🇬🇧LONDON MARKETS, England 🇬🇧

I’m from Chicago, but I live about 2 hours south of London. Yesterday, however, was one of those lucky days, where I got to explore London from morning till night.

 

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Museum #1: NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM

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I started with the Natural History Museum, which, let me tell you, is the COOLEST! There are dinosaurs, elephants, giraffes, insects, birds, gemstones, a 1400 year old tree stump that is like a million feet wide, and, of course, the blue whale skeleton named “Hope” hanging from the ceiling. Besides the small children running rampant, the museum is very well organized, with the large displays set off to the side of a big, open center space. All public museums in London are free every day for everyone (although donations are encouraged). Outside is the giant and beautiful skating rink, right next to the merry go round and selfie taking machine 😂😂😂

 

 

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Museum #2: V&A MUSEUM

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Next, I headed to the Victoria and Albert Museum, which houses everything from statues to jewelry boxes to ornate furniture to paintings. I loved the tiny snuff boxes that were entirely covered in jewels or precious metals. The gift shop here was extensive, and practically as big as the museum itself with ornaments and necklaces and pillows and paintings.

 

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Market #1: BOROUGH MARKET

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I met up with my fav travel gal, and we headed to the Borough Market. This super lively place had the most AMAZING selection of food: oils and vinegars, mushroom pates, sausage, tomatoes, breads, cookies, oysters and cheese and even milk (you could legit buy a glass of milk for a pound to just walk around with). I arrived starving and ate sample after sample, so that when we finally got to the prepared food section, I wasn’t hungry anymore. 😂😂😂 We loved this market, although we forgot that visiting during lunch time on a Saturday may have not been the best idea if we didn’t want to feel like we were walking the wrong way through a parade in every. single. isle. BUT with all those yummies? #Worthit.

 

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Market #2: LEADENHALL MARKET

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We took a walk over to Leadenhall Market, which was beautiful! There was a lovely Christmas tree and various holiday decorations, and incredible architecture, but Leadenhall was definitely not the place for snacking and lunching. It’s more of the market where you enjoy the peaceful ambiance and beautiful architecture.

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Market #3: OLD SPITALSFIELDS MARKET

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Then we headed over to Old Spitalsfields Market, a place quite similar to various Saturday Markets that I’ve seen around the world – mainly clothes, jewelry, paintings, books and a few food places in the center. (do not miss-understand, these food places were the best of the best with all kinds of semi-affordable lunch specials 😂😂😂) I ate at the Asian Bao place that had a lunch box special for 9 pounds, which included 2 Bao buns, a salad and two cold dumpling things that were amazing. Seriously some of the best food I’ve ever had. 😋

 

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Info: In terms of food prices, unless you plan on living off of samples like I did, plan to spend about £8-10 per plate. Some less, some more, but in general, everything was about this much. Granted, you get a lot of bang for your…quid?

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HOT TIP #1: Chocolate

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As we walked to our last stop, Brick Lane Vintage Market, we found a chocolate shop. 🍫 There were pearls in every color, truffles topped with caramel and pipettes, and tiny globs of chocolate bark with marshmallows and colorful toppings. I bought a bag of hand picked yummies for £13 —— for 12 chocolates 🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫

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HOT TIP #2: Listen!

While strolling to the vintage market, we passed by a female beatboxer who was INCREDIBLE. 🎶 She had to stop and say something every few seconds to convince people that she wasn’t faking it bc she was just that good.

 

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Market #4: BRICK LANE VINTAGE MARKET

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I wasn’t able to fully appreciate the market to the extent that I was hoping (my train time was rapidly approaching 🚂 ), but there were some AMAZING jackets and pants and shoes and jewelry and hats available for a decent legit vintage price (read: not cheap, but not outrageous either. But be prepared to spend some money). The warehouse was below ground and had low ceilings, but it really looked like the inside of a costume shop with lots of life and happy people. It was do colorful and fabulous, although perhaps a bit musty (understandable though, as those clothes have seen a lot haha). We loved it here. 💕

 

 

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Do make sure to plan an entire afternoon for this itinerary, as it’s quite the ambitious day. But you’ll truly feel like you’ve earned those caramel truffles – I sure did! 💋💋💋💋

 

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