brayza in the UK

The Park, the Markets and a Giant Gherkin

// April 26th, 2009 // Trip information

On Wednesday (15/4/09) Mel and I decided to go to Regents Park as it was another lovely London day. We caught the train to Baker St (Yes Baker St! Forget Sherlock Holmes, Danger Mouse is what Baker St is all about!!), and made our way into the Royal Park. It was another really nice park. Mel and I were tempted to hire a pedal boat but decided against it. We walked around the park for a couple of hours but we never saw one Dalmatian, let alone 101 of them. Confused?

After our walk we headed back down Baker St and popped our heads into the Sherlock Holmes museum. It was a nice little shop at the front, but you had to pay to see the museum. We walked around the shop, the went outside and got our photo taken next to 221B Baker St door.

UK Venice

The next day Mel and I journeyed down to Camden Markets. The weather turned against us but it wasn’t that bad to walk around in. I tried to use an umbrella, but I would have ended up stabbing the other marketeers in the eyes. The umbrella I happened to grab on the way out had to be a golf umbrella.

Camden is a very picturesque market with the Camden lock and the Canals around the streets. We walked around for good half a day, and whilst we were there Mel and I both bought a souvenir to take home with us. We both picked up a beach towel with the Underground map printed on it. I first saw one for £12, but as we walked further on I managed to haggle the price down for £10 for 2.

A memorable mention goes to CyberDog clothing store. Strange, weird and unique. Check it out for yourself.

Attack of the giant Gherkins

On Friday, Teneale had an interview near Liverpool Street so Mel and I went and met her there. Teneale had about 45 minutes until the interview, so we took a walk to the giant Gherkin (30 St Mary’s Axe). It’s a cool building; however it has been dubbed one of the ugliest buildings in London. Personally, I think not.

After we were “Gherkin’d-out”, we left Teneale to go to her interview and Mel and I went to the Brick Lane markets. It’s a very artsy market, and Mel picked a really cool pink and black handbag, (Pink? Mel doesn’t like the colour pink!). We got to the markets pretty late so most of the stores were closed or in the process of closing.
Afterwards we met back up with Teneale, and walked back around to the Gherkin where we had seen a sign for “£3 cocktails after 5pm”. We consumed a few cocktails each (yes, I had some too. They were tasty!) then proceeded home to find a pub for a cheap meal.

No Pub Meals Allowed

To our astonishment, none of the pubs in the Bermondsey area serve food. We tried 3 pubs and none of them served food. In the end we settled for take-away Chinese. It was nice, but Ginger and Spice and Monkey Magic beat them hands down.