London/Londres 16 April 2011

Cheese for Lisa

Yesterday after a hearty English breakfast I took the train into London.  My first stop was the Borough Markets which are near the Tate Modern.  It was wonderful to wander around all this food ranging from strawberries grown in Spain, to cheese from various parts of France (sold of course by Frenchmen) to unpasteurised Stilton (yum).  They even had some Easter buns (not as nice as the range we can get in Wellington).  There was fish of various species and it was rather expensive. Mostly it was whole fish that was filleted by the stall holder.  I spent a wonderful or so tasting and wandering.  

As I needed to check-in online I was looking for a café with free Wi-Fi.  Finally found one near Tower Bridge but after several attempts the way that they had set it up prevented me from logging on.  A bit frustrating but nonetheless I had a good coffee.  As I had not walked across Tower Bridge I decided to do that and marvel and the structure and the engineering that had gone into building a bridge that could open and that looked so wonderful.  Outside the Tower of London I got a bus to Regent Street where I wanted to buy some jeans that seemed to be about a third less than I would pay for in New Zealand.  The bus trip was really nice but it took much longer to go that short distance compared to the Tube.  For £40 I bought a pair of jeans that fitted and did not need to be taken up , well almost. 

Is it human?

Still needing to find a place to connect to the internet I went in search of a café I found the last time I was here.  Fortuitously my homing instincts were good and I found it just off Carnaby Street.  The café is one that is owned (I think) by New Zealanders and makes some of the best coffee in New Zealand and also has some favourite cakes and biscuits of New Zealanders. It had Wi-Fi so I was able to go online and get my emails and to upload my blog. 

A woman sat down next to me while I was having my wonderful coffee and had a conversation on her mobile.  The voice had enough accent to make me think that it was a New Zealand accent, so in need of human contact,  and being nosey, I asked her if she was from New Zealand.  It turned out that she was and that she had been in London for ten years but was returning to New Zealand to work for Beca doing urban planning.  She was unsure about the return but had been made redundant and then was notified that her flat was about to be sold so figured that it was time to go home.  She said the economy was munted in Britain with unemployment climbing rapidly and much of her work had disappeared.   She asked about the cost of communication in New Zealand, such as broadband (did we have it) and cost of mobile.  I told her what I was paying.  In contrast she pays £12 for high speed broadband and all she can use.  The mobile is similarly relatively cheap to use.  I could not believe how cheap it was.  That is what competition delivers.

After that very pleasant conversation I found a bookshop to get the latest Hugh Johnson Pocket Book of Wine so that I would have some idea of who were the decent producers in Alsace.  I also got a map of the north of France so that I had a big picture of where I might go.  After having quickly skim read Hugh Johnson and looked at the map I think I might take a trip into the Mosel to have a look. 

 

I was shattered by the time I got back to my hotel.  Also my left ankle area seems to have a problem, not pain but it is swelling a bit after walking and feels a bit strange, not pain fortunately.  So I hope it is OK until I get home, in what is now a little under three weeks. It could of course be the result of walking ten or more kilometres a day.

Spring flowers (taken for Janet)

The contrast between London and Hong Kong was stark.  Both are very international cities and financial centres.  That is about where the similarities end.  Hong Kong is so much newer with underground system that is smooth and quick.  London’s underground is aging and on some lines it is worse than travelling on the Hutt line for sheer roughness of ride.  The London system also has these particular smells.  Hong Kong is all about high rise, no wonder not a lot of land to expand on.  London for an experience of history has it all over Hong Kong, in terms of the built history.  The crowds though are not dissimilar.  On Saturday there were people everywhere and it looks like there are far more tourists than I remember when I came in late September early October. 

Next post will be about my the first day of my French adventure