Today we drive to Oxford Street to do some shopping. We start at Selfridges department store, where we could easily spend a whole day. Their offer is getting more attractive every year! The Food Hall in particular is now more inviting than ever with takeaway food and a wonderful selection of fresh fruit and vegetables. In the books department in the basement, I look through an incredibly exclusive (and several thousand pounds expensive) book about Ferrari that comes in a replica of a 12-cylinder engine block. Then we admire the many neon signs from God’s Own Junkyard, which we visited a few years ago, and marvel at the wide range on offer.

We have lunch in the Food Court with Indian butter chicken for Gabi and sweet and sour chicken for me, and then continue to the shoe gallery with new energy. In the household section we discover beautiful new tableware designs by Emma Bridgewater.

Then we walk down Oxford Street and explore the Christmas section of John Lewis. Their Christmas forest with many artificial trees contains some which look very real. And there is even a small hut to sit in and relax!

In Carnaby Street we are lucky: The many illuminated signs with lyrics from Bohemian Rapsody by Queen will be switched on only in a few days when we won’t be in London anymore. But for a few minutes they are turned on and are simply beautiful to look at.

In the Apple Store we watch part of a beginner’s course for their app programming language Swift. It’s great how many courses they offer for free. That’s something that sets Apple apart from other companies.

The Christmas department in Liberty’s is already open. Here we find Christmas baubles as funny as broccoli, kiwi or bananas.

At 8pm this store closes too. By now, we’re quite knackered. We drive past Motherclucker to get crispy chicken pieces with chips, which we eat in our hotel room.