48 Hours in London

A few weeks back, I met my husband in London for a 48 hour trip. He travels to London for work pretty often and has asked me to meet him several times in the past but I have never had a huge desire to go to London. Finally I said ya know what? I should go! From what I’ve heard recently…London sounds pretty fabulous.

The flight from New York City is really easy. I slept the whole way there on an evening flight and arrived Friday morning at 8:30am. I met my husband at the hotel, we stayed at the Corinthia which was beautiful. I unpacked and got ready for a busy day of site seeing. And by site seeing I mean shopping + eating.

We left the hotel and just started to roam the streets. I had made a reservation at Sketch because I’ve seen that place all over Instagram and it looked like pink heaven. We made that our destination for the morning while site seeing all the shops and pretty architecture along the way.

When we arrived at Sketch they asked me which restaurant I made the reservation for because they didn’t have my name down for Sketch. I was like huhhhhhhh????!!! I did not know that there options! OY. I made the reservation in the Enchanted Forest. I was SO BUMMED. However, it was still lovely. And now…I’ll just have to fly back to London to eat at Sketch. We had a delicious, beautiful meal and then got back on the road to do more walking and shopping.

We made our way over to Carnaby Street which was SO COOL! I loved all the neon lights, shops and Liberty of London which I’ve been dying to check out. Definitely feels like a Henri Bendel or Barney’s type of place…tons of fashion, shoes, cool home gifts…I was totally obsessed with the initial cups that I stumbled upon thinking they would be great for make up brushes, tooth brushes and so much more.

As we kept walking we passed an enormous H&M and Top Shop both of which we have in the states but I wanted to check out each because I wanted to see if they had different clothing than what I see here in NYC. They had some really cute items, I did some shopping and then it was time to head back to the hotel because I was scheduled for a massage at the spa at the Corinthia Hotel.

The best part of our Friday in London was that it was SUNNY! I of course had to take every opportunity to find a somewhat clean telephone booth to snap a photo in front of. I was so fascinated by those telephone booths…I truly thought they were only in the movies!

One of my friends who lives just outside of London suggested several restaurants for us to try. We chose Roganics which is in the adorable area called Marylebone for Friday night. It was a tasting menu and each dish served was more tasty than the next. We had a really nice dining experience there aside from the few moments where I fell asleep on the table…

My mission for Saturday was to hit Harrods. I have heard so much about this famous department store I just had to see it with my own eyes. We started with breakfast at The Delaunay. It was a traditional London spot where they serve tea and delicious eggs with crispy hash browns. Heavenly. We were visiting at the start of December so the whole city was covered in Christmas lights. This restaurant had the most beautifully decorated trees and lights set up all over. It felt very magical walking around such a festive city.

We hopped in a taxi and went directly to Harrods after we finished our breakfast. Does it deserve all the hype it receives? It certainly was pretty but also everything in there was a FORTUNE! So we walked through Shoe Heaven, The restaurants because they were so beautifully designed and of course the food hall in the basement. It was so cool, tons of fresh produce, meat, cheese. All over priced but totally gorgeous looking. I wanted it all. Too bad I just eaten! We made our way out and that’s when we started hitting the sites. We walked to the Royal Palace (and I tried to see the Queen but that was a royal fail), we walked by Big Ben (which was completely covered up due to construction so that too was a fail…see why I don’t enjoy site seeing?!), we walked by Westminster Abbey and then hopped on the subway to head to lunch. Yep…eating again.

For lunch, my friend had recommended Kym’s, a new Dim Sum spot in the financial district. We took the tube there which was super easy and It was totally outstanding! We love dim sum and it was definitely an elevated version of that cuisine. I loved every bite.

We walked off lunch over London Bridge (thankfully it did not fall down -ha!) and made our way over to Borough Market. I would have loved to eat my way through this market but I was stuffed from the Dim Sum so we just strolled through. No doubt if I lived in London I would frequent this market quite often, was very up my alley with tons of booths for cheese, fresh bread, flowers and meats.

We found ourselves at the Shakespere O next. Was cool to see.

We kept walking and were now along the South Bank in Lambeth. They had so much great food in here AND Drinks! Hot (spiked!) apple cider…dang I so wished I was hungry. I would have walked away with a Scotch egg and spiked cider for sure.

As we kept on strolling, we ended up at Covent Garden. This was by far my favorite area that we walked through. There were TONS of Christmas decorations and the most fabulous shops! My best friend had told me to check out The Shop at Bluebird. What a gorgeous store! Also way too expensive but I loved browsing around in here!

Guess what time it was when we got back to the hotel after our long day of sites, shopping and eating?

TIME FOR TEA!

I was so so so excited about this.

I scheduled a 5pm tea at the hotel which was stunning. Now what I thought Tea time meant…was a cup of tea and a scone or pastry of some sort. What I did NOT know is they give you a tower of tea sammies, 6,000 pastries and desserts and unlimited tea. Um…we have dinner in 2 hours. YIKES. Needless to say, we ate like fat pigs on this trip and I was fine with that.

Dinner quickly followed our tea feast at a restaurant that Adam’s friend recommended called Pollen Street Social. It was a beautiful place and so delicious. Nice crowd too. Maybe would have enjoyed it a touch more if I wasn’t so full from tea BUT…was a great way to close out the weekend in London.

Well…what did I miss? Tell me so the next time I go to London I can make sure to check it out!