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Thursday 22 September 2011

Bicester Village

It is considered as one of the tourist attractions in England and is visited annually by 3 million people worldwide according to Wikipedia. Bicester Village is located in Oxfordshire and is the leading designer outlet in England.

I have been to other designer outlets but I think Bicester Village is the cream of the crop. It houses high end brands like Gucci, Valentino, Jimmy Choo, Burberry and of late, Prada. I like the fact that it is not like any typical outlets which gives the usual mall vibe. The shops design reminds you of the Hamptons and gives you that old town feel. I love the color combination of the blue facade and brown awning. Just walking around here window shopping is enough to lift your spirits up. Plus, they have Starbucks in the village. What more could a shopaholic and coffee addict ask for?



The side entrance from the parking area.














The village even has a playground right next  to Ralph Lauren Kids. How well thought of. Mommy can browse in peace while daddy keeps an eye on the kids in the playground which what I actually did.




And then we had lunch at Carluccio's which serves the best seafood pasta in the land.





Bicester Village 
50 Pingle Drive
Bicester
Oxfordshire
OX26 6WD
England

Friday 16 September 2011

Holiday Inn


We stayed at the Holiday Inn, Leeds. It was our first time in this hotel and we loved it. It is probably one of the newly renovated . The front desk and reception was really spanking new and the bedroom was lovely with 2 double beds and very modern decor which I really love. This might become one of our "go to"  hotels aside from  the  Premier Inn.







The cleanliness of the place is also very impressive.  I can eat on the toilet floor!







And have I mentioned that the Buffet Breakfast was great?

Leeds and the Shops

We attended a wedding in Leeds (UK) and it was a 3 hour drive from our place. We decided to slip in a little staycation and booked a hotel, Holiday Inn, which deserves its own blog post. The wedding was on Saturday and the next day, we spent our day exploring the city. It is a very old city I realized, with Victorian type buildings and architecture. What really caught my fancy though were the beautiful shopping arcades in the center of town.

Special mention to The County Arcade which is very Victorian built in the 1800's and the pastel colored Queen's Arcade.

The County Arcade which is very Victorian and is now a full of designer shops from Mulberry to Louis Vuitton and also home to a lot of famous cosmetic brands and toiletries like L' Occitane, Jo Malone and Crabtree and Evelyn.















The candy colored Queen's Arcade