The weekend after Wales trip was spent with my friend Mary who was leaving the next week to head back to Nebraska for the holidays. Hopefully she'll return after the new year to finish her adventures in England. Friday night we went out to dinner at a pub in Leciester Square (pronounced "lester"). Well, really we went out for dessert but we also had dinner as well. Note: If ever you get to Leciester Square, The Brewmaster pub has the best homemade apple crumble I've ever tasted. Saturday morning we met up early (a little before noon) and went to the Borough Market - the biggest, most amazing market place I've seen so far. It has everything you could ever possibly wish for in terms of food items. From Mexican hot chocolate and salsa to every kind of cheese and chutney (a jam-sauce like item, very popular here) to freshly killed birds, rabbits, and dears.. oh my! (So fresh they were hanging upside down, still a bit bloodied with their heads, or rather where the head would be in plastic bags. All this right across from a wine kiosk, it was all very surreal indeed!)
After going all over the market, we had some amazing pizza in the courtyard of Southwark Cathedral, where Mary worked. Then we went about doing some last minute shopping for items she needed before she went home. She showed me a Lithuanian shop that I was happy to note had quite a few Russian items that I missed. Then we went to Covent Gardens and saw the giant Christmas tree they were putting up there and had some mulled wine and mince pies (the epitome of traditional English Christmas food.) We managed to get all the items Mary was needing, including a second carry-on bag for all the things she had bought and all this in a massive downpour. Let me tell you how not fun it is to try and walk around and shop in a torrential rainstorm. I have yet to buy an umbrella here (since I couldn't take the one given to me by the International Office at DU as it was too big to fit in the suitcase and too weapon-like to take on the plane.) We then went back to my place and watched Hitchcock's Rear Window and had Indian take away. We then went to bed thoroughly satisfied with the day and rearing to start again on the morrow.
Sunday, Mary joined me during my Russian language sessions (I've been taking private lessons with a cool guy named Igor from Kaliningrad.) After that we walked around St. Paul's Cathedral, got a bit lost, found our way back and then met up with my flatmate and saw The Incredibles. It was the first Pixar film I've seen, I think, and I quite enjoyed it. After that we said goodbye to Mary and Alastair and I headed home. Then it was back to the working week for he and I and the end of another blog for now.
P.S. For those of you whom I didn't get a chance to email, you can check out all the pictures I've taken so far by going to ofoto.com, you may have to join up as a member (entirely free) to view and/or purchase pictures. If that doesn't work let me know and I'll send you the ofoto invite to view my albums. Happy viewing!
No comments:
Post a Comment