I ended up at a pub crawl last night with friend from the hostel, Philippe. It was rainy and a holiday, so it sounded like something good to do. However, nobody else in all of London had that train of thought. We were the only two people on this organized crawl besides the hosts that are paid to be there. It would have been more fun had others come out. We can go back on Wednesday night for free though. Maybe that will happen.
This morning I bummed around the hostel for a little bit because I wanted to go to the Borough Market for lunch. I ate some decent street meat and walked down towards the city for the afternoon. The Bank of England Museum was open and done with renovations, so I went in to check it out. They did a nice job with the museum. I got to pick up a real bar of gold which was fun. They keep it locked up in a big box that has just enough space to put your arm in and move the bar an inch or two. If I’d brought my Leatherman, I could have been £350,000 richer. (Pictures are not allowed in the museum)
The weather cleared up for a bit, so it was just nice enough to visit a little bit of the park. I turned around a little bit in Hyde Park and found some statues of James Watt hidden away in the park. The weather took a turn for the worse about the time I was emerging from the park near Knightsbridge. There was a big sign for Harrods that reminded me of the big food market on the first floor. Navigating my way through, I managed to escape Harrods with some bread and cheese for my Eurostar ride on Thursday for a very reasonable £2. Then I went back to the hostel for a shower and to dry out.
I had dinner plans at my cousin’s home that evening. On the train out there, I kept seeing advertisements for Brockley (pr: broccoli) Brewery and realized it was a local brewery just a short jaunt from my destination. The train arrived at the station a little early and it gave me enough time to pop into town to find some Brockley brews. It was an easy task. The first off-license shop I entered had them right in the front. A short while later I arrived at my cousin’s home with some broccoli Brockley in tow. It was nice to see everybody and catch up with family. We talked about travel over a great dinner and, “Granny” (my aunt) even made a quick (virtual) visit. Now I’m on my way back to the hostel to get some sleep. I probably should not skip coffee anymore as I’m pretty tired right now.
