London, episode 5. In which fowl is lunch fare.

Sometimes Mari goes a little camera crazy when we travel, but I am always grateful to have hundreds of digital photos (and memories) to sift through and edit when we return home.  We are back from our most recent adventure, which concluded with a five-day layover in one of my favorite cities.  Never ask me to choose between New York and London, please.  Either way, my New York or British accent lives with me about a week after returning home.

New York attitude never fades.

Here we are enjoying a final
escalator trip down into a London tube station last week.  This was our 4th visit to London and I can't help wanting to plan another revisit already.  So much still to see!

In the meantime, I'm excited to continue that first stroll along the Thames I began sharing with you before Father's Day.

During that first stroll ten years ago, the Millennium Bridge may have been closed for repair, but Mari and I finally had our moment crossing the bridge last week.  We had just left St. Paul's Cathedral (another first for us) and at left Mari caught me spreading my wings while finally crossing the bridge towards the Tate Modern.

Below is the view looking back towards St. Paul's.  Mari and I really enjoyed our recent visit to the historic cathedral.  It always amazes me to visit sites that old (late 17th century) and historically significant.  Stepping where so many others have stepped, so many great historical figures:  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. visited in 1964, funeral services were held for Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher, Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her golden jubilee in 2002, and, of course, that first royal wedding that forever wed me with my love for all things British, Charles and Diana's 1981 nuptials.

It's not just the celebrated and historically significant figures that make St. Paul's great, but it is also a site where the not-so-famous are honored and remembered.

All along the time-worn floors of St. Paul's, English citizens are memorialized.  So many names and dates
I remember seeing etched on the stone floors, some with simple epitaphs commemorating short but thoughtfully-lived lives and family members left behind, others with descriptions long and poetic, challenging future generations to keep memories alive.  At first it feels funny walking along ancient stone floors that mark the graves of loved ones from long ago, but while ambling along and reading those names and dates I found myself immersed in a bit of very personal history, even if only for a moment, often the history of a local citizen whose charitable works were poetically eulogized in ancient scripts to be trod by future generations, perhaps even weary travelers from abroad.

Visit the thoroughly helpful site
to plan your visit.

stpauls.co.uk

Leaving St. Paul's and its history behind, we walked towards our first walk across Millennium Bridge, feeling satisfied and even energized.  After crossing the very modern bridge and then retracing our past steps as we passed the Tate and the Globe, Mari and I came to rest for a while at a future foodie favorite first discovered on that original 40th birthday Spring Break trip to London.

Within the many outside stalls of Borough market, weary travelers and famished Londoners alike
will find a bustling group of talented artisans and local producers anxious to serve up their bountiful harvest of fresh food as rustically simple or fancifully gourmet as you please.  On that first visit, my lean and hungry look was more than tamed with a hot grilled chicken sandwich piled high with tender greens and fresh ripe tomato on heartily yeasty bread, memorably satisfying organic nourishment after our meanderingly long day that was still not quite over.

Also memorable was the best brownie ever.

Not quite sure if it was my romantically distorted memory of being in London, Mari and I have returned to Borough Market for brownies twice more just to be sure, most recently as last week from the stall pictured above manned by a very friendly Frenchman.  The decadently fudgy brownie may be moderately romanticized, but it was still damn good.

Visit the colorfully helpful site before visiting the market.  It is loaded with useful information about products and vendors as well as articles, recipes, and an events calendar.  Be sure to sign up for the newsletter, too.

boroughmarket.org.uk

I am forever grateful to the independent spirit of the vendors at Borough Market and the varied carols I hear upon each visit.  I don't think Whitman would mind my extending his imaginatively inclusive metaphor to include our talented friends across the pond.

We conclude our day-long three-hour walking tour next time by crossing one final bridge... and it's a beauty.