I recently had the pleasure of visiting London- primarily for work, but fortunately meetings and events took me to several interesting places (ahem, one of the palaces!!!) Our hotel was in a great spot- so I could easily walk to many sites and take in some fun too!
Some favourites:
High Tea at Fortnum and Mason- if it's good for the Queen, it's good for me! The experience was fantastic, the food (meh), tea and green tea macarons (top notch). F&M has lots of great goodies to bring home, and fairly reasonably priced- lovely tins and packaging! Snagged, some adorable biscuits for the kids, rose biscuits for our nanny, strawberry & champagne preserves, fruit teas and coffee. Am kicking myself for not buying their Piccadilly, but they do sell some teas at Williams Sonoma- they also ship to the US.
Chiltern Firehouse-if you read the Daily Mail, you know that this is the current "it" spot. I met up with a friend here for a drink, great space, definitely a chic crowd, fun spot to check out!
Shoreditch House- fortunately my cousin's girlfriend is a member! The place is massive, great rooftop with a pool, good resto, several lounges, ping pong tables, a library, another resto and my faves a candy bar and photo booth, done! I definitely liked it, it's members only, but was packed with attractive 20-30 somethings.
Bend it like Beckham- The show is new and currently in previews. Amazingly, at each show they have 115 tickets available for 15 each in honour of Beckham's 115 caps! A bargain. I loved it! Would have loved to taken in another West End show - colleagues saw The Audience with Kristin Scott Thomas and loved it!
McQueen Exhibit at the V&A- Buy tickets online beforehand if possible, lines are long. That said, it was really spectacular given all that he achieved and his many demons. The exhibit did a great job of showcasing his different collections, and incorporating multimedia--really neat and would definitely recommend!
Shopping- Liberty of London was great, Harrod's is a monstrosity, but tote bags make good souvenirs. I have to say, I truly adored Cath Kidston. Fortunately, it was right down the street from my hotel, and I fell in love with all of their whimsy. Adorable kids clothes, knick knacks etc....I stocked up! I discovered Cos -hadn't known of them before, think Zara, but the current lines are very structured, and look a lot more higher end than their price tag! Was pleased to discover that they have a NYC outpost.
I really loved London, it feels similar to NY, but way more spread out. It could take countless visits to truly explore it all, so will definitely need to go back and explore the fantastic museums (many of which are free) and many of the sights.
