Friday 14 August 2015

London

Just as we got home yesterday evening a boat was pulling out of it's mooring, so to keep the security guards happy we moved into his space. They said we could have stayed there overnight but this is actually a much better spot.  It's right beside the foot bridge which is raised at 12.00 on Wednesdays and Fridays.




It's a fantastic bit of engineering and all hydraulic.


We then popped over to the station to meet it's famous bear, before jumping on the tube and heading into the city.


Our destination was the famous Borough Market which thankfully wasn't as packed as the last time we visited and meant we could have a really good wander round without having to dodge the crowds

Zebra burgers?  not for me thank you


and the wheatgrass juice bar didn't tempt me either


There was every possible combination of fruit juice you could imagine but nobody was buying any


The leaning tower of parmesan


mmm....rose scented meringues


 I would have liked to buy this orange tree but it wouldn't fit on the gas locker


There were lots of stalls selling every possible variety of bread you could imagine



and plenty of stalls selling French produce like these dried sausages


garlic


and wild mushrooms


We managed to resist all of those stalls but this was the one I really couldn't resist


15 month aged Comte cheese............my absolute favourite and a definite must-buy whenever I see it


Other stalls I couldn't resist were the fish stall where we bought some really beautiful plaice from this lovely man


and one of the fantastic fruit stalls where we bought English cherries and figs


Round the back of the market is the Golden Hind II galleon which was absolutely swarming with tourists


It's a reconstruction of the ship sailed  around the world by Sir Francis Drake in 1577 -1890



Up until then we hadn't had any of the forecast rain, in fact it had been quite warm and muggy, but when the drizzle finally arrived we dived into the Tate Modern Gallery.  I'm not a "culture vulture" and to be honest I thought it all absolutely dreadful............but I did like this Andy Warhol of Marilyn Monroe


We both found the exterior of the gallery to be far more interesting, especially as they were moving this concrete drill from one side of the site to the other




When we got round the other side of the building site there was quite a crowd of people sheltering in a doorway watching a man abseiling down the side checking the windows



Apart from food shopping, another thing we like to do when we're in cities is look in estate agents widows.

One of the buildings overlooking where we're moored has apartments for rent comprising 2 bedrooms, combined living room/ kitchen and tiny bathroom from £895 PER WEEK! That's about the same facilities that we have here on the boat

If you fancy something a bit more up-market how about a penthouse?



Bye for now

2 comments:

AGuidingLife said...

Never seen the Market that empty, you were very lucky - lovely photos and that Bridge is amazing. I have to go see it.

Herbie Neil said...

I love mooring next to that bridge! Nice to hear it is being opened on Wednesdays as well. It was designed by Thomas Heatherwick, the same guy who designed the Olympic cauldron, also pretty impressive.
Kath (nb Herbie)