A Weekend in London

Yesterday I arrived home from a weekend away visiting a friend in London. If this reunion alone didn't make me happy enough in itself, I had the best time exploring the city, seeing some fantastic art and eating ridiculously good food along the way. I'll try and keep this fairly short and sweet, give a quick rundown of some of the best bits of my trip and finish up with a shed load of photographs to swoon over.

First up, as always, the food. We went to a fantastic little cafe called The Spoke where I had probably the best pork sandwich I've ever had...pretty big claim there. Not to sound too much like Greg Wallace or anything, but the combination of tender pork and soft, fresh sourdough was so on point. It seems a bit dramatic, but it was just that good (and HUGE). Other food highlights included Wahaca on the South Bank for some delicious Mexican street food and The Bread and Bean where, surprise surprise, I went for the pancakes. I'm almost bored of hearing myself talk about pancakes again (!) but seriously they were brilliant (and HUGE). We also sampled some Lebanese street food at the Yalla Yalla pop up in Shoreditch (mmm, falafel) and a final shout out on the food front goes to Ruby Violet in Tufnell Park for transporting me back to my childhood with their super tasty raspberry ripple ice cream. 

I don't know why I bother pretending to justify my food obsession on here anymore, but in order to make myself feel better, let me just say a quick word on the amount of walking we did (that must surely work off some of the pancake calories right?) We took part in an Alternative London walking tour which showcased some incredible street art around the East End. I honestly can't recommend these tours enough - we had a lovely guide, Lily, an artist herself, who took us around and discussed some of the history of the area as well as telling us about the artworks we came across. It was such a fantastic opportunity to see a different side of the city and really encouraged you to open your eyes and look at what's around you. I haven't inserted photos of every piece we saw as I didn't want to risk spoiling it for anyone else who might be interested in doing the tour themselves, but hopefully the images I have included will do it justice and encourage you to go along! 

Another place I really enjoyed was The Photographer's Gallery, which is currently exhibiting some work by photography students. It was brilliant to see some new, up and coming UK talent, but I also loved their John Deakin exhibition which focussed mainly on his portraits and gave an interesting insight into Soho in the '50s and '60s. Again, I would definitely recommend paying it a visit if you have the chance.

My final afternoon was spent seeing yet another side of the city, surrounded by beautiful greenery in Hampstead Heath, sunbathing and catching up on trashy magazines, as you do, before going for dinner in Covent Garden. I also definitely saw Jack from Bombay Bicycle Club, just saying. All in all a fantastic weekend!

Glasgow

I love city breaks. There's a lot to be said for taking a few days away and exploring somewhere new, and we ended up settling on an impromptu trip to Glasgow. I've only been to Scotland once before, a couple of years ago for The Fringe, so I was looking forward to hopping on the train and heading back up to be greeted by thousands of James McAvoy sound-a-likes. I'm very fond of the Scottish accent and I swear that by the end of our trip, my inner monologue had a Glasgow twang going on... 

We didn't do too much planning before we left and kind of treated it as a relaxed few days to get to know the place. Having said that, I did research some options for eating (priorities, guys) and turned to Kate's post about her top places for food in Glasgow. We went to Cup three times in four days, which I think speaks for itself really doesn't it? It's getting a bit worrying how often I seem to talk about American-style pancakes on this thing but I have to say that Cup offered the best ones I have ever had the pleasure of demolishing. They also did incredible home-made scones, served warm with jam and although we didn't have an opportunity to sample a full-on afternoon tea, they looked amazing (that's on the list for next time). I honestly can't recommend the place enough if you're in the Glasgow area! 

Other highlights included more food at Babbity Bowster, The Willow Tea Rooms with its amazing Charles Rennie Mackintosh interior (they love him there, seriously) and a personal fave, Saramago at the Centre for Contemporary Art, where I had a mezze plate which caused the two French men sat to my left to 'ooh' and 'aah' to the point where I felt like I should offer them some hummus (I didn't). 

Highlights which didn't involve food tended to involve beautiful art and architecture instead. As I said, CRM as he's known to his pals (which I feel we now are) is a big name in Glasgow and rightly so. The Mackintosh House is definitely worth visiting and I also really enjoyed our tour around the School of Art, which again was designed by Mackintosh. There were students working and moving about the place which gave it a really bustling atmosphere and you definitely got a feel for the history of the building. A final favourite was the Kelvingrove gallery which is a lovely building with an impressively large and eclectic collection of works. It also gets extra points in my book because they'd hung the paintings lower than is typical (there was some scientific study behind it...) and as a self-confessed shortie, that's always going to be helpful to the old stiff neck sitch. 

I really enjoyed my time in the city and am definitely tempted to go back again. The locals were so friendly and helpful, and being able to walk to most places easily or just hop on the subway is ideal when you're only there for a few days. I don't want to come across as some pancake-obsessed weirdo but I genuinely think that unless I can find some as good as that at home then I will probably end up visiting again just to get my fix...excessive? Nahhh.   

The Travel Edit

At the moment, the weather has been pretty uninspiring. We've had a dreary week or so - that awkward in between stage where it's not quite crisp and frosty, not particularly sunny and all in all, a bit on the damp side. I for one have been wishing I could do a Made in Chelsea, hop on a (private) plane and jet off to some new surroundings. If you're lucky enough to have a December break planned, I thought I'd share a practical recommendation for a useful set of guides, but if not, I've come across another book to give you an opportunity to escape without losing your job (if like me you have zero holiday days left) and/or forking out too much dolla'.

The practical: Lonely Planet Pocket Paris & Lonely Planet Discover Barcelona - I'm sure everyone knows this already, but when it comes to travel guides, the Lonely Planet cannot be beaten. Here I've got a pocket guide and full-sized option - the pocket guide is great for carrying around with you, it covers all the top sights, offers day plans and is crammed full of insider tips. The fatter option is essentially the same but just in more detail, perfect if you've got time to do some in depth research before you go. They both have plenty of maps and local information as well as picking out highlights and 'best ofs', but are set out in a slightly different way and on a different scale. What's brilliant about these books is that you can be sure any of their recommendations will live up to expectations, which is especially useful when it comes to food (my favourite bit...).

The slightly less practical: Paris by Julian Green - I picked this up on a whim last month partly because I'm building up a good collection of the Penguin modern classics and partly because I was feeling nostalgic for my trip to Paris (and the macaroons). The bit that really sold me was its description as a 'meditation on getting lost and wasting time' because a) my sense of direction is shocking and b) I'm pretty good at procrastinating and would be even better at it in Paris. I thought it would be nice way to re-live some aspects of my visit and more than anything, interesting to see how some of the sights I saw were described by someone who really knew the city and walked its streets decades ago. I also really liked that you have the original text as well as the English translation written on opposite pages, just in case, yano, I ever decide to dust off my GCSE and somehow become miraculously fluent in French. It's written in a very lyrical way, with shed loads of imagery, poetic flair and all that jazz - the perfect way to place yourself on the streets of Paris without having to fork out for a plane ticket.

Four days in Paris

The past few days have been a bit of a holiday comedown for me. This time last week, I was in beautiful Paris, sitting in a park by the Eiffel Tower, devouring a massive baguette (probably with mayo on my chin) whilst the locals strolled along with their dogs and groups of tourists sped ahead on segways.

Our long weekend away really was brilliant - we did pretty much everything you could possibly manage in the time we had! We saw all the usual sights, visited an abundance of museums and galleries, ventured to every corner of the city and spent our evenings on a cruise along the Seine and at a cabaret show a stone's throw from the Moulin Rouge.  Something which we found really worked in our favour is that if you're an EU citizen and aged between 18-26 then you get into a lot of the museums and galleries for free - just flash your ID and you're in, no questions asked!  Also, if you're in that age bracket and visiting over a weekend then the metro day tickets are vastly reduced in price, which was perfect for us because it meant that we could just hop on and hop off at whichever stops we fancied without having to worry about how many journeys we'd made. 

Whilst we were there we also took the opportunity to sample as many French delicacies as possible, ie. we ate a lot.  I'm all about a good pâtisserie and freshly-baked bread, and when there's an offering on literally every street it can be difficult to resist!  But hey, when in Paris, eat like a beast (or something similar). 

Having been lucky enough to spend four spectacularly jam-packed days in the French capital, I thought I'd share some of my favourite snaps from our time there.