Oh, I love London. This city will really never cease to amaze me with the endless treasures it has in store absolutely everywhere. There is always something new to discover, always endless possibility, and a little bit of something for everyone.
My Sunday one week was a perfect example of the craziness you can get into here, why I love London, and why I truly think it’s the most exciting city in the world. This was all within walking distance of my East London flat, and simply goesto show how many amazing things there are to do in London. My day went a little like this:
1. We woke up with the goal of lounging around all day. We had a bit of a night last night, so planned to get up to take a friend to the airport and come home to nap. No big plans.
2. We went and got breakfast at Cereal Killer Cafe, a little restaurant that just serves many fancy variations of cereal, and is absolutely amazing at it. Think, Banana Weetabix with Nutella, banana, and banana rice milk. Or, peanut butter cocoa puffs, peanut butter chips, and strawberry coconut milk. The possibilities are endless. Random little eateries like this (cereal?!) = another reason why I love London. After this, we dropped off our friend at the airport and headed back towards my flat.
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3. Upon getting to our bus stop, we decided to go and get some groceries to fill the empty fridge, so we went to the local grocery store. While there, we decided that a market would be way cheaper. It was a Sunday, so we walked a few minutes over to Brick Lane market to get some veg.
4. We got there and ended up shopping through all the other market stalls, vintage markets, people selling their belongings on the road, and other eclectic clutter. My friend found an adorable purse for £2 and I stumbled upon a pair of boots that fit me perfectly for £5- right after my other pair just fell apart – it was meant to be!
We shopped around for a while until finally making it to the veg food stalls we intended to go to in the first place, with the best deals in London. Here they sell you huge bowls full of different types of veggies for £1 each. We selected a bowl of avocados, peppers, potatoes, and tomatoes, and took them back home for £1 each.
5. We went home and made an amazing meal with our new food: breakfast potatoes with peppers and tomatoes, and egg/avocado/spinach/brie toast. It was to die for!
6. It was a beautiful day to we decided to head to the park near my flat to enjoy our food in the sunshine. We awkwardly walked down the street with our plates in hand, but didn’t care because it’s completely worth getting outside when it’s nice in London!
7. Post-meal and after returning the plates to my kitchen, we decided to head back to Brick Lane market to see if a certain seller still had her stand open. We stopped by her stall while at the market earlier in the day and were completely in love with her overflowing wardrobe of the cutest clothes, but had to save our cash for food.
8. To our sadness, she wasn’t there, but we decided to have a walk around anyway.
9. We wandered in and out of vintage shops on the way down Brick Lane, looking at all sorts of amazing clothes and accessories and admiring the amazing street art of the area.
10. We stumbled upon a doorway with interesting arrangements of lights shining out from the inside amongst bushels of flowers on the walls and hanging from the ceiling. We walked in to find that it was a pop-up Italian bar/restaurant area built inside an old brick warehouse.
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Pop-ups – another big reason why I love London. They’re everywhere come the spring! This place had 4 different bars, each serving signature cocktails pertaining to certain experiences the head mixologist had whilst growing up in the Italian countryside, and even had a menu to decode each one.
We wandered through to to an open beer garden in the back overflowing with lavender colored flowers, and took a look at the insane menu of drinks and Italian food shipped in from Sicily. We sampled some cheese, almonds, and olive oil from the little shop in the back, in awe that this place was not even visible from the street. Afterwards, we headed out to continue wandering.
11. Upon leaving, we heard some tech house blaring from inside the gates literally right next door to the Italian Pop-up. As soon as we stepped out the door, a promoter rushed up to us and gave us a flyer telling us to go inside his club and check it out. So, naturally, we did.
We curiously went in the gates and past an outside area of tables, and found a decently packed club playing amazing music at a day party… at 5pm on Sunday. Naturally, we joined in for a good dance session and laughed at how crazy and eventful our day had been. We debated getting a drink or two, until deciding to press on.
12. We walked down the street past many other markets cleaning up for the day along Brick Lane, who were all putting away their fruit juices, crepe makers, and street food. I mentally noted a few markets I had never noticed before – there have got to be at least 6 on Brick Lane alone in all the empty warehouses and parking lots!
13. We spontaneously decided that while we were out and walking south, we should go and check out a rooftop bar we had heard about and had been meaning to try. We walked over in that direction, laughing at how empty the financial center of London was on a Sunday. Said bar (Madison) had a view right over St Paul’s Cathedral, and was a beautiful place to lounge before sunset.
We explored a terrace overlooking the cathedral (cover photo of this post), and sat in the bar for a bit debating what to get. We eventually decided to save money and head back home, having already enjoyed the terrace and view enough already. But still, prolific rooftop bars are yet another reason why I love London!
14. We nonclalantly walked out of the bar without getting anything (sorry!) and started to walk back home. Upon passing Liverpool Street Station, I remembered that we had also been meaning for a few months to attempt to get into a speakeasy in the area in which you must walk in through a fridge door. I mean, how intriguing does that sound?! Not being able to say no to one last adventure, we agreed to check it out.
15. Said speakeasy is inside a popular restaurant called The Breakfast Club, and rumor has it that you must walk in, ask to see the “Mayor of Scaredycat Town,” and that they will take you in through the fridge and downstairs. I got strangely nervous walking in, because if you think about it, that is a very strange thing to say.
I debated just asking about the ‘fridge bar,’ or saying something else…. but at the last second a burst of courage came through when the waitress came up and asked us “Party of two?” I said, ” We’re here to…. uhhm…. see the mayor of scaredycat town!?” as fast as possible, with a small grimace on my face, hoping she wouldn’t look at me like I was crazy.
16. To our surprise, she just casually replied, “No problem, just this way please! Is this your first time?” It was, and she indeed showed us through the door of a huge fridge and down some dark stairs into a dimly lit room full of candles, wooden tables, brick walls, no windows, and strange decor covering the walls.
Like where else could this happy?! Yep, another reason why I love London. We were presented with two menus comprised of some of the fanciest cocktails I have ever seen. “Well, there goes our attempt not to buy drinks today…” we thought as we scoured the menu.
The menu had hilarious directions about “Scaredycat Town,” such as explicit directions on how to exit the speakeasy through the restrooms of the restaurant upstairs and to get some toilet paper stuck to your foot as not to make it look obvious. It was a really cool experience.
17. Finally after a drink, we headed home because we were absolutely and understandibly exhausted! The moral of the story is that I LOVE this city- there is always something new to discover and something amazing in store just around the corder. London, you have my heart. <3
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Passionate, full-time travel blogger with over 230k on social media and 150kMPV blog. Extraordinary photographer with two DSLR's + a drone with a love for capturing candid moments, epic drone shots, and magical compositions. I'm a natural-born content creator originally from California, but I've been on the road for 9 years living, working, traveling, blogging, and photographing my way around the world. I recommend the most amazingly adventurous and unique + boutique travel experiences/stays and helpful products to my audience and write comprehensive guides on my website that have helped millions of travelers so far. I love to inspire people to plan their dream trips, and many readers have given feedback as such. The reach on my platforms continues to soar, especially when combining cutting-edge social content with optimized articles on my high-authority website.