A Postcard from Across the Pond: Odds & Sods in Merry Old England

Camden High Street

We've been in England for almost two weeks now - we spent ten days in London and are now at the tail end of our four-day stay in Oxford, with a day trip to Cambridge. Unlike our visit to Iceland, we received very few recommendations for places to see and activities to take in while we're here. I think it's because it's such a familiar place to so many people and very tourist-friendly.

The recommendations we did receive were unexpected and eclectic. One friend recommended wandering Shoreditch to check out the street art. We did this on a Saturday and it was an unforgettable experience. The pieces we came across ranged from graphic political statements and territorial tagging, to giant murals that were as much fine art as graffiti.

My cousins also took us on memorable tour of London's markets including the obvious tourist-packed haunts - Covent Garden and Camden Town - and a few markets where we enjoyed a more local experience - Burough Market, Brick Lane, and Columbia Road Flower Market. Of these Brick Lane's Sunday Market was the one I loved the best. We fought the crowds to tour the busy stalls with London's urban hipsters and recent immigrants, had a delicious lunch of grilled lamb and vegetable curries, and sampled sweets in the Bangladeshi dessert shops on the high street.

Burough Market

Buying Cheese at Burough Market

Crowds at Burough Market

The High Street Outside Camden Market

Brick Lane Market

Dessert Shop on Brick Lane

For the past couple of days we've been hanging out in stately Oxford and Cambridge, visiting friends, appreciating the gorgeous architecture, perusing the collections at many fine museums - including the world's oldest museum, the Ashmolean - and stopping to take a break at a few to the towns' more notorious watering holes - such as "The Eagle and Child" where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien used to exchange ideas over pints back in the days when they were colleagues at Oxford.

Speaking of pints, I'm off to grab one more before we bid a fond cheerio to Oxford (and England altogether, as a matter of fact). Onto France and the Loire Valley tomorrow!

Until next week!

Joyce

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Our good friend Aaron McGill has been sharing a weekly update of our travels with his listening audience on London, Ontario's "Inspiration Station" 99.9FM. If you're in London, Ontario you can tune in every Monday at 9-10pm EST to hear our updates on the air (repeats air every Wednesday at 10-11pm EST) and folks in other parts of the world can listen in online via the live stream.