London - Visiting friends

The Shard at night time.

The plan for this weekend was to visit some friends in London and this is indeed what we did. Friday evening we left Manchester at little before 6 pm. Rob wanted to drive down as it was cheaper than the train, even though it takes twice as long! :(. Therefore, he was the designated driver and I took the role as navigator aided by our sat nav! (I had the easier job) ;) The journey down was pretty uneventful. We stopped for a coffee/snack break about half way into the journey, and then it took me the rest of the journey to drink my coffee (I am so slow and yes, it was cold by the end) :).
We arrived at Isaac and Emily's house about 4 hours later (around 10 pm). Their house is quaint, with two bedrooms, a bathroom, a good sized kitchen/dining room and a modest living room. Their house also boasts a reasonable sized garden and a large attic space, which at the moment seems poorly insulated, as it was freezing up there! But I like it and I can't complain, as I don't even have an attic (sad times!). We hadn't seen Isaac and Emily in a few months, so it was good to catch up and chill out.
We had no real plans for the weekend, so on Saturday we slept in and Isaac made us breakfast. I ate far too much scrambled egg, I should have just stuck with mushrooms on toast. As 6 months ago I became vegetarian and have been trying to eat less animal products too, so haven't really eaten eggs in months! And now I am not really sure I actually like them any more. So next time just mushrooms on toast! Yum! :)

My beautiful Oyster card.

After breakfast we headed in to London, it was nice to be in London again particularly because it meant I could use my oyster card, which has a picture of the queen on it! One of the most exciting transport events of my life! You probably think I'm pretty sad now. :)

Our first stop was the prime meridian, we saw the origin of GMT! Eeeek! A little geeky I know, but it was Isaac's idea and I found it pretty cool anyway!

Next was a ride in the cable car over the Thames. It seems it is own by Emirates and they are promoting it as a flight. :) Well, it is pretty expensive at £4.90 for a single considering it is suppose be a form of public transport rather than a tourist attraction. Oh well, it is a novelty anyway. :)

Cable car/Emitrates flight! ;)

For lunch we went to borough market but we got there quite late at 3 pm ish, so quite a few of the stores were shutting or had already shut, as an organic salad bar had closed just as we arrived. So we opted for falafel wraps from a small stall at the end of the market. It was a shame that we didn't manage to see the whole market but we took some nice photos of the massive fruit and veg stall there. Fruits and vegetables are so photogenic,they always make beautiful photos. :) 

Veggies! 

I can't really say much else on this market as were didn't stay too long but market stands outside offered a whole host of sweets and treats with many vegetarian and vegan options, which I am always on the look out for. :)
For the rest of the afternoon we pretty much just wandered around doing a few more geeky things (more of Isaac's suggestions). We went to see a sewage powered gas lamp, apparently Isaac took Emily there on a date. Not a usual location for a date but she must have enjoyed it as that was a few years ago and they are still together now.

Later we met with some other friends for a quick cocktail at Madison's (a bar on the roof of a shopping center opposite St Paul cathedral providing great views of the city) http://www.madisonlondon.net/ and then out for a curry at Kolam in Tooting.

Cheeky cocktails!

Considering the restaurant (Kolam) was rather empty it took our food over an hour to come but no one complained. The starters were fun they were like little savoury doughnuts, I would definitely get these again. My tummy and taste buds were very happy with these. My main course on the other hand the same cannot be said. I ordered a vegetable kurma, which was suppose to be sweet and coconuty and nice! Unfortunately it was none of these. It tasty salty and there wasn't much else to the flavour of the dish, this is not what I was expecting. Rob had a chicken Kurma and said his tasty fine, nice and sweet. Everyone else seemed happy with their meals. So, I guess it was just mine. :(.
My recommendation is that if you are to go to Kolam do not get the vegetable kurma and be prepared to wait a long time for your food. I would hate to think what it is like at busy times! But to give them credit the staff were very friendly, so that is a bonus. :)

Coffee break!

Sunday, we discovered hot chocolate milano at Cafe Nero and wow! At £3.15 it is the closest to an Italian hot chocolate you are going to get over here in the UK! It is delish! :D

Have a great week!

Sam x