lrjlo - Suburban Explorer

By lrjlo

A very urban picnic

I went into London with a friend and a housemate on Saturday afternoon. We didn't have any particular destination in mind because it was grey and cold, which isn't great park visiting weather and we've done the main museums. We headed for London Bridge and stopped off at Borough Market. There are so many things to see there. There was a stall selling the meat of all kinds of animals including camel burgers, zebra steak, kangaroo meatballs and sausages, antelope steaks and they even claimed to have python available in their freezer. This is not my kind of thing but I got some lovely organic veggie food which reminded me of Glastonbury festival food. It was very filling though as it contained mainly sweet potato. rice, lentils and chickpeas.

It was very busy so I ducked out of the crowds under this bridge to eat my food. I noticed some Spanish women casually drinking Prosecco from champagne glasses, with the bottle next to them. They were using the pallets on the front of this forklift as a table. I couldn't get a decent photo of them though. When they moved on, a couple took their place and set out a very expensive looking picnic and a bottle of red wine on the pallets. They were taking some photos themselves and seemed happy to pose for photos enjoying their meal. It seems such a contrast of their surroundings and the fine food and wine they were enjoying and to me, this juxtaposition of rich and poor, historical and contemporary, practical and aesthetic really sums up London.

After that we walked along the river, briefly stopped off at the Tate Modern and then walked through the City and through Holborn to Covent Garden. Then we walked to Piccadilly Circus where my friend and I caught the tube up to Marylebone where he was getting a train from. We found a lovely pub, the Victoria and Albert, in the station, which gave 20% off with Bite cards and had really comfy armchairs. I'd never been to Marylebone before, despite it being in Monopoly. It's quite small and quaint for a London terminus.

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