Needed a change of scene so the teenager and I hopped on a
ferry, a bus and several trains and went to London town for a few days to visit
family. We arrived at tea time, had my nephew’s delicious pasta carbonara, and
watched ‘The Heat’ in the evening; I’d not seen this before, to the shock of
the family, and found it hilarious. Good choice.
The next day, the teenager, her cousin and I hopped on a bus
and headed to the British Museum for a day of culture. We toured the Greek,
Roman and Egyptian galleries, and whizzed through the Assyrian section (seen it
before), admiring ancient pottery, coinage, statuary and sarcophagi. I hadn’t
been to the Greek pottery section since I was a schoolgirl studying Classics so
wanted to go again. It wasn’t quite as exciting as I remembered but was
interesting nonetheless. When we got to the Egyptian Mummy section we found it
rather crowded; clearly people enjoy looking at dead bodies! The sarcophagi
here were impressive, with beautiful decorations. Our final visit was to the
Sutton Hoo collection; this was a collection of treasures found in an
Anglo-Saxon boat burial in Suffolk (I think that’s right!), and was rather
magnificent. I had read about it before, and was excited to view the real
thing. We had a lovely day, and didn’t manage to see everything in the Museum
so may have to go back.
In the evening we went to Dulwich and had a meal at Jaflong Indian restaurant. This was delicious, and made all of us happy! We had a variety
of dishes, and tried each other’s too, and were all stuffed and sated by the
end. Highly recommended.
The following day became a market pilgrimage. We began by
getting the bus to Borough Market, and wandering around. Oh my goodness, I have
never seen so much cheese under one roof! We pottered about, trying free
samples of cheese, pickles, and anything else available, bought freshly made
cheese and olive bread sticks, and generally got over excited about all the lovely
food. Oh, we also found an Isle of Wight Tomato stall so bought some of
those. Very crowded, but good fun. Afterwards we caught a bus to London Bridge
and walked across it, past Pudding Lane, and on to Leadenhall Market; the shops were
closed over the weekend as most customers are city workers. However, we
could wander around inside and admire the architecture. Lots of photographs
were taken by the majority of the party. We stopped at the pub there for a
drink and then caught a bus towards home. Some of us hopped off at Elephant and
Castle to explore the Chinese supermarket there (lots of goodies!), then
wandered along the road, ending up at East Street market; this was the polar
opposite of Borough Market, and had loads of stalls selling fruit and veg,
clothing, accessories, meat, fish, etc. for extremely reasonable prices. I’d
definitely go there if I lived locally. In the evening we ate homemade pizza (delish) and chocolate cheesecake (also delish) and watched 'Untouchable' together. This is a magnificent film and I suggest you watch it (I don't say that often!).
We were a bit more laid back on the final day; most people toddled off to Church, teenager remained in bed and I pottered about. This included a stroll around the lovely Ruskin Park. This park is popular with the locals and I spent time dodging children on bikes, joggers and dogs on their morning walk. There was also a community vegetable garden, tennis courts, skateboard ramps, basketball hoops, and a paddling pool, not to mention plenty of mature Horse Chestnut trees, large expanses of grass, a pond, a flower labyrinth in the making, autumn cyclamen peeping through the leaf litter, a café and a bandstand. Oh, and grey squirrels (very tame). Lots of them. We're not keen on them on the Island as we only have the native red squirrels, but the London greys were tolerable in context! I also got to kick through piles of windblown leaves on the way to and from the park which made me very happy. We finished the visit with a delicious Sunday roast cooked by my sister, and then travelled home by trains, buses and a ferry. What a lovely time we had!
We were a bit more laid back on the final day; most people toddled off to Church, teenager remained in bed and I pottered about. This included a stroll around the lovely Ruskin Park. This park is popular with the locals and I spent time dodging children on bikes, joggers and dogs on their morning walk. There was also a community vegetable garden, tennis courts, skateboard ramps, basketball hoops, and a paddling pool, not to mention plenty of mature Horse Chestnut trees, large expanses of grass, a pond, a flower labyrinth in the making, autumn cyclamen peeping through the leaf litter, a café and a bandstand. Oh, and grey squirrels (very tame). Lots of them. We're not keen on them on the Island as we only have the native red squirrels, but the London greys were tolerable in context! I also got to kick through piles of windblown leaves on the way to and from the park which made me very happy. We finished the visit with a delicious Sunday roast cooked by my sister, and then travelled home by trains, buses and a ferry. What a lovely time we had!
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| Roof detail, British Museum |
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| Cheese stall, Borough Market |
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| Entrance to Leadenhall Market |
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| Ruskin Park fungi |
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| Ruskin Park squirrel |
