London Eye + Tate Modern

We didn't ride the London Eye, though I would have liked it. We spent the day hanging out with Alfie, our roommate from Peru, who lives about 2 hours north of London. We spent some time wandering around the Tate Modern, which was excellent, and the surrounding area afterward. The sky was wonderfully dramatic that evening.

Cornwall Pasties

One day while standing at the train station waiting for the next train, I looked around to see what I could grab to eat before heading back to the Gavin's place. I spotted the West Cornwall Pasty Company in the corner and it looked intriguing enough, though we had several bad calzones in Norway that made me apprehensive about anything filled in pastry dough. I selected a Steak and St. Austell Ale Pasty and the first bite was piping hot, smelled like a wonderful meat and ale stew, and was delicious. Several days later, I tried the chicken and vegetable which was just as good. I think if we were in London longer, I would have tried all the varieties, and gained 10 pounds doing so. Please open a branch in NY or someone tell me where I can find a decent pasty in the city!

Holmes

Traveling in Europe made me more aware of how young America really is. I enjoyed all the old wooden buildings in Norway and loved the different architectural styles we saw around London and Gerrards Cross. And we sought out another old man bar for Guinness on tap, a brilliant combo. The Sherlock Holmes tile detailing in the Tube was awesome.



My London souvenir was this Orla Kiely bag, half off at the Covent Garden shop. The shop is a dream, I'd like to live in the shop and be swaddled in Orla Kiely bedding, furniture, clothing, everything. I'm a complete sucker for a good dose of well-designed petal print.

Shoreditch High Street

Ross picked out some shops in the Shoreditch High St. area to check out from the Design Sponge London Design Guide. It was a perfect day hanging out out with Ross' cousins, Margot and Anna. Be aware that most shops on Columbia Rd. are only open on the weekends, so we had to make do with window peeking. Nonetheless, we loved the industrial feel of the TEA building, the reissued Jens Risom furniture at Rocket Gallery, and the laid back old man feel of the Royal Oak pub, along with a smattering of other design and vintage shops not mentioned in the guide. It was def. our favorite area for checking out good design.