that was very nice. We had breakfast at a place that we went to the previous time we were there, so that was very nice. I had an avocado toast with some eggs and bacon. We walked back to the Spitalfields Market and strolled around a bit, before taking the bus back to the hotel. It was time to go back to St. Pancras to take the train back to Brussels. It was a very nice trip again, I really liked to be back there to go to the stores and see all the things we wanted, and just strolling around there. I can't wait of course to be back because London is always a good idea!