Enjoying Sunny London

After a wonderful 4 days in Iceland, I arrived in London on Thursday to a Tube strike: brilliant! Always fearless, my Croatian-Canadian host friend Annie directed me through a series of buses from Paddington Station, while she was following close behind the double-deckers on her bike. We settled in at her flat in the Shepherd's Bush section of London (west end), and quickly got off to enjoying the next few sunny days in the city, starting with a killer chicken shish at one of the many local Middle Eastern restaurants. The Shepherd's Bush district has many Muslim East African and Middle Eastern immigrants, so mosques and the smell of kebobs cooking are very much a part of the landscape here.















Garlic heavy on our breath, we then had a visit to the BBC Headquarters, where Annie's boyfriend, a Brit named David, works as the environmental manager. With guest passes on hand, he gave us a tour of the first floor of his building, namely the 'canteen' where Annie and my interests lie. David's newest project is implementing a rainwater harvesting scheme for all BBC buildings, so that the water can be used for toilets ("the loos" as David said it) and landscaping.





























The next day, while Annie was at work, I caught up on planning my farm visit in Ireland and uploading photos from Iceland. I toured one of the 14 city farms in London, a small plot called Vauxhall City Farm, complete with animals of all sorts for the kiddies, a dyeing plant garden, vegetable garden plots, and plenty of community service opportunities for at-risk youth and the disabled. Most of the city's farms are coordinated in an effort to involve at-risk communities, while similarly providing garden plots to people without access to their own greenspace. Green for all! Although according to Annie, there is a 12 year waiting period to get such a garden spot across London. After Annie finished work, she made us a delicious chicken curry with couscous, followed by some Cadburys chocolates, of course.















Saturday, Annie and I started our day with delicious chorizo sandwiches and decadent brownies at Borough Market, the a la mode marketplace where Jamie Oliver used to shop for his ingredients before he became so big. The market has been greatly popularized, but for good reason! We wandered around all the stalls, and sampled cheeses, hand-cured meats, and other fine foods from all over the UK and Europe.












































It was a Slow Food dream!
















We then walked along the River Thames and enjoyed the sights of the Tower Bridge, the Gherkin, and most of all, the interesting collection of people in the city. We met Annie and David's friend Matt James for dinner at a Turkish restaurant called Gallipoli, which is so popular that they opened a second location down the street to accommodate all the demand. The space was pretty small, decorated wall-to-ceiling with blue and white tile mosaics and brass bells that waiters rang when passing through the narrow walkway between tables. We ordered a selection of mouth-watering appetizers and Efes, the native Turkish beer, to wash it all down with. YUM! The food was incredible and so was the lively atmosphere and music. We left stuffed as the apricots full of cream and pistachios that were our complimentary dessert. As you do in London, we continued the fun at two of the pubs down the road, then called it a night as we headed home on the now-operating Tube.





























Today, Sunday, Annie and I are headed to Greenwich, home of Greenwich Mean Time, just outside of London. We are packing lunch to have a picnic on the green. With the two of us, it's all about the food! I feel so lucky to have had great weather on my trip so far, with sun and comfortable temperatures everyday.

I hope you're all well, thanks for reading!