the warehouse: London with the Ladies

48 hours of gabbing and giggling in London = GOOD TIMES. I met Mandy and Megan at church and they are two of my very favorite people in Lux. They are smart, funny, open-minded and supportive. It was such a nice break for all of us to get away from our families and have some solid gal pal time.

Late on a Friday night we flew from Lux to Gatwick airport, one hour south of London. We arrived at our Airbnb in Earl's Court neighborhood of London at 11:30 pm. We stayed up a couple more hours only to awake to go running. We are hardcore. That's where the sightseeing started - one of my favorite ways to experience a city is to go running in it. I'm forced to NOT take a million pictures and just enjoy each sidewalk, street, building, park, and view. That morning we ran four miles from our apartment to Hyde Park. Gorgeous, old London! It's the best.

After we got ready, we Tubed it across town to Borough Market.

This place is a food-lover's paradise; we arrived at brunch and stayed for lunch!

First stop: Bread Ahead for a honeycomb, sea salt caramel donut.

It was amazing and oozed sea salt caramel filling alllllll over my fingers and face. I stuck a lemon curd donut in my bag for later. We do not see donuts in Luxembourg, people.

The flowers! The green beams! UGH this market. So beautiful.

We relished reading signage in English and delighted in the variety of foods available. We're not in Little Lux anymore!

Um, hi, yes, that is a giant hog on a spit.

Scotch eggs: soft-yolked and baked in a crispy pork cup.... so confusing and so yummy.

London is soooo ollllddd and I love it.

So lovely. So lovely. Take me back!

Bridge-crossing shenanigans.

Red double-decker buses and insanely beautiful buildings.

The rest of the day was spent in the Picadilly Circus neighborhood shopping on Regent Street. I just Googled "why is it called Picadilly Circus?" Here's the answer:

The name 'Piccadilly' originates from a seventeenth-century frilled collar named a piccadil. Roger Baker, a tailor who became rich making piccadils lived in the area. The word 'Circus' refers to the roundabout around which the traffic circulated. However, it's not a roundabout anymore.

Good to know!

It was so fun to go in shops I haven't seen in a long time and a couple new ones I'd never been in, like Zara Home and Uniqlo and Hunter.

I caught Megan mid-sneeze. Nailed it!

Some Anthro lovin'.

I tried on some rain boots, the tall and the short. Didn't buy either.

And onto some Kinky Boots! The hottest boots in town, obviously!

Tiny binoculars ... such a fun show!

But before that, a walk through China town and a bite at Shake Shack.

If you're reading this and you live by a Shake Shack, I hate your guts. Best burger I've had in ages. And that concrete! Whhhaaaatttttt.

Next morning, we scooted out of our Airbnb....but not without some pictures first.

View on one side:

View on the other:

View of Mandy:

Front steps:

Are you kidding me with this vignette? Tea pots in the window? Parisian style cafe chairs? The signage?! Come on. So good.

Even the bars are beautiful! With beautiful names! If I didn't love you so much, London, I'd hate ya.

Again with the signage. And who are the Boltons? I want to go to there.

Just a pretty porch with lots of pretty details.

The archaic, almost extinct thing called a news stand:

Headed to Harrods and really excited about it!

Aaaaand that's when plans got a bit derailed. The food hall didn't open when it said it would. So we Ubered to Dishoom for breakfast. We'd tried to go here the night before, but the line was too long. It made for a very interesting breakfast.

I loved the casual, open, bright decor.