As breakfast-time had long past, we made lunch the priority before considering the rest of the day. For this we settled on the Sun in Splendour pub. I wasn't too keen on pub food but the menu looked decent enough, so in we went.
It was a cheery, cozy place with a nice private back garden that we settled into with our drinks (being that it was a pub, we felt obligated to order booze rather than coffee or something sensible; this probably informed much of the rest of the day).
After some ballast, we made our way around the Portobello Market for some shopping in the many excellent antique and clothing shops. So many wonderful things, so little trunk space. Next time we'll bring an extra.
After stowing our treasures at the hotel, we set off for Piccadilly Circus and the frenzy of rampant consumerism contained therein. This was more out of curiosity's sake, as we'd been loading up on souvenirs and knickknacks of all sorts this whole time. What we hadn't really reckoned on was just how tired we were, both physically and emotionally, and that we really should've gone with stimulant rather than depressant at lunchtime.
After a lot of jostling on the tube (the people on the Piccadilly line were generally a much more glum lot than those we'd been sharing space with on the Circle or Central or District lines; no idea why), we arrived at the Circus and wandered out into the square.
We'd forgotten that the main branch of Waterstone's was here at Piccadilly Circus; this was something Jen really wanted to visit, more as homage than to purchase. We immediately headed in to rummage through their reading material and pillage their supply of caffeinated beverages (not in that order).
After restoring our caffeine levels to their proper place, we spent awhile browsing their vast selection of books. Old, new, domestic, foreign, Waterstone's probably has it. Each floor (there were 7) has a cafe providing beverages and nibbles, and comfy chairs for reading abound. If it sounds a lot like Barnes and Noble, that's pretty much what it was, but on a larger and more eclectic scale.
After that... we were kinda done. Jen's foot, which had performed so much better than we'd had cause to hope for, was finally starting to give her some serious trouble. My back wasn't terribly thrilled either (my lawn; get off it). We wandered around Piccadilly rather aimlessly for a bit before calling it a day and retreating back to the hotel to hole up in the common room and drink lots of coffee and put our feet up.
Mmm coffee. Also, they gave us free chocolate loaf. Yum.
