Me and The Others

all of us

First Weekend in London

Saturday was everything I had hoped for, almost exactly the route I had envisioned for our first proper walk in London.

We started the morning in Borough Market on the advice of my uncle Larry, and what a fantastic place to spend the morning that is. A foodie paradise, Borough Market is a dangerous place to shop while hungry. Only the fact that we weren’t returning directly to our flat kept me from loading up on all the bread and cheese and chocolate I could carry. As it was we enjoyed a falafel wrap, a couple smoothies, a cornish pasty, hot chocolate, and hot cider all while strolling and sampling everything from basque sausage to french cheeses to turkish delight. Can’t wait for next Saturday…

After that we were pleased to meet up with Julian (aka The Build Doctor) and family along the river by Royal Festival Hall. The river walk there is filled with vendors in their holiday huts. Since we were a bit early we enjoyed checking out the wares and listening to a jazzy ensemble busking on the bridge above the walk to pass the time. Lunch at Wagamama was followed by the girls running happily amok among the sculpture, a walk over to Big Ben, and much delightful conversation. From there we parted ways, we took the tube back to Aldgate East, just a short walk from our flat.

Today was a much quieter day. Emeline and I managed to make it out and around the Tower of London and a bit of a stroll on some random streets. Every walk I take in London includes some serendipitous finding. One of todays’ was a memorial to the Siege of Malta. (Hi G!) After that I took the girls out for their first pub meal while Leanne had some alone time.

Returning home we had the good and bad of streaming media in the UK. The bad: no Netflix. In fact I’m not even sure I can login to cancel my account. The good: BBC iPlayer. The girls and I are watching Frozen Planet, which is pretty incredible.

This is all but broad stroke outlines. I can’t really tell a coherent story of what it is like to be here because I’m a child again, wide-eyed and seeing everything, unfiltered. I haven’t learned what to ignore yet, so I’m seeing green men and griffons, London Pride and lions, churches and Cadbury, PG Tips and Towers, unicorns and mail boxes and brass plaques and gherkins and black cabs and Look Left and so much more.

This may cause my storytelling to suffer but I’m in no agony at all.

Jtf


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