London, England for Hipsters

Day two in London was much more comfortable and fun after a good night’s rest.  We kept commenting on how cool it was to feel so foreign in a country that still speaks our language!  Crossing streets, as expected, was dangerous.  We kept looking the wrong direction and almost getting run over.  Thankfully, we figured out the train system a little better and spent the day jetting all around, seeing some of the most famous sights first.  We also got super lucky with beautiful weather in this usually rainy metropolis.

London Eye

Big Ben

Westminster Abbey

Buckingham Palace

He’s not allowed to move!

Our hosts suggested we check out Camden, a more trendy, hipster-ish neighborhood in north London.  It was great!  We got to see an old lock on the little river pushing boats through, check out an awesome crafts and food market, and found craft beer!

Lock 17

It’s a tea party!

Street DJing in a mask

Brew Dog has awesome beers and does tasting flights!

After only stuffing our faces a little bit on the best falafel I’ve ever had, we were off to Brixton, all the way in south London.  It’s a more ethnic neighborhood with a little bit of seediness and a cool up-and-coming food scene.  We checked out some pubs and then headed to Brixton Village Market.  This awesome little warehouse holds over 100 different tiny restaurants, each with around 12 seats each, serving different cuisines from around the world.  Apparently you only have to sign up for a six-month lease to open up here, which makes it a great avenue for those without a ton of cash to get started.  What a cool idea!  I wanted to eat everything!  But we settled on sharing a Pakistani “thali”, or sampling plate, from Elephant, which was wonderful!  You can also BYOB to these restaurants, so we grabbed a couple cervezas from the Colombian shop next door.

Space Invader tag in Brixton

Sufficiently stuffed, we headed back home to rest before our onward journey.  We both agreed that London was much cooler than we expected.  We were not at all excited about British food, but you can get any kind of food from anywhere in the world in London!  It’s such a multi-cultural city, which we really loved.  We’ll be back someday!