Today I’m thinking back to beautiful London. While I meant to get a post up every day while abroad, it’s easier said than done. So here’s where I left off…
Today we visited numerous special locations around London. Many South Africans say they don’t like London because it’s not pretty, or doesn’t have cocktails and beaches. Why you’d want to go somewhere that’s just like South Africa, I don’t know! But I like to discover all the inner secrets of London and this day perfectly proves that.
We started off by visiting one of my all time favourite places in London, the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. It’s home to some of the world’s most famous and beautiful artworks. It’s moving, overwhelming and exciting to see some of the art works that you’ve heard, read about or loved for years.
Turner is one of my favourite artists, as is Von Gogh. I think it’s because their pictures always capture movement, they seem alive. I always scurry over to the Turner corner in the National gallery to take in their life size paintings. Even paints that you don’t know are incredibly beautiful and it’s worth taking a good look around at all the exquisite paintings.
After our painting viewing session we headed over the White Cross Street Market via Piccadilly Circus.
I visited the street food market last year while Mr John had been sick and unable to join, so this was a good opportunity for him to catch up. If you’ve ever watched Andy Bates’ Street Feasts on the Food Network – well its the place that he has his Street food is the theme and there are many, many options with cuisine from all over the world. It’s really fascinating seeing the stands churn out such delicious, high quality food and then once lunch time is over they rush to pack up their goods and vanish. No third world hanging about for these lot!
I decided to try a Mexican wrap (burrito) from a very busy stand called Luardos Jesus. They were cranking their wraps out at the speed of light, but they were still super fresh and delicious. The only thing I didn’t like was the choriso as it had a weird taste, but once I picked them off, it was great (lol)!
https://vine.co/v/OWT3FIDrHZK
I was also surprised to find street art at White Cross Street. Art is everywhere in London, another one of my favourite characteristics of the city.
On our way back to the hotel after lunch, Mr John had remembered seeing a note about London’s premium vape store, the Vape Lab, being near by so we went on a mission to find it. Which isn’t too difficult to do by foot as Shoreditch (London’s hipster area) is interesting and filled with fun things to look at like art, activations, shops, etc. Mr John’s favourite pass time is vaping (yes, he quit smoking last year too) and he likes to keep an eye on international trends, technology developments, etc. They have a clever system where you can buy a plastic cap to go over the top of a vape. This allows you to be able to switch canisters so that you can taste a few flavours – without passing on the germs, of course! Not the friendliest staff in the world but that’s Europe for you.
I loved seeing all the street art of Shoreditch. I wonder if Cape Town could ever be this decorated?
