London with my bestie

Thursday, May 25: The day is finally here! I'm going to see my bestie Maryline after over a year.
I had to get up at 4.45 am, to catch the furst bus at 6.00 am. I met an old colleague at the bus stop, which was great, we were able to catch up and I forgot about my only 5 hours of sleep. Then I wanted to get a coffee. Unfortunately, because kf the bank holiday no coffee shop was open yet. So I took the train to the aurport and checked my luggage. That's when I was told why I didn't get a sign when checking in the day before. I was on standby, because they overbooked the flight. I went to the gate immediately, but I was told I had to wait until boarding. Then they were looking for five people to take a later flight, they were given 274 swiss francs. I didn't take the offer, because Mary was arriving around the same time. On top of that it was also delayed, so I got to Russell Square station at around 11.30, where Mary was already waiting for me. So nice to finally hug each other again. We walked to the hotel (Goodenough Club) and checked in. My room was ready, so she came with me and we started catching up and I told her about my surprise (coming later). Then we headed to the Brunswick close by to get some lunch and then drinks at Starbucks and found a quiet place in the park. Mary then showed me her wedding book, which was really exciting. So great to finally see everything together and not just through what's app messages. Back at the hotel at around 3.00 pm, we freshened up, got changed and then took the underground to Covent Garden. Mary wanted to find ties for her future husband, as well as the two best men. We of course also explored Covent Garden, I bought some earrings for the wedding and we spent quiet some time in Jack Wills, Mary's fave new store 😉.
After that dinner was calling, we went to Rossopomodoro and both had a yummy courgette pasta. Back to the surprise: I got us tickets for Matilda and ut was absolutely amazing, Mary loved it too. A review will follow. Due to delays on the underground we walked back to the hitel, which was a test on my new high sandals, they passed the test. I was exhausted by the end of the evening and was glad when I was able to go to bed.

We got up at 8.00 am on Friday and had breakfast at the hotel. Then we started our shopping tour at Piccadilly Circus/Regent Street. I bought some stuff at Abercrombie and Fitch and then we continued our search for ties and we were successful in the first store. We then went to Anthropologie and headed to Carnaby Street. Last year I bought a silver watch at the Storm store, ai now wanted to get the same in gold for Mary's wedding. Unfortunately, they didn't have the model anymore, so I went for another one. Everytime I go to London, I go to Carnaby street, but I have alsways missed this cute little court called Kingly Court. It's full of restaurants, bars, we enjoyed a yummy smoothie there. It even seemed like being by the beach, it didn't feel like being in a big city. For we didn't go far, I took Mary to Dehesa, a lovely Tapas restaurant in the Caranby area. We took quite a while to just wander arohnd Liberty, live that store. Afterwards we walked to The House of Mina Lima. I was there last October, but Mary had not been yet and as a big Harry Potter fan I didn't say no of course. There were even new things to see: Fantastic Beats art, so fab! A stop in front of the Palace Theatre was a must of course as well. We quickly went back to the hotel and then headed to Euston station and ook a train to Watford Junction, where the Harry Potter shuttle bus was taking us to the studios, so exciting!!! We arrived half an hour early, so we had a little dinner before conquering the studios. It was absolutely awesome, a dream come true! I lived every single second, I want to go back please!!! If you want to read more about this fab experience, you will find a blog post about it here soon. I git a bit crazy at the store in the end, but oh well... After the studios we only went back to the hotel and then to bed.

Saturday was an easy start with breakfast. Mary then checked out of the hotel and we had a coffee at Starbucks. Around 11.30 we slowly headed to the Big Chill House for the blogger/author meet up. Kim and Holly arrived shortly after us, we went straight to the rooftop terrace and some more arrived. We stayed up there the whole afternoon and had a great time. There were mostly authors there and only some bloggers, but it was still so much fun. I will write a seperate post about the event, but I was very excited to see Holly Martin again and finally meet Heidi-Jo Swain, we have known each other online for so long and Inlive her books, so yay! Carrie Elks was there as well and many more. Afterr the event I went to King's Cross with Holly, Kim and Fiona and bought some more Harry Potter stuff 😜. I quickly caught up with a friend at Covent Garden, we walked around and enjoyed the view of Thames River, the London Eye and Big Ben on Hungerford Bridge. Then I got myself some sushi and a Peach Green Tea Lemonade and had dinner at the hotel, watched The Day After Tomorrow, packed and read a little bit.

I couldn't really sleep that night, because I was nit feeling well, so I took it very slowly in the morning. I only checked out shortly before 11 am. The I went to the Brunswick, got myself an Ice Tea and just relaxed. Before 12 I headed to Piccadilly Circus, right in time for Waterstones to open. Afterwards I did the stores we didn't do on Regent Street and Carnaby Street. I had another Starbucks Peach Green Tea Lemknade and then went back to the hotel to get my suitcase. I relaxed a bit in the park and then took the underground to the airport, which was not so clever with a heavy suitcase 😜. I made it really early and was told at check-in already that the plane was going to be delayed. It seems like whenever I fly to London there is a delay. I had a little dinner and started writing so e blog posts, before boarding the plane. In the end we had a delay by an hour, because of that I was home at midnight. 

The highlight of this weekend was obviously seeing Mary again after such a long time. The catch up was long over due and it was just wonderful to see her again. We had so much to talk about and since her wedding is coming closer we also talked about that. I can't wait to get to Belgium and be her bridesmaid.