Museums, Covent market and Indian lunch



LONDON TRIP

PART II




Lying on bed, Walk the Moon playing in earphones. Editing pictures of London and working on this trip second post made me realize how much I already want to go back there, take the underground and drink some cold M&S smoothies. The world would be better if I had a warm Prêt latte to comfort myself and someone to feed me with duck sandwitches (we don't have this one in our Prêt à manger in Paris and that's so wrong). I should grab some buttery shortbreads to get in the mood and talk about these two last days spent in London!



Our third day started at the London Bridge, a great location from where you can admire the Tower Bridge accross the River Thames. You can get there by getting off at Monument, on District or Circle lines. The bridge itself has nothing special, except this nice postcard-like view, but I love how the sunshines are reflected on the water, it look like some shining sparkling juice advertisements. If you turn back or cross the road to get to the other side, you'll have a more urban view on buildings and railroads and see the subway passing by. Our next stop was the British Museum (Holborn station, on Picadilly or Central lines). The Greek façade and the luminous hall are already two reasons to go to. Unless you have the whole afternoon free, you might have to select a few departments to visit, but it totally is worth going. You'll learn so much about human culture and art and appreciate all the interesting world artefacts. I started on the upper level with the Greek and Roman Empires collections, followed with the Ancient Egypt galleries, and had a look to the Japan, China and Korea rooms which display paintings and ceramics. I unfortunately had to skip a lot of exhibitions on the ground and lower levels or passed them just quickly because of time. About ten minute walk from the museum, you can find the lively area of Covent Garden with its famous markets, selling from scented soaps to handcraft homeware. The personal reason I was excited to go to Covent Market was to find the adorable Moomin shop, as I worship these little hippopotamus looking Finish trolls since I was five. I simply felt like Charlie Bucket in the Chocolate Factory. You'll certainly find your own reason to appreciate Covent Market area, and if you find nothing to buy, Jamie Oliver restaurant is also a thinkable option.

 
 

As far as London is known for having the best Indian restaurants, seeking for the best of them is a nice challenge for any foodie who is craving for a tasteful lunch. I would love to eat someday in very narrow, spicy smelling restaurant run by a native where you are sure to experiment one of the yummiest curry you've ever had in your life. Instead, we got in one located at Covent Garden *, large tables and cocktail-sipping customers, but I can tell you the taste of the food was incredible. The meals were delicate, flavorful, and the naan was soft and warm. The lunch courses were pretty affordable for a gastronomic restaurant (about 18£), with a sort of one-bite meatball for the appetizer and a surprising tomato, watermelon and cumin cocktail with basilic leaves. This is killing. You have a large range of main curry dishes - rumb, shrimp, tandori chicken, or squash for vegetarians - and it is served along with a cauliflower and pumpkin ratatouille and a beans and lentil purée. This was one of the best meals I had in London, seriously. After this delightful gourmet break, we headed to the Natural History Museum (South Kensington station) where the famous giant diplodocus is standing in the hall. The dinosaur gallery was awesome and so is also the architecture of the building as well. You can also go to the Victoria & Albert museum right next to it if you're less of a scientific, where you can find decorative art and design objects.

* Moti Mahal, 45 Great Queen Street, Covent Garden district


For dinner we had some fresh fruits - or to be more accurate, a mango jelly with pineapple and watermelon cubes – bought from Marks and Spencer. I certainly already told you how one cannot not love this shop. I mean, the aisles full of food, the simplicity of the packagings. Only looking at the products is exciting. I brought back home a grapefruit jam and a dark mint chocolate bar but next time I think I'll buy a cheesecake, too. The last day, we had to check out around 11am so we had our breakfast early and left for a morning walk in Hyde Park. We walked along the beautiful Italian fountains, kept straight until reaching the Albert Hall and met this cute gray squirrel who came to clamor nuts. Walking back to the hotel, I couldn't resist but shoot this red telephone box and the underground sign. Little bit of a cliché. We then headed to St Pancras, using our Oyster card for the last time, and bought some sandwitches at Prêt (duck sandwitches, of course). There are so many great things to see in London, if I had three or four days more, I would definitely go to Sky Garden and have evening walks to appreciate the city lights. But that Eurostar brought me back to Paris so fast, too fast. I really cannot picture myself not going again to this marvelous city, so let's meet again someday, London!







Can I move in London and shop everyday at Marks and Spencer?
 
Hope you all had an amazing summer eating ice creams
Wait, it's anyway always time for ice cream


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