London: Travel diary #7

The day got off to a great start with breakfast in bed, as I had already mentioned. At half past eight sharp, two people carrying huge trays laden with food knocked on our door. When we opened the door, they came into the room briefly to put the food on the bed and then left again straight away.

We simply snuggled up in our bathrobes and enjoyed breakfast in bed. Among other things, we were served tea, an avocado bagel and a continental breakfast, and everything was very tasty.

We took our time to enjoy all the food and then got ready for our shopping trip through London.

From Soho, there are tons of options. We started off in the classic way on Oxford Street. There you can find all the big stores like Zara, H&M and Superdry. However, this Superdry is not like any other, because on the first floor, in addition to all the brand's products, there is also a vintage store, mainly with clothes from Polo Ralph Lauren. The jumpers still cost £60, which isn't exactly a bargain. That's why we left empty-handed.

After Superdry, we simply turned right towards Marylebone. In my opinion, Marylebone is one of the most beautiful neighbourhoods in London. It's a quieter area with beautiful houses and cute shops. 

Thayer Street in particular is definitely worth a detour to Marylebone. Not only will you find Daunt Books, a popular shop on TikTok, on this shopping street, but also the cutest farmers shop: Bayley & Sage. If you get hungry in between or need a souvenir, be sure to stop by. The shop has both fresh baked goods and delicious to-go food.

Of course, you can also find many other regional delicacies in the shop. There are other shops on Thayer Street, such as Zadig & Voltaire and Lululemon. So everything a London It girl needs.

A few streets away, you will also find the cute shop Ana and Nina, a Dutch fashion and knick-knack brand that always has very cute products. Their jewellery is also worth a look. I tried on a few things and will consider ordering something to be sent to my home. While I'm on the subject, Ana and Nina also have a really nice food blog. You should definitely check it out if you're interested.

Continuing from Thayer Street, we headed to what is probably the most famous department store in London: Liberty.

The building itself is very old and incredibly beautiful. Inside, you can find everything from clothes to stationery and even fabrics.

It is definitely worth a visit, even if the brands represented are not necessarily in the price range that would allow you to furnish a whole new wardrobe. However, you're sure to find something you can use in the stationery section. And you should definitely be aware that the English love to decorate for Christmas and the decoration departments usually open at the end of August. This is also the case at Liberty. So you can do your Christmas shopping at the same time :)

Right on Liberty Street, you will find all the shops that are very popular with London's young people. These include Brandy Melville, Subdued, Hollister and Adidas.

We continued on to Fortnum & Mason, probably the most famous shop in London for shopping for typical English afternoon tea. In addition to high-quality tea and coffee, they also sell delicacies and matching tableware.

It is definitely worth sampling all the different types of tea and taking one of the beautiful tins home with you. Both the tea tins and the biscuit tins are great for reuse and look very good in the kitchen at home thanks to their artistic designs. But only once you've enjoyed the delicious contents, of course. If you want to enjoy a typical afternoon tea, you can do so in the four-storey shop. The parlour is located on the first floor. It's perfect for a quick stop to enjoy tea and scones or even an ice cream sundae. As we were already very hungry, we took the opportunity to order the aforementioned scones and tea before browsing around.

From Fortum and Mason, we headed back to Soho for dinner. We had already called the small restaurant at lunchtime to reserve a table, as it appeared online that they were already fully booked.

But apparently that wasn't the case, because after a quick phone call we were immediately given a table at the Indian-Chinese restaurant. After we took our seats, the very friendly waitress explained the concept of FATT Pundit to us. The restaurant serves relatively small portions, so it's best to order several dishes. They are known for their dumplings, among other things.

And I have to say that they were particularly delicious. But the rest of the food was also incredibly tasty. And all for a really fair price. I would definitely visit the restaurant again and can wholeheartedly recommend it.

Afterwards, we went back to the hotel, just like yesterday, so we could freshen up a bit. Because today, the musical Evita was on the agenda. It's a bit harder to get tickets for it because it's very popular, but it was definitely worth the effort

The screenplay tells the (true) story of Eva Perón, also known as Evita. She was the First Lady of Argentina and wife of President Juan Perón. Although she grew up in a very poor family, she worked her way up through her connections and ultimately enjoyed great wealth. Although she lived a very extravagant lifestyle, she supported Argentina's lower classes and was even celebrated as a saint for it. Nevertheless, she was a very controversial figure and died young of cervical cancer. What I didn't know until the end of the musical, and which was really shocking to hear, was that her body disappeared for 17 years after her death.

The story is definitely worth reading, as it also describes how such a prosperous country as Argentina could develop such major problems as it has today.

But now back to the musical: the singing was really great and Rachel Ziegler was very well cast in the role of Evita.

By the way, if you can't get tickets for the musical, you can still hear them singing on the balcony every evening around 9 o'clock.

After the story, we had to take a short walk through the neighbourhood before we could go to bed, exhausted from the day.