london baby.

back in 1993 my family made the big move from australia to the UK. the idea was to spend a couple of years getting to know our british family and experience the british way of life. 10 years quickly passed and the call to return home was becoming more profound. the family then made the decision to return to australia, this time to the east coast. 10 beautiful years of learning to drink 40 cups of tea a day with my nan, christmas spent by the fire eating quality street whilst watching eastenders, being the aussie novelty in an east london primary school, riding bicycles and building snowmen in the prettiest english village, learning to play cricket inside, enduring several miserable summers and falling in love with london's finest galleries really left its mark. the UK became my second home to many wonderful memories so my heart has always been torn across these two parts of the world. i'm a very lucky girl and have always cherished the ability to move between the two countries with ease. so being europe-side for the past couple of months, it was only obvious that i would be returning to london sooner rather than later. spending a week in london when i first arrived in february after my big move, was the perfect integration into european life. i promised family that if all went well in rotterdam, that i would be back, dutchman in hand. so later in the day on april 20th we set off on our adventure via boat to london town. not only was going by boat the cheaper option, it was the most fun. we arrived at 9am at liverpool street station on the sunday morning which worked out perfectly. bags were checked into left luggage which meant easy meandering of the local markets. brick lane was first on the agenda where many instagram pics were snapped and treasures unearthed. being on a tight budget meant that a lot of treasure was left behind but a few goodies were collected along the way. we spent time with my family and best friend, dinnered in soho, lunched in regent's park, saw the best exhibition of my life at tate modern, discovered the beautiful courtauld gallery's impressionist collection, did the whole touristy thing (a quick stop by big ben, london bridge, tower of london) and hit my my favourites anthropologie, covent garden and columbia road. we packed a whole lot into the four days, spent far too much money and i ate too many scotch eggs. it was lovely. whenever i visit london, i don't feel the pressure to see everything, a little bit how i treat NYC. there's a whole lot going on and not enough time to see it all, so i like to hit a few of my favourites and know i can catch up on the forgotten places next time. thanks for a lovely time and beautiful weather london, i'll be seeing you again soon. 

boat fun!

heaven.

brick lane delights.

love the street art here.

i'm obviously in love with brick lane.

much love for covent garden.

pop boutique delights.

underground amazingness.

colour fun on the underground.

the beautiful view from the tate modern.

so in love with this guy. 

treasure hunting.

hello sunshine!

abbey road with the biggest beatles fan.

i took my love to violet hill. 

oxford street with my favourites.

pretty girl.

my london treasure. (thank you columbia rd, anthropologie, brick lane and pop boutique!)

a favourite souvenir.