My London guilty pleasures

I am always looking forward to visit London again. Also because I have my own habits and things I love to do when I am there. I call them my "guilty pleasures". First of all I love to visit the Diptyque store on Brook Street (just off New Bond Street and Oxford Street). Their candles are expencive, but every once in a while I feel like I deserve a candle. I can say that they are handmade and have wonderful scents. It is always difficult to choose a scent.

Another thing I love to do is visit the Waterstones at Charing Cross Road. Not only because I love books, but also because they have Costa Coffee. You can find that coffee shop on the top floor of the Waterstones and have a great view on Trafalgar Square. It is great to sit there with a coffee browsing through the books you just bought or watch the crowds on Trafalgar Square.

When it comes to food I love the Gloucester on Sloane Street. A warm and cosy pub in a street where I can only do window shopping. They have a small lunch card, but the prices are reasonable, and the food is good. At least, I like it a lot. I am not fond of Harrods, but for the Gloucester I like to make a little d-tour. The staff is nice and friendly and the toilets are clean, also important as there are restaurants and pubs where I don't dare to go to the loo.

I don't have children, but Hamleys is another guilty pleasure for me. I just love to walk around there and watch everybody have fun. The staff is nice and sometimes funny, and there are lots of activities that attract people. Avoid Hamley's when Christmas comes close. You can hardly move and people seem to carry you around. If you jump, you stay up in the air. I still see myself laying on the floor looking for a train of the Thomas the Tankengine series for my nephew (then 5 years old). They had all trains but the one he didn't have.

A thing I always like to do in a foreign city is visit a supermarket. Close to my favorite London hotel is a big Tesco and I love to visit it. I am always curious to see what kind of products are sold in foreign supermarkets. I see lots of things that are the same as here, but also things with a different brand name. Archers is a favorite, that I can't get in my home country, so I always take a bottle home, just to get the London feeling again. I can't wait to go and visit all these places again and discover more guilty pleasures.