this was my first time to london, but having grown up on british comedy shows the streets felt very familiar to me. still, nothing is exactly as you imagine it.
a view down our street in shoreditch (a great place to stay btw).
i was determined to eat well in london so i prepared a pretty long list of places to go to. we didn't make it to half of them but here are some of the highlights - leila's - this afternoon tea was with the delightful claire and the beautiful plate prepared by tommy!
ottolenghi. my sister took us for dinner at the islington restaurant and then we had a takeaway lunch from the notting hill location the next day.
st john bread and wine. it was great to come here after seeing it so frequently online. we didn't have a reservation so they squeezed us into an early sitting, so while i enjoyed it i felt like we didn't have the full experience. also, we didn't have any room for pudding so it will be on my list for the next trip.
perhaps my favourite was verde and co. this was the tiniest place with great coffee and fresh salads. and the nice service really made it.
i wish now i tried this hot salt beef i kept seeing everywhere.
there were lots of good shops in london but overall i found the men's clothing to be more interesting than the women's. still, i enjoyed visiting margaret howell, liberty and labour and wait. couverture and the garbstore had the most tempting array of things (thanks for the heads up fanja!) and it was bad luck i missed the knots pop up by a week or so.
art. there were too many great museums to visit. we went for the tate modern and the saatchi gallery. both were AMAZING, and i got the impression that all the galleries are free.
the image below shows a piece by cho duck hyun at the saatchi gallery. the whole exhibition showcasing contemporary korean art was fantastic and this artist was a standout for me.
the thing that i found very endearing about london were its signs and manners. it's not very cool to admit it, but i love good manners! and london is really over the top in this department. for example:
(at the atm)
and the little signs of advice and encouragement. i've never seen this quirk anywhere else before and i really liked it.
i realised towards the end of our stay in london that i had been
having so much fun with my new iphone camera that i completely forgot to
take my film camera out. so with the exception of the first lonely
image, all the rest were with the 4s.
