Meeting a Very Special Blogging Friend in London

The internet can be a wonderful thing. Since I started blogging nearly 4 years ago, I have met some fantastic people both on and off line. Some of those I would truly call friends. One such person is the lovely lady known online as Ms Sabrina Fairchild. I discovered her blog when I was quite new to blogging and commented on it a few times, since then we’ve chatted loads online and got to know each other through social media. The only bad part was that she lived all the way in Australia – the other side of the world!

When she announced that she would be spending a month in Paris this October I knew I had to jump on the Eurostar to meet her. As it turned out she’d also planned to come over to London for the day so instead of one day trip we ended up having two! I thought I’d share each of days out in the two cities with you…

All the way back in November, Fay and I headed over to St Pancras to meet her and our first stop was a trip to Platform 9 3/4 in Kings Cross Station for a moment of Harry Potter geekery. I absolutely love all things Harry Potter and so do Ms Fairchild’s children. She wanted to get some pics to send them. This was a big highlight of our day, it was great fun watching everyone else queuing up and posing for photos and although there was a photographer there taking official photos, they were more than happy for us to snap our own and even took a few for us. We also popped into the Harry Potter shop, which was crazy busy, but full of awesome stuff. I need to go back for a wand!

Then we headed to Giraffe Stop for a quick re-fuel which I really needed! I chose porridge which came with bananas and seeds and really set me up for the day. Absolutely delicious!

Shopping and Sightseeing:

Full of breakfast it was time to head over to Spitalfields Market for a browse around all the stalls and a trip to Collectif to try on some of their gorgeous vintage style clothing. As usual I wanted absolutely everything! I particularly loved all the gorgeous Miss L Fire shoes. I’ve since bought both the dress and the coat pictured above. Outfit pics coming soon!

Then it was time for the real touristing to begin. We jumped on the tube to Green Park for a leisurely stroll through the autumn leaves to Buckingham Palace. If there’s one place that makes me feel like a tourist in my own city it’s Buckingham Palace. It’s so touristy in-fact that I think I’ve only gone and stood at the gates twice in my life. As someone who is absolutely obsessed with Georgian architecture this is a bit of shame and I really must go and have proper look soon. While we there we took loads of selfies and pics and it was fab mingling with all the other people doing the same thing.

Westminster

We then got back on the tube for a very fleeting trip to Westminster to take pics go St Georges Tower (Big Ben) and Westminster Abbey, because you can’t go to London and not get a quick snap of them can you?!

At this point I couldn’t believe how quickly the time had gone, there wasn’t long left before Ms Fairchild had to return to Paris. We made a quick stop at a rather disappointing pizza restaurant in Kensington called Sole Luna. I hadn’t been before and won’t again. The service was not good.

The V&A

The last port of call for us was a brief visit to the V&A to look at their beautiful fashion gallery. I’ve been there so many times, but the collection never fails to astound me. Highlights for me include the regency, Victorian and Edwardian fashions and the 1950s pink Dior ensemble which always stops me in my tracks.

It was then time to head back to St Pancras for some sad goodbyes. Luckily it wasn’t for long as three days later Fay and I visited Paris for the day. But I’ll save that for another post.

I loved seeing my city through the eyes of a visitor, however one day is not enough. There is so much I love about London and in my 30 years as a born and bred Londoner, I still feel like I’m discovered new places to love every year. If you were visiting london for the day what would you want to see? If you are already a Londoner what are your favourite parts of the city?

Check out Fay’s Blog here

and Ms Fairchild’s here

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