I had off all last week for my half term break and was very lucky to have my friend Nick come to London and visit. He arrived last Saturday morning and left today so he had a full 8 days in London/Amsterdam. I'm only going to post about what we did in London while he was here because we did A LOT. I'll do a separate post about our 36 hour trip to Amsterdam.
Well, first let me start with the night before Nick arrived. After months of waiting, I finally saw
Book of Mormon at the Prince of Wales theatre in London. I actually can't say enough good things about it. It was one of the most hilarious things I've ever seen - it was crude and shocking but also sweet and you couldn't help but love each of the characters. I took a couple pictures before it started, but obviously I couldn't take any pictures during. If you haven't seen it yet, I would definitely encourage you to go. It's well worth the money and it's a fun night out!
So Saturday morning I woke up bright and early to get to Heathrow Airport. Nick had never been to London before so I didn't want to make him brave the tube on his own. After we got back to West Hampstead, we hit up The Wet Fish Cafe for a late brunch and then we went to Abbey Road. After Nick got his obligatory picture in front of Abbey Road (and after I accidentally dropped his new iPhone) we went to the Duke of York pub in St. John's Wood. It's only a 5 minute walk from Abbey Road and it's a great little pub; definitely one of my favorites in London.
Alex and James met us there for a few drinks and then Nick and I went to get ready for our big dinner that night. We met up with several friends at
Hakkasan for a very fun night out! We had an amazing dinner then went to the Dolphin club in Hackney for some dancing.
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| duke of york |
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| nick at abbey road |
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| hakkasan |
Sunday was a gorgeous day - perfect for going out and doing lots of sightseeing. We hit all the necessary places in London…Westminster Abbey, Parliament and Big Ben. Then we walked through Pimlico and Chelsea to
Foxtrot Oscar for a late lunch. After our lunch, we met up at the Red Lion pub with Ali, Paul, Mel and Kyle for drinks. We went back to Ali and Paul's in Highbury to chill for a bit, then walked down to Upper Street to
Gallipoli for a Turkish dinner. (I realize it's starting to sound like all I ever do is eat!)
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| BIG BEN |
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| blue skies |
Monday was a museum day - I took Nick to the V&A museum at South Kensington. After a few hours at the museum, we decided to go for a walk through Kensington and Kensington Gardens. We ended up at one of my favorite places -
The Churchill Arms pub on Kensington Church Street. It's a pub but also a Thai restaurant and the food is so good. After dinner, we walked around Notting Hill and Holland Park, then went to see 'Her' at the
Coronet Cinema.
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| V&A |
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| the churchill arms |
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| kensington gardens |
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| the churchill arms |
We were so lucky to have 3 days of amazing weather, so by Tuesday I wasn't surprised to see the rain. It was pouring and we decided it was a perfect day to try and see the matinee showing of Billy Elliot at the Victoria Palace Theatre. By the time it finished, the rain had cleared off and we walked to see Buckingham Palace. We went back to my flat, got changed, and met up with Kirsten and her fiancé for a drink. We had a reservation at 9:30 for
Bocca di Lupo in Soho. Dinner was amazing (how did I not gain 10 pounds in the first 3 days?!) and the restaurant is really lovely on the inside. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who loves proper Italian food. After dinner, we met back up with Kirsten and Steve for more drinks and dancing! What a fun Tuesday night we had.
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| victoria palace theatre |
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| buckingham |
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| me and kirsten |
By Wednesday, we were both ready to have a little time to do some things on our own! I absolutely love having visitors, but I especially love them when they are willing to go and have some adventures on their own. So while Nick wandered all around London, I did my lesson plans and all my other little things that needed to get done. We met up later at Bond Street to go for a walk down New Bond Street, Piccadilly and Regent's Street. We walked through
Carnaby Street, too and stopped for a Ben's cookie. We decided we both needed a night to just chill so we grabbed sushi back in West Hampstead at Feng's and watched TV.
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| nick in cookie heaven |
On Thursday, we left for Amsterdam. I'll post about that separately! We arrived back Saturday morning early and got ourselves ready for the day. We went to GBK for lunch (Nick loved it) and then to Angel to meet up with Ali and Paul. They were sitting on the roof terrace at the Castle so we joined them to soak up some sun and drink a few. After we left, we went to Ali and Paul's to freshen up before we went to the Savoy. We took the bus and got dropped off right in front of Somerset House. We did a walk through and got to see it all set up for London Fashion Week. But the highlight of the night was definitely the
Savoy. It was like stepping back into the 1920's. The cocktails are expensive, but worth it just to sit and soak up the atmosphere.
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| the castle in angel |
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| bus selfies |
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| the savoy |
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| where the band plays |
All in all it was a very busy, really fun week! I am so lucky to have people in my life who want to come visit me in London.
xx
K
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