What do you do when you're blue?

Exactly. You go shopping.

That's what we did the next day in London. It was raining, and we made a mistake of not bringing an umbrella. We used our scarves to cover our heads as we walked along Regent Street. The targets on that day are Longchamp and Jo Malone. But as we were looking around, we found a restaurant by Gordon Ramsey - Heddon Street Kitchen. As we were waiting for the rain to stop, we went inside and indulged ourselves for a nice early lunch. There were plenty of seats as it was only 11:30 am. A gentleman greeted us and offered us seats. It was looking fancy, with a big kitchen where you can see cooks busy with their craft. We were offered bread and butter, while we took our time looking at the menu.



We thought of getting our salad, plus the mains. I got the slow roasted pork belly, craving for something that reminds me of Asia. The salad made us very full, as we blindly chose the bigger portion, thinking we're starving and it would save us. Only, we managed to eat half of it. The roasted pork belly with apple sauce was such a treat. We even had a glass of wine that day. On top of that, there were desserts upstairs. It was an ice cream bar, and a guy from Hong Kong served us. Somehow, we had a feeling that he wasn't feeling well that morning. He didn't smile, but he offered us some free wafers.











Afterward, we walked to Jo Malone, where my friend, ate Carla introduced me to the best scents. We were sniffing a bottle after another. The lady staff showed us a collection that was only available on Regent St. How cool is that? There was also an option of choosing a color of your cap and carving a maximum of three initials on it. The carving took 45 minutes, so we went out again to look for Long Champ. The bag we prefer was not available because of the summer vacation in France, where factories closed.

We went back to Jo Malone again to collect our stuff, before heading to King's Cross to visit the Harry Potter Shop. It has all sorts of merchandise, a feast to the eyes for a Harry Potter fan like me. I bought sweaters, a pen, and the books! I got crazy!




The shopping galore took a whole day. We ended that evening with a dinner at home, where I cooked tuna pasta! We all felt better with how London was treating us. :)

As our Europe trip 2016 draws to a close (I am writing this post at the Charles de Gaulle Airport while waiting for our flight to Doha), I have summarized what I have gotten so far from this trip:

• Tanned! It is the summer period in the places we have visited: Scotland, England, Spain, and France and indeed we were never short of sunshine. My arms and legs are darker that you can see a white line where I have worn my watch. It really looks weird and I wanted to bring back my old colour but I think it will only be possible during winter in Hong Kong. 
• Shopped a lot. I bought a new bag from Paris, loads of books and perfume from London and Edinburgh and ham from Spain. I hope I won't regret it once I see my credit card bill but compare to what I can get in Hong Kong, comparatively those stuff are cheaper. I tried not to buy things I know I won't be able to use in the future. During the last Europe trip, I bought cheese and wine which until now have not been eaten yet. I bought magnets for the fridge and shirts for the hubby in every city I have been to - simple souvenirs that will remind me of the adventure.
• Loads of photos which I really don't know where and when to start in organizing it. I have imported it to my laptop for a start but whether I will upload it to Facebook (which was normally what I do), is still subject to further thinking. I don't want to share it with the world just yet. Probably in this blog? Or perhaps I wanted to edit and improve the shots, put some filter and label on it so no one can steal it. Haha! 
• I ate a lot. Mostly fries which is probably a thing here in Europe, everywhere I go and order something, they serve it with fries. I miss rice so bad... 
• Almost got robbed in Paris. Damn. People when you travel to Paris be very careful in the metro. Don't believe people who try to help you. Always be suspicious and watch your back. Fortunately, I was bigger and I screamed so much that the thief got scared and called me crazy. Someone tried to do it again so that means there are plenty of them. 
• We explored a lot of places and met new people. The Sagrada Familia in Barcelona was surreal; the Stonehenge was a bunch of stones but we experienced four seasons in a day which was quite an experience; the Eiffel tower looks amazing; the Fringe festival in Edinburgh was fantastically funny that I wanted to attend it next year again!
• Did a lot of walking! For this 2-week trip, we have completed a total of 119 kilometers of walking. Imagine that! That is a lot which I hopefully I can continue back in Hong Kong. (Maybe I can motivate myself to hunt for Pokemons with the hubby?)

Today we're supposed to wake up by 6 pm, but I woke up at 2 am. Here's what being jetlagged does to you. You sleep a lot and lose track of time. We flew from Hong Kong to Doha for 8 hours and then another 8 hours from Doha to Edinburgh, Scotland.


Firstly, when we arrived airport, we took the tram to Balgreen station where our Airbnb is. We got some change and bought ourselves tram tickets. The tram got free WiFi and looks really new. During the ride, anywhere we looked, was a vast green of fields of yellow and green color. A tram staff roamed around to check our tickets. We heard that if you did not purchase your ticket beforehand, you can get fined GBP 10. Several stations later, we reached our destination and navigated our way to Baird Gardens.

We were greeted by Susan and then by their dog, Jessie. Isn't she a cutie?







We got the second floor on our own with 2 bedrooms and a spacious bathroom with a tub. The bed is very comfortable which explains why I managed to sleep that long!