A whirlwind visit to London

Am deliriously exhausted after traipsing around London for four days. I'm always amazed at how much we manage to do and see in a short timespan - and so are our friends who find it hilarious I make a spreadsheet beforehand with everything I want to do. The thing is without the list, I think I would just walk around in a daze not knowing where to go first!

We kicked up the leaves in Green Park, drank mocha's like they were a major foodgroup (you can't get them in Belgium) and shopped at Selfridges (where P bought a really nice slimline suit for his new job starting tomorrow, I'm not convinced I want him looking so sexy when I know the team he'll be heading up is made up entirely of women but am trying not to be jealous), Uniqlo (I love the basics - a sweater! a scarf! 3 heattech t shirts! stockings! trousers! and all that for barely £ 100!), Aesop (cannot start the day without the Geranium leaf body cleanser) and Waterstones (where poor P fell asleep on the sofa, that should give you an idea of how long I took looking at the books but come on there's five. whole. floors!).

Culinary highlights this trip were:

+ celebrating my birthday with cocktails at The Experimental Cocktail Club in Chinatown. I knew of this place from friends that had recently been. There is no sign only an unmarked black door next to a cheap chinese takeaway in Gerrard Street and you get to the bar on the first floor by going up a narrow staircase. It felt like we'd somehow been in a timewarp and landed in a speakeasy! The cocktails are served in heavy Waterford crystal glasses - very glamourous! My favourite was the St-Germain-des-Prés, containing Hendrick's gin with elderflower liqueur, egg white, chilli, lime and cucumber.

+ After that we met up with a group of friends at St John Hotel. It had been a bit of a nightmare trying to find a restaurant that was available to take a group of ten as apparently this is the christmas season (really? in November?). St John Hotel was very accomodating though and served a delicious "Feast" menu of barley, carrots and curd followed by hake, bread and anchovy as well as the juiciest braised lamb I have ever eaten. It was so good I (almost) couldn't finish the chocolate praline desert.

+ We also loved dinner at Spuntino . Open the door to this tiny place in Soho and you'll feel like you're in New York. Our favourite were the pulled pork sliders. I discovered the Dark & Stormy - yum! The waiters were so lovely and chatty - they were definitely part of the charm of the place.

+ And one more restaurant I would recommend: Pizza East on Portobello where we had the best pizzas ever.

+ And finally some culture: on until beginning of January, the Gerhard Richter exhibition at the Tate Modern. It wasn't quite what I expected as I only knew the abstract "squeegee" paintings and had never seen the photorealism ones. The cloud pictures were stunning though and definitely my favourites.

Having to say goodbye to my two best friends A and J at the end of the trip was hard - as it always is. But we will meet again next Friday in Paris when they take the Eurostar and I take the Thalys to celebrate J's birthday! Counting the days...