We had a great weekend in London! Friday night when Jon got home from work, we had a glass of wine and talked about all of our first day adventures (which by they way, made him quite nervous to let me out again on my own). Then we walked back to his office because he left his keys there and he was able to show me around a bit. It's a very nice office and he had a great day getting acclimated. Although there was so much to take in, he still loved it! On our way home from Jon's office (accross The London Bridge) we decided to go to dinner to this little Italian place right across the street from our buliding's front door. It's called Amano Cafe, the owner is from Paris and imports all of his wine, cheese and meats from Italy. We had a great time.
Next door, is a wine shop and liquor store and we thought we'd get a few thing. The guys at the Whiskey Exchange were very friendly and LOVE their liquor. They pretty much knew everything there was to know about anything with alcohol in it! After a long history lesson on whiskey, a few tasters of gin and vodka and a bottle of gin to take away, we were on our way...to the wine store, here the gentleman was also very helpful and we picked out a few bottles to try rather quickly. As we were paying, I realized we left out leftover pizza over on the liquor side of the store and went to retrive it, where I found the two friendly staff members happily eating away at our left over pizza. I tiptoed backwards to avoid being seen (not sure who would have been more embarrassed if they'd seen me!) and went back to the counter where Jon was paying. They asked where the pizza was and we all had a good laugh (although, I must mention here that the worker on the wine side offered to go get it for us, which we politely declined). Once at home, all stocked up, we had a glass of wine and watched our favorite Christmas movie, Love Actually. What a great night!
On Saturday we woke up at 11:00 AM, here is where the 'jet lag' kicks in. We feel fine during the day but can't seem to wake up at a normal time in the morning. It's all fine, because we don't really have anywhere we have to be today. We head out for the day around 12:30 to check out The Borough Market, literally steps from our flat. It is amazing (!) and extremely busy on a Saturday at 12:30. I guess this was to be expected, but as all of you know who know Jon...he isn't a fan of crowds. So, we took a brief stroll through the market and moved on. I'll tell a quick summary of what I saw, but will give a more detailed description once I have time to go and relish in the amzing atmosphere and things I saw. There were loads of vendors selling everything from fresh homemade cheese, desserts, sandwiches, farm fresh organic egss and meats, fresh baked bread, fresh fruits and vegetables, plants and more. If you can tell the common theme here is FRESH!! I cannot wait to take full advantage of this! After the speedy market experience, we went in search of a grocery store. Our server the night before told us of a near by one called Sainsbury's, it was pretty small without much selection and very crowded. We slowly made our way down our list and with two over flowing baskets we decided to call is quits and get in the long cue. Now, what happens next I must say I was warned about, but forgot....As I approach the counter with my two huge, heavy baskets (Jon went off to get a last minute something or other) the clerk says put that down, pointing the the other basket, so I do. He proceeds to throw 5 bags at me and check our groceries like he was in a speed checking competition with winnings of 5 million dollars! I start to panic as Hollie's story of the same experience all comes back to me. Before I can get one item in one bag the clerk is done checking us out right as Jon walks up. I turn to Jon and say "Jon, I need you to focus here. I need you to pay and then help me bag the groceries as quickly as possible". Jon pays and I more or less throw everything into anything I can find...we take 5 steps away from the counter and I quickly repack all of our bags. Once out of the store, we realize we are both sweating and completely flustered...not so much from the heat in the store as from the Grocery Bagging Panic of 2011 we were just thrust into. We decide to go home unpack our things and gather our wits about us once more.
It's now about 1:30 and we decide to go in search of a drug store (determined to be more prepared this time) and some lunch. We decided to go in the opposite direction of all of our other adventures up to this point, toward the Tower Bridge. We had a beautiful walk down the river and found a really cool pub called The Tower Lounge, we thought it might be touristy due to the name and location, but it was just enough off the beaten path and was perfect. We had our first Bangers and Mash, which was really good, although I was slightly disappointed because they called them sausages and mash here....They will always be bangers in my mind:) After lunch and a few pints, we decided to walk across The Tower Bridge and then call it a day. The Tower Bridge is amazing and spectacular and any other great adjective you can think of insert here. It is touristy and crowded, but that's part of it's charm. The sun sets here about 4:30 in the afternoon so we watched the sunset on our walk home. On the way home we found a much larger grocery store with carts (!) and we decided to give it another go to finish off our list from earlier. This experience was much better as we were much more prepared and learned that not everyone scans groceries like the Tasmanian Devil.
Once tucked warmly away for the night in our flat we watched some Badger basketball and called our family via Skype. It was the perfect end to a perfectly adventurous day!
We also had a really long day of exploring on Sunday, but if you've made it this far, I applause you and will give you a break for as long as I can resist (but, don't get too comfortable). Cheers!
Here's a link to our pictures so far: http://www2.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=7646029007/a=53561785_53561785/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
3 comments:
Wow! Emily, your adventures are soooo much fun to read about. I could sit here for hours staring at your amazing flat and spectacular view. Enjoy every minute of it!
One tidbit of wisdom: A drug store in England is called a "chemist."
Lastly, the reason why your fridge in the flat is so tiny is because in England they expect you to grocery shop every day and just get what you need. So not like in America, huh?? That's why the carts are so tiny, too. :-)
Can't wait to read more!
PS You're really making me homesick reading this but I loved hearing about your adventures. And you might want to invest in a GPS ap for your phone. :-)
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