London: Aug 1: Borough Market and British Museum

On Saturday, August 1, 2009, Di Yin and I ventured to Borough Market, London's largest and oldest food market. It's the scale and caliber of other major markets such as Vancouver's Granville Island and Barcelona's Boqueria, including everything you'd expect from a huge market: fruits and vegetables, meats, fishes, cheeses, breads, sweets, etc. Vendors were fairly liberal with providing samples, and we tried countless items (cheeses, spreads, hams, drinks, desserts). Given its size and popularity, it's no surprise it was extremely crowded on this weekend day.

I took some pictures this day, mostly of the market. Di Yin took many more. Her pictures do a better, comprehensive job at capturing the market's flair. When you hit pictures from Hampstead Heath (picture 72), you're done with her pictures for the day. I'll link to the other pictures at the appropriate time in later posts.

After some mis-steps with the national rail system, we arrived, passing Southwark Cathedral on the way to the market. Once there, we met one of Di Yin's friends who'd lived in the city for a couple of months, and toured the market with her. In the market, I got to try a (raspberry) Turkish delight. I decided I must try it because I'd recently seen The Chronicles of Narnia. The sweet wasn't my kind of candy. In contrast, we brought some cannelés (canneles), delightfully-light mushroom-shaped French pastries made of egg-batter with a caramel-y outside. (The name comes from the fact they have groves on the outsides, i.e., they're fluted = cannelé in French.) I also assembled a lunch from a wild boar sausage on a bun, strawberries and cream (oh my god this looked so good every time we walked by, we had to try them), grilled halloumi cheese (which was served, oddly, on bread), and a chelsea bun (a sticky, fruity loaf). We also bought a bunch of good stuff for later meals.

Next, we headed to the British Museum, where we met two other friends of Di Yin. I don't have much to say about the British Museum this time because we mostly stayed in the South, South-East, and East Asia section of the museum, which isn't where my greatest interest lies. At least it was clear this collection had quality, well-preserved, well-presented artifacts. I noticed a column which, though shorter, appeared identical to those I was so impressed with in Ranakpur (India).

Near the museum, we walked through Russell Square and saw some other Bloomsbury sights.

After the museum, we re-met the Borough-market friend and grabbed dinner at her recommendation: Lowlander Pub. It's a pub with a great beer selection. I had a La Trappe Dubbel that I liked so much I'm writing the name down so I can get it again. I made everyone else try it too, and they agreed my enthusiasm was justified. It's a very smooth, balanced, dark ale. It's got a pleasant smell that includes caramel, and a taste that includes aspects of fruit (which made one person say it "feels like fall").