It’s raining this morning when we get off at the subway. We start with Florian, Daniela, Dario and Nicolas at Fortnum & Mason. In the more than 300 years old department store it is dry and warm. Florian and Daniela want to buy some tea – and so they are exactly at the right address here. Gabi also has her shopping list ready, too, with tea, biscuits and honey on the ground floor. But also the other floors are definitely worth a visit.

In the meantime, it stopped raining outside. We take a look at Piccadilly Circus and its huge advertising screen, which was inaugurated last year. We can still remember how Piccadilly Circus looked much earlier, when many advertisers only had more or less static surfaces with neon tubes. A lot has changed here – for the better! With the future-oriented reconstruction, Piccadilly Circus has more than confirmed its status as on of the most famous landmarks of the city.

From here we walk down Haymarket and then turn left. In the theatre quarter we visit the Japan Centre, where we marvel at the many Japanese snacks and treats (and buy some of themof course). At the west entrance to Leicester Square, we show the others the Swiss bells and the column with the flags of the Swiss cantons that were erected here in front of the former Swiss House. The Swiss House hasn’t existed for a long time, but the two memories of Switzerland have remained.

Then we are hungry and turn into the road towards China Town. Here we find the restaurant where Aki had taken us because it is so authentic. And we enjoy our food very much.

With new energy, we visit the LEGO Store in Leicester Square. And don’t buy as much as we could have. 😉 The LEGO Star Wars sets are currently celebrating their 20th anniversary, with some of the original sets being re-released. With the latest set, a Corellian corvette (the ship on which Princess Leia is captured by Darth Vader at the very beginning of the first part IV), I notice that the model on display doesn’t quite match the picture on the box.

From Leicester Square we walk to Covent Garden for a coffee, cookies and visits to the Transport Museum shop and the Apple Store, which was being rebuilt during our last visit in autumn 2018. In the large courtyard area, there is now a huge screen and plenty of seating for courses. And there’s a (free) “taking pictures with the iPhone” course about to start. I would have stayed there, but of course we have other plans.

We continue to the Forbidden Planet with its wide range of comics, science fiction books and merchandise from movies and TV series. We visit the store on every trip to the UK and always find things that we like. Today, we get “Back to the Future” books, a golden Doctor Strange Funko Pop figurine and another Pusheen plush cat.

For dinner we have some ideas, but we would have to wait at least three quarters of an hour for a free table everywhere. Finally, we get seated at the Big Easy Barbeque & Crabshack with its American Southern feeling right away, where we eat a nice piece of meat and Florian and I get the special of the day: Lobster and steak. Which comes with melted butter, nice thick chips and a salad.

After dinner, we say goodbye to our friends, who fly back home the next day. I think we managed to give them a good first insight into the city and to show them why we love London so much.