My mother & brother were gone before we even got up this morning for their day trip to Windsor, Bath & Stonehenge.
Because we'd already been, we opted to sleep in a little then spend the day exploring.
This is a view of the entrance to our apartment.
The first place we hit up when we left the apartment was Borough Market.
What a great place to have so nearby.
We tried some of the wares from this vendor - boar sausage, venison sausage and spicy sausage.
They were all good.
I couldn't pass up these beautiful cinnamon rolls and the "spicy" in the description intrigued me.
I was expecting a surprise spice but it turned out they were referring to the cinnamon.
They were just ok for me, looked a lot prettier than they tasted.
Not bad, just not the best I've ever had.
I also got an almond croissant and a piece of ginger cake there as well.
The croissant was good and we saved the ginger cake for later.
There were lots of cheese places.
Look at those giant wheels of cheese.
Mushroom places.
I've never seen edible blue mushrooms before.
They had all different kinds.
Different mushroom vendors too!
I especially loved these little mushroom baskets.
There were gorgeous plants and flowers.
So much beautiful produce everywhere.
Lots of lettuce varieties.
Fresh figs - which I've tried before but wasn't crazy about.
Lots of berries.
The nectarines looked so good that I bought a couple and ate one right away.
Lobsters.
Crab
Langusteen.
In retrospect, I wish we'd gotten some and cooked them at the apartment - I've always wanted to try them.
Lots of fruit juices.
Cups of cut up fresh fruit that looked so good that I couldn't help myself.
Ostrich and Kangaroo?
I don't think I am quite that adventurous yet.
Just so many different things everywhere - I loved it.
I got myself a latte - so pretty.
They were cooking in the most giant pans I've ever seen.
If I am being honest though, the fact that it was right out in the open like that and people could walk by and touch it or whatever was quite unappealing to me.
There were baked goodies.
Cakes and loaves.
Pies - we did get one here but didn't eat it.
We thought we'd save it for later.
More giant vats of food.
I also got one of these - and Onion Bhaji.
I should have likely eaten it right away but didn't so when I did try it later in the evening it had grown soggy and wasn't that impressive.
We happened upon this doughnut place with doughnuts that looked so good that we just couldn't resist.
We shared an Eton Mess and it was really good.
It was stuffed full of custard and who doesn't love a good custard?
We happened upon this place which said it was the winner at the National Fish & Chips contest so we waited around for it to open so we could try it.
Fish kitchen.
The lemon sole was on special so we tried that.
It was good but not the best in our opinion.
It might have been our choice of fish too - sole isn't usually my favorite.
I thought they had cool little take away boxes.
From there we hopped on the subway and went to Piccadilly Circus.
The undergrounds in London have the longest escalators that I have ever seen.
I was trying to get a picture of it but captured this girl behind me instead who was probably wondering why I would be taking her picture.
Ha ha, I didn't notice it until I got home but I just love the puzzled look on her face.
We got off at the Green Park stop and walked up the street to Picadilly.
It's such a busy street, so much going on and all those beautiful buildings.
This little store caught my eye so we went in to have a look.
This Alice in Wonderland dress was so cute.
Guess Alice is in - this little back pack was darling as well.
Even had a Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum back pack.
I liked this mirror arrangement on the wall.
This little whale bag was darling too.
I left empty handed though surprisingly.
We were heading to the TKTS booth and this looked familiar to me so I knew we were on the right track.
There it is!
There were a lot of shows playing that we'd already seen but a couple that we hadn't.
We settled on Young Frankenstein and got tickets for tonight.
Then we were on the hunt for Punjab, an Indian restaurant that we'd eaten at last trip and really enjoyed.
It's a bit of an iconic place that's been around forever.
I couldn't wait to get back to London to have some Indian food again so I am excited!!
We both are.
We got rice, naan, chicken korma (my choice) and chicken madras (My Honey's choice).
My Honey said that this chicken madras was the hottest thing he'd ever eaten so I didn't even bother to try it - he can stand some heat and he was just a sweating!
I really liked my chicken korma although the heat was building up over time with it as well.
It doesn't look very appetizing, it tastes way better than it looks on the plate that's for sure!
We saw a couple next to us eating a milky thing so we asked the waiter about it.
He sad it was Rosmalai so we ordered one to share.
Rosmalai.
It was a rice flour patty with spiced milk essentially.
We each should have ordered our own, it was delicious!
We walked around after our meal and came across this store with the cutest little purses.
This one was my favorite but they were all darling.
I love the little kitty at the steering wheel.
The little camper van was great.
A little bird house back pack, so original, I've never seen anything like this before.
A fruit and vegetable stand complete with the awning.
A little tea shop too.
I was really torn about whether I should get one or not.
They were unique - I've never seen them anywhere before, but they were also very pricey.
I decided to sleep on it.
If I really want one, I know just where the shop is and can come back for one before we go home.
We had a food tour booked for today at 3 pm and it was getting close to meet up time so we got back on the subway and headed to the meeting spot which happened to be right next to our hotel near London Bridge.
We got to the meeting point early so sat around and waited for the others to show up.
There was one point where I noticed a backpack sitting near to us that didn't seem to belong to anybody and it freaked us out a little so we got up and moved.
Kind of sad really but a sign of our times I guess.
We watched from afar as other food tour guests seemed to be arriving.
My Honey said we'd know the tour guide because they would be carrying an umbrella and sure enough when he arrived, he was.
There were four others on the tour with us, a lady from Florida, a lady from California and a couple from Dallas, Texas.
Our tour guide was Matt and there was one other person signed up so we waited for a few minutes and when they didn't show up, we got started.
The first place we headed was back to Borough Market.
We passed this lovely building on the way.
And this spot which is the place with the lovely patio we'd seen last night but just from a different view.
Our first stop was Whisky Ginger.
This is the couple from Dallas.
Our tour guide Matt telling us all about the market.
The market has a waiting list for vendors to get in and they have benchmarks that the vendors need to reach in order to stay.
Kind of interesting really.
The first thing we tried was a bacon and egg sandwich or Bap as they call it here.
The bacon in London is a bit different than what we call bacon at home but still just as good.
My Handsome Honey - we love food tours and normally enjoy them but were a bit leary of "Secret Food Tours" after the awful experience in New Orleans.
He could tell right away that this one was going to be much better though so he was pleased.
After our Bap, we went into the market where Matt gave us 10 minutes to go explore while he picked up some of our next samples.
We'd already explored earlier today so I just went to a cart nearby where the girl was selling ice creams and I got one.
It was Indian ice cream and she called it Kulfi.
I got the lemon saffron flavor and it was really good.
It was super hot out again today so it really hit the spot.
WE met back up and tried some Mead wine.
It had spicy Christmas flavors and although it was a little on the sweet side, I was surprised that I actually kind of liked it.
I am not normally a wine person.
Matt told us that this was Bridget Jones apartment in the movie and the famous fight scene between Hugh Grant and Collin Firth was filmed right here.
Cool!
Ha ha ha!
Next Matt took us to the same fish & chips place we'd just been to this morning.
We had haddock this time though and I liked it a lot better than the sole we had this morning.
The haddock was much firmer while the sole this morning was so soft and kind of slimy almost.
Guess the choice of fish really does make a difference.
Matt gave us another 15 minutes to walk around while he picked up more stuff so we just found a coffee place where I got an iced latte and My Honey had an espresso.
We met back up and he had samples of sausage rolls for us to try.
It was super.
From there we went on a little walk and Matt gave us a bit of a history lesson.
This building was built with all the little details in mind like how the shadow would look on the ground below from this window.
It is a ruin but it is also beautiful.
Then he surprised us with these doughnuts that had been voted Best in the World!
They were from Bread Ahead bakery which just happened to be the same place we'd tried earlier today.
We were ok with having them again and they were a different kind so that was good.
I think everyone really enjoyed them.
He told us some of the history on this ship, The Golden Hinde.
It is a recreation of the ship that Sir Francis Drake completed the second ever circumnavigation of the world between 1577-80 in.
It's been turned into a museum that you can tour but we didn't do that.
We also passed Southwark Cathedral.
We headed back toward London Bridge for our final stop.
They have nicknames for some of their buildings here which we learned about on the bus tour yesterday.
This one is the shard and we used it as a landmark on our trip this time since it was so near our apartment.
Here are a few others, the cheese grater, the gherkin (or bullet) and the walkie talkie.
Our final stop on the food tour was in this old pub, Mug House.
It was nice to sit in there and have a chance to chat as a group for a little bit.
We tried cheeses and chutneys.
Also some ciders (not for me).
Then we finished it off with sticky toffee pudding - my absolute favorite of the tour hands down!!!
We parted ways after that.
It was a great tour, we learned a lot and got to try some really good things.
After the tour, we took the underground back to Piccadilly Circus.
We had a bit of time to spare before our show so we got off at Green Park again and slowly made our way up the street.
I loved these windy roads with all buildings running together on either side like they do.
Hard to believe they are just stores - they look like buildings that should be serving some kind of higher purpose.
We were on a mission to find a shirt and/or a new pair of shoes for My Honey for tomorrow but we had no luck.
This alley way led off the main street and it looked interesting so we went down it to have a look.
It was kind of like an outdoor mall area or something but there were all these flowers hanging from above and they looked so nice.
When we made it to Piccadilly Circus we knew we were close.
This place is always packed with so many people.
Wonder how many are Londoners and how many are tourists?
We'd seen the marquis earlier today so we knew just where it was.
They checked our bags before we went in and mine was full of food that we'd bought throughout the day.
The security guard wouldn't let me bring it in and wanted me to throw it away which really irritated me.
We had spent a lot of money on it and I didn't want to just throw it wall away.
I convinced him to let me check it at the coat check which he begrudginly agreed to so I felt a little better.
I'd forgotten that they don't just give you the playbills here and you have to buy them so I felt silly when I asked for one.
I had to have one as a souvenir though so I coughed up the 5 pounds.
Looking forward to the show.
The show was great - really entertaining.
There were some really good characters and the "Putting on the Ritz" number was my favorite.
I snuck a picture of the cast taking their bows at the end but it didn't turn out very well.
After the show we walked around looking for this place in China town that I'd gotten this fish shaped pancake/waffle thing on our last trip.
I couldn't remember what it was called our where exactly it was and we had no luck finding it so eventually gave up.
We hopped on the underground and headed back to the apartment.
I put my feet up when we got back to the apartment.
The swelling had been down this morning but by this evening it was flared up again.
We tried some of the goodies I'd been hauling around with me all day.
This is the ginger cake we picked up this morning.
My MIL has ruined me for anyone else's version of ginger cake.
Their version here didn't even come close to tasting as good as hers.
We tried the meat pie we'd picked up at the market this morning as well.
I wasn't crazy about it because it tasted strongly of beer and I really dislike the taste of beer.
My Honey liked it though.
I had a look through Facebook and saw a few cute things.
So I'm sharing them here, enjoy!
OMG - this is too true!
This might possibly describe me sometimes!
These are messages one school put on their washroom stalls to remind kids to think positive and to help fight bullying.
What a great idea.
I think they would make great signs as well.
Words of Wisdom
I think they are like affirmations.
If you read them over and over every day, eventually the words can't help but sink in and have an impact.
Being positive makes such a huge difference in a person's life.
I love them.
Such great advice.
We sure got the steps in today.
I have been remembering to keep myself pumped full of ibuprofen so even though they are swelling, my feet haven't been hurting.
That is all for today, until next time, be happy!
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