Saturday in London

I woke up Saturday morning and after showering (masses of hot water, yeay!) I hotfooted it to Starbuck's. Yes, I know Starbuck's is the McDonald's of coffee, but I call those coffees my "American moments" because there is no Starbucks in Norway. (I know! Amazing! They've infiltrated everywhere but here!!!!!)

I caught the Picadilly Line from Earls' Court down to Embankment station and walked along the Thames. I am pretty much to the point where I know some parts of London well enough that I don't need the map anymore. It was a gorgeous day. I crossed over to the Tate Modern via the Millenium Bridge. I had hoped to catch the Frida Kahlo exhibit, but the earliest ticket they were selling was for 3pm and it wasn't even noon yet. So instead, I wandered over through Southwark and the Borough Market. The Borough Market is a wonderful old Victorian market, full of food sellers with all sorts of gorgeous foods from all over. French cheeses, wild boar, seafood of every kind, beer from all the littlest microbreweries in England, organic everything. I stopped at a foodstand and had a "steak and mushroom bap" which was BAR NONE The best steak sandwich I have ever had in my life. Jesus it was good. I actually went back to tell them how good it was. You know when something is so good tasting you moan your way through it? Yeah, that good.

Bridget Jones lived at the Borough Market in the movie version. Here's her apartment building:

Her window is at the top left. And yes, it's right by the trains. See the train going by in the background?

After that I wandered down the Borough High Street to an old pub called The George Inn. It's the last remaining galleried coaching inn in London. Wonderful old creaky wood, smoke stained interiors, giant old stone hearths, crooked floors, and a large area outside with picnic tables. It's what you imagine an Olde English Inn to be. I hung around there for a while had a Guinness or two, and met a young Norwegian woman doing site scouting for a film. Norwegians are EVERYWHERE once you recognize the accent. She was pretty nice. She was setting up shots in the part of the pub I was sitting in. We talked movies.

After that I wandered back over the Thames and caught the District line out to Hornchurch, to have dinner with my aunt and uncle. Turns out that Peter is an amazing chef and he made the most incredible Indian food. A lamb curry and a bean dish and those little fried chickpea and onion things that I forget the name of, and poppadums (I just wrote poopadums, haha.). I ate until I was ready to explode. It's always nice to see Tine and Peter, they are so great to talk to.

I caught a train back into London and made it back to Earl's Court by around 10, and crashed. It was a nice day. One of those days where you let your feet go where they want, and you just follow along. I usually have my best experiences when I do that.

Tomorrow I'll write about Sunday. And Colin Firth fans out there? I've got a story for you.