a London visit

I headed into London yesterday. The initial idea of the visit was to go and look at the SANAA pavilion at The Serpentine before it was taken down, however things did not align and I would have been a day late. So instead I had changed my plan to head over to The Photographers’ Gallery, a place I had been meaning to visit for a while.

As I knew that I would be getting the train and that it was walkable to the gallery I had a look at what else was on the way. I didn’t want to go shopping really as I am keeping most of my pennies for the Japan trip but I am completely out of proper tea at work so I was very happy to find that Postcard Teas was on my way. I first heard about Postcard Teas from my father who is very much a fan of fine teas and I have ordered many by post. Looking at the site I can see I have had Wazuka Sencha, Yunnan Red Cloud, Aoki Green, Mountain Grey, but thinking of the number of tins on my desk at work I am sure that there are a couple I am forgetting. It was very nice to be able to visit the shop itself, it’s very cute (see above), and the young fellow who helped me was nice and seemed to know what he was talking about. After some discussion about Taiwanese teas he went out the back to make me up a parcel of Yi Mu Oolong, a new tea they have in that they have apparently called ‘Yi Mu’ because it comes from 1 acre.

I knew I was going to have to eat so before I left I consulted Tommy’s really wonderful Lo-Fi London guide. Following the advice I went to The Natural Kitchen on my walk in for breakfast, I had a very nice yoghurt and a cappuccino at the tables in the front rather than at the cafe at the back because it was such a nice day. For lunch I went to the Nordic Bakery, a place also in the guide and that quite a few people have mentioned. The cinnamon bun was killer! I couldn’t eat half, next time I must come with someone who can eat the other half.

I also popped in to Liberty just because I just really like it there. The shop always smells great and I love looking at the homewares and fabrics on the top couple of floors, ah the fabrics, what a dream. I got to see the Carnaby Street side of Liberty too which they have covered with the floral pattern.

The Photographers’ Gallery is just around the corner from Liberty, it’s free to get in, there were two exhibitions André Kertész: On Reading and When You’re a Boy: Men’s Fashion Styled by Simon Foxton both of which were interesting. They have a great shop full of lomo goodness, books, and gadgets. I averted my eyes as so I didn’t get tempted. However I did buy the one thing I had intended… a Digital Harinezumi!! So excited to own one. The gallery is the only stockist in the UK at the moment. It is a bit of an indulgence as really I should be saving for new lenses rather than trying out little gizmos but I was so very curious.

I am going to pause showing photography in this post as from the Nordic Bakery onwards I took pictures with the Digi Hari and I will put them together in the next post so we can judge how they came out :) I will explain a bit more about it then too.

Oh yes, in case anyone is curious about the locations of the different places this is the Google map that I printed and took with me so I would know the rough route, the line shows vaguely the way I went.