A Very English Weekend

Our last weekend in England was very much the definition of an English weekend. On Saturday morning, Sarah met me and Niki at the Tube stop and we headed out on the Circle Line to get to Borough Market. Unfortunately, a train was stuck on the tracks so we got off at Westminster, crossed over the bridge to the London Eye and walked. It was the same trail that Shiri and I had walked on our first day in London several years before and we walked past the same book market we had seen last time. We also passed the Globe, the Millennium Bridge, the Tate Modern, St. Paul's, the London Bridge and Southwark Cathedral before arriving at Borough Market. We picked up some lattes at Monmouth Coffee, which were delicious, and then headed into the market to enjoy the sights, smells, and sounds. In the end, we decided to pick up some foccacia bread, cheese, salami, and grapes for lunch and ate with a beautiful view of the Tower of London and the Thames. The food was delicious and the dessert we picked up afterwards was nothing to be snide about either.

From Borough Market, we headed up to Hyde Park. I had read in the incredibly highbrow "Metro" paper that there was an IF Rally in the park to show support for the fight to end hunger around the world, especially in light of the G8 Conference the following week in Ireland. I was already familiar with IF and the Hunger Problem because of Charlie McDonnell's videos and I read on in the article to see that he would be at the rally. Natrually, I had to go to try and find him and make my sisters jealous. As you can see in the picture below, I did. He was lovely- sweet, adorable, very kind, and fully supportive of making the girls jealous. Just a wonderful kid (and yes, he's a kid...)

 The videos won't embed right now so click here and here to go to the videos to learn more.

The rally was huge. There was so much support, so many great speakers including Angelique Kidjo, who sang a beautiful song, Danny Boyle, James Purefoy, this amazing man who walked from India to the UK and gave a resounding speech, Bill Gates, and more. There was a flower field where people constructed paper flowers and planted them to create a huge symbol of the IF icon. It was so great to be a part of something huge and inspirational.

On Sunday morning, Val,  Sarah, Niki and I headed up to a little Anglican Church near Regent's Park called St. Marks. It was very simple inside- and very much a little parish church. I loved the ritualistic nature, with the vicar in his long robes, little girls carrying the incense, the reading of the Word from a huge Bible and a choir. The choir was magnificent- there were only five of them but they had such amazing sound. So powerful. The funniest moment of the service was when they asked the children what they learned. A little girl was explaining about how they were making bread but couldn't bake it "because the oven was dodgy." She was hysterical. I got to speak to the vicar before leaving and he was very kind.

We grabbed some lattes at a little coffee house outside Camden Market and then hit up my favorite place in London. We could a delicious lunch (everyone got something different- I got a parma ham and pesto Italian flatbread sandwich), managing to keep everybody together in the huge throng of people. I then immediately lost the girls, when I went to go find the pub sign area. It actually ended up being a blessing. As much as I love Camden, I didn't need three hours there and wasn't there to shop (although I did end up picking up a few books at a shop, naturally...) The girl were there to explore, shop, pick up gifts, etc., so it ended up being great that they stuck together. I finished wandering the market about an hour earlier than we had planned so I sat on the end of the canal and read my first ever Colin Dexter novel. Bliss.

 

 I led the group back through the market and Regent's Park up to Primrose Hill where you get the best view ever. I love being able to point out the non-so-famous buildings that you can see from the top of the Hill. As an added bonus, there was a singing group from Hungary? Poland? Eastern Europe? We're not sure but they sang and danced and wore ethnic costumes and were all around adorable. They added a little bit of excitement to the top of the hill. The night, as all nights in England should end up, concluded with drinks and dinner at our "local", the Stanhope Arms. Perfection.