In the mornings, I run. My running speed and endurance level leave much to be desired - what would I call it? Jogging? Walking fast with my arms pumping and my legs slightly kicking? I'm trying to get as much running in before it gets cold, and as a way for me to get exercise because otherwise I spend about 10 hours a day parked in front of my desk. This activity level is an improvement over my activity level in New York; though I was a member at a gym, often my 2+ hour commute and/or busy projects at work limited the amount of time I could go to the gym. Now with a 30 second commute from bed to desk, I have quite a lot more leisure time, from about 9:30am to 1:30pm GMT.
My preferred "running" path so far is along the Thames, on the south bank, from Millennium Bridge west to almost Westminster Bridge. It get a little crowded around the London Eye so I usually turn around then. I've also gone that direction north of the river, but the buildings and construction sometimes obstruct the path.
One of my favorite things, one thing that will never get old, is looking up and seeing Christopher Wren's great dome atop St. Paul's Cathedral. It's especially eerie at night because the dome is not lit by floodlights or anything, just a faint dark ghostly shadow towering above. In the morning, though, I love coming to the street at the south wing, then turning left and walking across the Millennium Bridge, sometimes peeking behind me to see the beautiful symmetry and geometry of the dome. When you're on the Millennium Bridge in the morning, you can see just how low the tide is in the Thames below. Sometimes you see people combing the gravely river bed for broken bits of pottery or sunken re-surfaced treasures. Along the south bank, there's actually a beach that winds up being revealed at low tide, and yesterday I saw some very talented artists making sand sculptures.
Friday, 30 September
I ran along the north bank all the way to Westminster/Big Ben, and then wandered into Belgravia for the grand opening of Dominique Ansel London. I skipped the crazy long Cronut line to get some pastries to bring back home. I got a DKA (chef's version of the kouign amann, basically a pop-over croissant hybrid), a chorizo croissant, a chocolate cream puff in the shape of a very cute owl, a jasmine mousse, and an Earl Grey/blackberry/lemon doughnut. It rained on my hour-long walk back home, so you bet I was guarding that bag with my life and shielding it with whatever I could.
Saturday, 1 October
I can't believe it's October! This morning, Alex and I popped over to the south bank again for a bit of wandering. We found the Hays Galleria, a cute covered market/mall and had a really good breakfast at Cafe Rouge. Then, in the drizzly weather, we walked in the area just south of Tower Bridge called Shad Thames, looking at rustic-industrial-chic neighborhoods. When we crossed Tower Bridge back to the north side of the Thames, the weather miraculously cleared up, though it did rain again on and off all day. We headed to Spitalfields Market and wandered amongs the independent craftsmen and shopkeepers. Finally, we had reservations at a pub in the West End for afternoon tea. I won't name the pub, because tea was pretty awful. After that, we walked around the crazy shopping areas of Tottenham Court Road, the art shops in Soho, and finally had Indian for dinner.
Sunday, 2 October
I overslept. Feeling super guilty, because I didn't come here to sleep in on the weekends, I urged Alex to rush to the Columbia Road Flower Market in Shoreditch, about 40 minutes away and which was slated to close in an hour from when we left. We walked so fast that we made it in like 25 minutes, but it was insanity when we arrived. The flower market is just a narrow street lined with flower vendors, and the crowd to just walk through was almost a standstill. Mind, this was a pretty polite crowd; I heard quiet mumblings around me of "oh, this is quite stressful, isn't it?" but I imagined if this happened in New York, there'd be so much more heated feelings. My inner New Yorker started walking more aggressively just to be able to get through. After, we found a mini-Smorgasburg-like food market in Shoreditch and had one of the most fantastic meals in London yet! I spotted a stall called Makimayo and they displayed paper cones filled with bits of fried chicken covered in various sauces. Yep, count me in! We got a sweet/sour/spicy sauce and a spicy mayo sauce with popcorn chicken over rice and salad. Wowwwwwwww, so good!
After Shoreditch, we took a super long walk west towards our old stomping grounds of Nido (now called something else), St. Pancras/King's Cross, and the British Library. It was quite emotional for me to return to where it all started - where I met Alex.
Let's jump in the Way Back Machine to January 15, 2010, a few days after we arrived in London for the semester. It was a really rainy day and we had planned to hit up the British Library and the British Museum. My group of friends ran into some other friends who had trailed behind in the lobby of the British Museum. In that second group was the man I'm going to marry.
Present day, almost: I was cooing like a crazy person. "Oooh, this is where we first met! Can you believe it honey?! Did you ever expect we'd be back here again, engaged?!" We had a late afternoon beer at a pub behind the library, and then wandered around the back of St. Pancras/King's Cross stations, which is a revitalized neighborhood now, very hipster, kind of High Line-ish.
Finally, we hit up another old haunt: Angel, specifically the restaurant Le Mercury on Upper Street. This place holds such dear memories for me, as it was the place where our group of friends had our last dinner in London. One big table, about 10 or 12 of us sitting around, enjoying delicious food, pretending it was Melissa's birthday to get a free dessert.... This time was more subdued, just me and Alex sharing calamari and a huge melted Camembert wheel, duck, and their epic dark chocolate tart. Alex asked me if it was as good as I remember. At first, I was like, nah nothing is as good as a memory, but then I realized it was actually even better.
Monday, 3 October
Discovered my favorite, favorite, favorite graffiti ever:
Tuesday, 4 October
Wasn't feeling all too great this morning, so I just took a long stroll up Holborn to Covent Garden and back.
Wednesday, 5 October
To make up for my lazy day yesterday, I took a nice long "run" along the south side of the Thames.
Thursday, 6 October
Another cheat day for me. I walked about an hour towards Selfridge's department store. All the salesfolks were asking me repeatedly if I needed help. I'm like, I have earbuds in! First, I can't hear you. Second, I am trying to not have to hear you. Please let me browse in peace! Does that irritate you ever?
Alrighty time for the final push of this week. Monday is actually a holiday (Columbus Day), but because I'm taking off next Friday, I may do some work to keep up. What's happening next Friday, you ask?
Paris!
My preferred "running" path so far is along the Thames, on the south bank, from Millennium Bridge west to almost Westminster Bridge. It get a little crowded around the London Eye so I usually turn around then. I've also gone that direction north of the river, but the buildings and construction sometimes obstruct the path.
One of my favorite things, one thing that will never get old, is looking up and seeing Christopher Wren's great dome atop St. Paul's Cathedral. It's especially eerie at night because the dome is not lit by floodlights or anything, just a faint dark ghostly shadow towering above. In the morning, though, I love coming to the street at the south wing, then turning left and walking across the Millennium Bridge, sometimes peeking behind me to see the beautiful symmetry and geometry of the dome. When you're on the Millennium Bridge in the morning, you can see just how low the tide is in the Thames below. Sometimes you see people combing the gravely river bed for broken bits of pottery or sunken re-surfaced treasures. Along the south bank, there's actually a beach that winds up being revealed at low tide, and yesterday I saw some very talented artists making sand sculptures.
Friday, 30 September
I ran along the north bank all the way to Westminster/Big Ben, and then wandered into Belgravia for the grand opening of Dominique Ansel London. I skipped the crazy long Cronut line to get some pastries to bring back home. I got a DKA (chef's version of the kouign amann, basically a pop-over croissant hybrid), a chorizo croissant, a chocolate cream puff in the shape of a very cute owl, a jasmine mousse, and an Earl Grey/blackberry/lemon doughnut. It rained on my hour-long walk back home, so you bet I was guarding that bag with my life and shielding it with whatever I could.
Saturday, 1 October
I can't believe it's October! This morning, Alex and I popped over to the south bank again for a bit of wandering. We found the Hays Galleria, a cute covered market/mall and had a really good breakfast at Cafe Rouge. Then, in the drizzly weather, we walked in the area just south of Tower Bridge called Shad Thames, looking at rustic-industrial-chic neighborhoods. When we crossed Tower Bridge back to the north side of the Thames, the weather miraculously cleared up, though it did rain again on and off all day. We headed to Spitalfields Market and wandered amongs the independent craftsmen and shopkeepers. Finally, we had reservations at a pub in the West End for afternoon tea. I won't name the pub, because tea was pretty awful. After that, we walked around the crazy shopping areas of Tottenham Court Road, the art shops in Soho, and finally had Indian for dinner.
Sunday, 2 October
I overslept. Feeling super guilty, because I didn't come here to sleep in on the weekends, I urged Alex to rush to the Columbia Road Flower Market in Shoreditch, about 40 minutes away and which was slated to close in an hour from when we left. We walked so fast that we made it in like 25 minutes, but it was insanity when we arrived. The flower market is just a narrow street lined with flower vendors, and the crowd to just walk through was almost a standstill. Mind, this was a pretty polite crowd; I heard quiet mumblings around me of "oh, this is quite stressful, isn't it?" but I imagined if this happened in New York, there'd be so much more heated feelings. My inner New Yorker started walking more aggressively just to be able to get through. After, we found a mini-Smorgasburg-like food market in Shoreditch and had one of the most fantastic meals in London yet! I spotted a stall called Makimayo and they displayed paper cones filled with bits of fried chicken covered in various sauces. Yep, count me in! We got a sweet/sour/spicy sauce and a spicy mayo sauce with popcorn chicken over rice and salad. Wowwwwwwww, so good!
After Shoreditch, we took a super long walk west towards our old stomping grounds of Nido (now called something else), St. Pancras/King's Cross, and the British Library. It was quite emotional for me to return to where it all started - where I met Alex.
Let's jump in the Way Back Machine to January 15, 2010, a few days after we arrived in London for the semester. It was a really rainy day and we had planned to hit up the British Library and the British Museum. My group of friends ran into some other friends who had trailed behind in the lobby of the British Museum. In that second group was the man I'm going to marry.
Present day, almost: I was cooing like a crazy person. "Oooh, this is where we first met! Can you believe it honey?! Did you ever expect we'd be back here again, engaged?!" We had a late afternoon beer at a pub behind the library, and then wandered around the back of St. Pancras/King's Cross stations, which is a revitalized neighborhood now, very hipster, kind of High Line-ish.
Finally, we hit up another old haunt: Angel, specifically the restaurant Le Mercury on Upper Street. This place holds such dear memories for me, as it was the place where our group of friends had our last dinner in London. One big table, about 10 or 12 of us sitting around, enjoying delicious food, pretending it was Melissa's birthday to get a free dessert.... This time was more subdued, just me and Alex sharing calamari and a huge melted Camembert wheel, duck, and their epic dark chocolate tart. Alex asked me if it was as good as I remember. At first, I was like, nah nothing is as good as a memory, but then I realized it was actually even better.
Monday, 3 October
Discovered my favorite, favorite, favorite graffiti ever:
Tuesday, 4 October
Wasn't feeling all too great this morning, so I just took a long stroll up Holborn to Covent Garden and back.
Wednesday, 5 October
To make up for my lazy day yesterday, I took a nice long "run" along the south side of the Thames.
Thursday, 6 October
Another cheat day for me. I walked about an hour towards Selfridge's department store. All the salesfolks were asking me repeatedly if I needed help. I'm like, I have earbuds in! First, I can't hear you. Second, I am trying to not have to hear you. Please let me browse in peace! Does that irritate you ever?
Alrighty time for the final push of this week. Monday is actually a holiday (Columbus Day), but because I'm taking off next Friday, I may do some work to keep up. What's happening next Friday, you ask?
Paris!
No comments:
Post a Comment