London calling

We've been in London this week, enjoying England's famously great weather. It was all a bit last minute - we needed somewhere to stay and our friend in London knew of some people that needed housesitters for 10 days. Neither of had been to England before, and as it looks like we may need to move there for jobs anyway we figured it was a good idea to go and check it out.

We're housesitting for some fellow Kiwis, in a lovely flat in Streathem Hill in the south west of London. Happily for us they have a great kitchen with gas hob and terrific oven so we have been making the most of that by making lots of bread - it's not like you have easy access to baguettes here anyway!
It was extremely strange stepping off the Eurostar into a wholly English-speaking environment after almost 4 months in France and 3 weeks staying with a French family. It almost seemed too easy! Our first shock came upon learning that a one-way tube fare here is 3 pounds, compared to 1.40 euros in Paris. You'd hope that at nearly 3 times the price of the Metro, the Underground would be a great service. But no...the trains are noisy, overheated, less frequent, and are constantly breaking down. Having experienced underground systems in several countries now, we have come to the conclusion that the Metro rocks.
So reeling from the cost of public transport, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that all the major museums and galleries are completely free (well apart from the big signs asking for a fixed rate donation, which we ignored). We made the most of this by visiting the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, the British Museum, the Tate Modern, and the Imperial War Museum.
Of these, our favourites were definitely the British Museum and the War Museum. The British Museum houses the controversial Elgin marbles, from the Parthenon, as well as an awesome Egyptian display, with lots of mummies, sarcophagi, statues, and, most famously, the Rosetta Stone, which unlocked the secret of hieroglyphics.


Who's your mummy?

We went to the Imperial War Museum thinking that we'd spend an hour or so there and then do something else. We didn't expect to be so captivated that almost three hours went by without noticing, and that we'd have to leave at the 6 o'clock closing without seeing everything we wanted to. The museum has fascinating exhibits on World War I and II, and a gruelling but informative exhibit on the Holocaust. There was also one on spies but we ran out of time to see that. Next time!
Another highlight of our visit was a trip to Flat White cafe in Soho. As the name suggests, this is a New Zealand cafe, and serves Antipodean-style coffee at its finest. From the moment we walked in, it felt like "home", with the noises and smells of a good Wellington cafe and the fridge filled with Bundaberg ginger beer and L&P. We've only had coffee very occasionally in France, mainly because the French do not seem to know how to make a decent coffee (we are not alone in this view - a lot of NZers and Australians have found the same thing), so we'd almost forgotten what a good one tasted like. This place reminded us! The coffee was absolutely perfect, and just as good as the best Supreme cafes in Wellington.

The Borough Market has to be on any foodie's list of things to see in London. I mean, Jamie Oliver shops there so it's got to be good. So yesterday we checked it out for ourselves. It's pretty cool, very busy, with lots of gourmet stalls. It was like a larger scale version of the farmer's market in Hawkes Bay - lots of organic fruit, cheeses, bread, free-range meat etc. It felt more like a tourist attraction than an actual place to do your weekly shop, unlike the Paris markets, which, even when full of tourists, are there purely to serve the locals. I guess we'll get to know it a bit better if we come back to live.
Tomorrow we head back to Paris, although we're not sure for how long. It will be good to speak French again and rediscover some of our favourite haunts in our favourite city.
Till next time...