Winding down in London

Wednesday October 16 was a mix of sun and cloud with a high of 16C.  But no rain!

We had our morning coffee at Allpress.  We've taken our reusable cups (made out of coffee husks) from Toronto and are getting lots of positive feedback (plus a small discount on our coffee purchase in most places).

Allan with one of our travel mugs
We walked down Bethnal Green Road to check out the stores at Boxpark.  Boxcar opened in 2011 as the world's first pop-up mall.  It was entirely constructed out of refitted shipping containers.  It offers affordable and flexible leases for clothing shops, cafês, restaurants and galleries.  'Stacked' in Toronto on Bathurst Street at Front Street is a similar concept.

Outside of the shops of Boxpark
Some are international brands and others very local.

Happy Socks had a shop



One store had great dog toys of Trump and BoJo.

Boris and Donald

Satirical books--- "Putin-Life Coach"-- Yikes!

Great message...
We then took the 149 bus to London Bridge.  We sat on the top level of the double-decker bus and I took this pic just as we were arriving at London Bridge.
The Thames and London Bridge

Memorial plaque for someone killed during the June 2017 attack on London Bridge
We decided to check out Borough Market, just a few minutes away.  Lots of great food booths- both fast food as well as fruit, cheese, bread, meat and fish stalls.  We made some purchases for our train ride to Paris on Thursday.

Great Nordic bread stall

Mushrooms and other veg
Hot mushrooms


Squid

Huge Oysters

We bought some sheep cheese here
After picking up our art purchases at the Eames Fine Art Gallery on Bermondsey Street, we took the Tube back to our 'hood.
The Shard in sunlight
We were both tired and it was late afternoon and we hadn't had any lunch.  We stopped back at Franzè & Evans and shared a chicken and mushroom sandwich.


Great graffiti en route with hashtag #Extinction Rebellion.

Outside of Franzè & Evans
Chillin' with mint tea and sandwich


We went back to the flat to do some packing and rest.


We had a dinner reservation at Andina, a wonderful Peruvian restaurant we ate at during our last visit to London.  It is located at one end of Redchurch Street, just about a 10 minute walk from our flat.  They also have a cookbook.


 Named after the grandmother

We shared a seabass ceviche and a wonderful eggplant dish

Pork dish on a sweet potato base

                                                                         With our Pisco Sour

    We shared a delicious vegan brownie with chia seeds for dessert


It was a quiet day for us in London, but we enjoyed wandering around in the sun.  We finished our pack and are getting ready for the next stage of our adventure.  We take the Eurostar to Paris tomorrow morning for the last week of our trip.

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