Ok, so
it's travelling time again but this time, it's just me so it's slightly different from writing about
Alison and me travelling! Right? It probably isn't?!? Well, I will try and remember that for next
time. However, for today, you will just
have to make do.
So! Where am I off to this week? Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego
Robbie? Well, I am off to London this
week to visit Michael and Cara who have recently moved down. So, after a rather disappointing lunch at The
Streets, I jump on my train and away I go, filling the time with my sorely
neglected 3DS and catching up with some anime and blogging...an actually rather
enjoyable afternoon travelling.
Once
in the big city, and having traversed to where I needed to go, I grabbed a
coffee and waited for Michael and Cara to arrive. After they arrive, and we've caught up for a
bit, we began some discussions about what to do for the evening. Now, whilst this would normally be an easyish
discussion, there was a bit of a twist this evening. You see, Cara had secretly arranged for
Martin to fly down to London to surprise Michael and his bus arrived in the
area we met, meaning we couldn't go too far.
Eventually, we decided on a small, independent Italian that served a
delicious (and filling) chicken risotto and had a spectacular bottle of house red (whilst my
opinion of the chicken risotto was just that, mine, the whole table agreed on
the wine).
After
dinner, it got a bit tricky as Michael wanted to go for a drink to another area
but we had to try and stay nearby (made all the more difficult by a distinct
lack of pubs nearby). However, it turned
out that Martin's bus would be another hour or so, meaning we had enough time
to go to the next area.
So, off to West
Hampstead for an after dinner drink, at a place called 'The Gallery', a
cocktail bar that was pretty brilliant actually, with great decor and pretty
affordable drinks. Some particular
highlights were:
l Getting a seat on a balcony, overlooking the
bar
l The hand drawn pictures on the beer tap (I had
'Beaver Creek Neck Oil'...see the picture below)
l The bartender asking Michael and I to guess
which number he was going to roll (we never found out why)
l Our Smokey Hawker Martinis...made from Laphroig,
Vermouth and Gin (which prompted the bartender to call us brave for trying it)
The
best bit of the evening though was managing to keep Martin a surprise until he
arrived and seeing him sneak up behind Michael and surprise him. Well done Cara for planning that!! After we had all caught up, and with Martin
having had a drink at the bar, we headed back to Michael and Cara's flat to
have some more drinks and play the ever popular Cards against Humanity. On a side note, something I learned this weekend: London
Off-Licences don't have a curfew. Fantastic. After a game of CaH, and about 2:30 or so we then headed to bed.
Saturday
morning came acalling, and we all got up slowly, and had a nice cooked
breakfast (thanks Cara) before heading into the sunshine to explore a bit of
London. Our first stop was the area near
the river, with us passing the Millennium Eye (or Coca Cola Eye now, I
believe). This was quite a nice
riverside walk with lots of performers and the Udderbelly, of Edinburgh fame. It is seemingly shipped down before the fringe.
Crossing
a bridge, it was off to Downing Street, including some nice gardens, but the
big attraction was some police action that revealed a small, 19 man anti-semantic
protest that was completely outnumbered by a wonderful amount of counter demonstrators.
After
spending some time watching the demonstration, we headed off through some of
London's trendy streets and past a lot of the colonial embassies. Here, we ended up at the original Forbidden
Planet which is a sprawling two-floor store of wonder. I got completely lost in there but loved just
wandering around all the memorabilia and comics in the place. I've never seen so many wonderful things in one place in my life.
After Forbidden Planet, Michael then led us
to a real ale bar with a massive collection of beers and ales, including one I
had from Dogfish Head (an American company that you don't really get over here)
and one that Michael had, called Vladimir P which was one of the best I've had, period. Nothing beats a nice beer on a hot day.
Jumping
back on 'the tube', we headed to Camden Market, which is one hell of an
experience. Just walking along the
street (before you got to market), you are passing a huge number of trendy and Goth
shops, filled with everything you can imagine!
Then you hit the market itself, and the smells of all the food stalls
hit your and lure you in. It was here
that we decided to have a late lunch, and we ended up splitting up to go our separate
ways and explore the different food stalls, before meeting up with our
lunch. Here you got a damn good selection of
different foods...from Korean to Malaysian to Moroccan to Mexican, and plenty
of it, for cheap. I ended up with a
steamed Chinese bun and a massive beef burrito.
Stuffed!! We then headed further into the market, which was filled with an
eclectic range of stores. I'm talking
vintage travel trunks right next to designer coasters right next to opera masks. I genuinely imagine you could find almost
anything you could ever want in the market! I'm going to have to make a return for a day!
Finishing
up, it was time to go home but the day wasn't over! After relaxing a little in the flat, we
headed into the local fun fair for a quick wander around. Here I managed to
lose £2.50 on those machines where you drop 10p into the slot and there is a
chance to knock coins out and win them...it really reminded me of when I was
young and the shows would come round.
We
then headed to the 'adult play park', an outside gym for a little bit of light
exercise (even though we had been walking about most of the day) and some light
spinning! Then it was my first game of
Settlers of Catan! Now, I was told this
was a very slow game of Catan, but I still had a lot of fun playing it. As such, thank you Michael, Cara and Martin
for playing with me and showing me how to play!
And
then we come to Sunday morning, which after some delightful lazing around and
chatting (thank you Michael for the croissants and expresso), it was time for a
rather special event: we got video called by all the adorable children at the
South African Orphanage that Michael and Cara befriended, looked after and
cared for as family. Nothing puts a
smile on your face quicker than a whole bunch of adorable children who are
little bundles of energy and joy all smiling and talking into the camera. This call then quickly descended into a whole
lot of silly faces and stuffed animals but everyone involved had a huge amount
of fun.
Sadly we said bye to Cara (who wasn't feeling well) and Michael, Martin and I headed to
Spitalfield food market via one of the trendiest markets I've been to. Seemingly, this is where a lot of designers
get discovered. However, we did not go
to Spitalfield for clothes, dammit, we went to eat!
You see, every Sunday, the biggest ethnic
food market I have ever seen arrives and I have never seen anything quite like
it. Just stalls and stalls of every type
of food you can think of (and some you couldn't) as far as the eye can
see. Mauritian, Ethiopian, Brazilian,
Korean, Japanese, Indian, Nepalese and many others were all available. I ended up with some sort of South American (Michael
believed Mexican) corn bun with black bean and spiced pulled pork and some
Gyoza as well, plus Michael got us some Korean kebabs to share as well. We ended up eating on the pavement kerb which
was the perfect place for such good food.
Heading
through some streets adorned with Indian food and sweet shops, we meandered
towards the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge, before following the river
towards the Bridge of London, where I headed into the murky depths of the
Underground were I said goodbye to Michael and Martin. And that brings me to now, as I type this up
on the train back to Edinburgh.
I just
want to say thank you to Michael and Cara for inviting me to London and for
showing me some proper sights, and thanks to both and Martin for helping make
this a fantastic weekend. As usual, it
was great seeing all three of you and I can't wait to see you all next time!!
Pick
of the Week
London Markets - Now, I have only been to two (the ones mentioned above) but both were
absolutely spectacular. I could spend
hours in both, just exploring the multitude of stalls and tasting all the
different foods. If you're ever in
London, please, please, please make a point of visiting a market, and getting
some food there. You won't regret it at
all. Both markets were particular
highlights for me, and I bet they will be for you.
Music of the Week
Time for some country music this week, and from classic! Oh yes, it's Willie Nelson - City of New Orleans!
See you all next week!
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