Sunday, 20 May 2012

Its Official...I am a Market Lover

I am sitting here at Starbucks utilising the free wifi and thought I best take the opportunity to update you all on our last couple of days before heading off to tour Europe where I imagine the updates will be few and far between.

The last couple of days has seen us move closer to town into Piccadilly Circus where we have tried two different backpackers.  We have done a few more of the touristy things such as check out the shops on Oxford Street, stroll through Hyde Park (where you need to pay to sit on the deck chairs! How ridiculous!!!), Arsenal football stadium, the Tate Modern Museum and checked out the Borough Markets.
So here is a tip for when you get a little ‘bored’ in London town.  Pick a place on the tube that you recognise and see if you can find the landmark for recognising it.  We have purchased zone 1 and zone 2 underground passes and noticed that Arsenal was in our zones.  I have already mentioned my love for the tube, so we thought why not kill some time and see if we can find the football stadium.  Who would have thought it was as easy as walking out of the tube station and BAM what do you know we are at the stadium!  It’s a pity it was closed and we couldn’t get inside, but it was a rather fun way to spend the afternoon.

I have also discovered I am a market girl.  I have always found going to a market very relaxing just to browse and not even buy anything, but I have decided that I love market food.  We decided to try another of the famous London markets, the Borough Market for a lunch snack. This was perhaps not so relaxing as you could not move any direction except with the crowd, but the food makes it well worth the trip! You can see why the locals flock to these markets to get gourmet foods such as olives, specialised meats (the strangest one I spotted was Ostrich) or cakes etc.  We have been eating a ridiculous amount of carbs since arriving here so the moment I spotted a vegetarian stand I was there.  A veggie and cheese pattie with mixed salads and caramelised onions sounded like a great healthy choice compared to the baguettes and things I have been consuming for lunch of late.  It was delicious and another cheap option of only 6 pounds

I must also make mention of our dinner experience last night, Indian cuisine in Brick Lane! Never before have I walked down a street where quite literally at every single restaurant there is a person standing out the front trying to talk you into eating at their restaurants.  It was a little overwhelming but the things people try to use to get you to come inside was a little funny.  Luckily we went with some ‘locals’ aka Aussies that have been here longer than us, who knew how to barter for a meal.  We ended up with a deal of pappadams and chutneys, a starter, a main, rice AND naan with BYO alcohol for 10 pound each which is SUPER cheap.  There was such a crazy amount of food and I think we would have been lucky to get through about half of the meal.  In fact I am still feeling a little full today!!
People are now starting to stand around waiting for a table to sit down, so I think my wifi using quota is up!  Cheerio people x

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