A Sunday in London 3rd August 2008

Ah, if it is Sunday it must be....

Start the day in Spitalfields!

With Bar Bruno shut on Sundays, we headed up to Spitalfields where we have now located an enjoyable Sunday alternative to Bruno: the S&M cafe.

Yes, the Sausage and Mash Cafe bar on Brushfield Street. Reviews on the net are unfortunately more negative than our experiences. I love having mash with peas and cabbage in it and the toast is lovely. A nice alternative and local to the market.

Ah, the market.

Home to all manner of Lika-ish things like beautifully made bags and clothes (I lusted after an especially gorgeous tailored green coat with fuschia lining but even though the £300 price tag was a bargain for the quality of materials and workmanship I wasn't foolish enough to belief I could afford it). And we dodged the showers nicely. An always lovely experience.

We then wandered over to the South Bank and drifted through the various bookshops and more along there. We spent a great deal of time watching the hilarious experiences of people with the Jeppe Hein's 'Appearing Rooms' Hayward Gallery fountain (which was originally there two years ago but seems to be back again) - it was especially fun to see children deliberately standing over where the jets of water would come up to get themselves wet, whilst largely the adults desperately tried to avoid getting caught [this didn't work when the wind blew!]

We also took in the over-scale (fake) grass furniture.



Come evening we were hungry so we headed back to Brick Lane for a curry - very nice - at Papadoms. Then we had a drink in the Ten Bells Pub at the corner of Fournier Street - very nice place to drink as it's clearly a chatterers pub but the clientele is easily 10-20 years younger than most chatterers pubs! I think we upped the average age a fair bit! We spied on a walking tour - inevitably calling on the Jack the Ripper tales - before we braved the night air and the spooky sight of Hawksmoor's Christ Church in moonlight. Yeeks, that place gives me the hee-bees. I re-read the excellent From Hell when we got back home and it reconfirmed my thoughts!