London : It was worth it !

Hey guys following us ! Thank you all to read our news again !In the last post, we told you about our will to give London a second chance, because it might be worth it. Well it was ! We will now tell you why, and count the points we gave to London in this re-discovery :

• 1st good point : Our host Gareth
  
  
  
  The thing that was annoying on our first stay in London, was that we could not stay.Accomodation needs planning, now we know it. And planning is effective : we asked Gareth if he could host us when we were in Edinburgh. Trying to find a long time ago is the key.He is so kind and funny, sings & plays amazingly the guitar or detuned piano, loves when you cook some crepes and is a tough chess player. Stephane could play many times with him, and Emilie didn't even try to not be humiliated, telling that she is "not enough competitive" :) Well, that is the truth anyway !
  

  
  
  Emilie could jam with him too, at last ! Remember the last good jam was back in Edinburgh? Well this time what a pleasure to discover a great musician, and a detuned piano in the living-room. 
  

  There was magic in the air

  
  

  

  And there's also this great garden we could discover on a sunny sunday

  
  

  We are so glad to have met this guy, and he kindly offered to stay at his place until the 19th of November, and even if we had already found other people in London, we decided to accept and stay with him.
  
  

  Thanks for all Gareth !

• 2nd good point : How people decided to marry us
  
  Gareth brought us to his colleague Katie's birthday (they are english teachers for foreigners) and there was a vicar there. On a idea from James, an irish guy, they called for the priest that was present at this party, and everyone was on the funny and lovely enterprise to marry us. We had a lot of fun there, and so we had a wedding waltz to please the guests, and we could get the congratulations of everyone. Great & warm time :)

•  3rd good point : Visiting without bags on back

• Bricklane

Our sunday started in the garden was full of discoveries. First we headed to Bricklane, the road to the eastern culture. On our way we could see the market in Wood Green, and then take the tube to the Liverpool station to walk down the famous street. We decided to eat out and taste many things on our way to complete our meal. So we began with 2 spicy vegan samosas (yum), then we found a japanese food stand selling Okonomi-yaki (a japanese pancake with vegetables and cheese, topped with sea weed). Then we tried indian food with 2 big "something", one filled with vegetables, and the other with lamb and curry. Both were very spicy again, and tasty. During our meal walking (we wanted to do like everybody we've seen there) we could here some music, see many shops and galleries, and notice that this street was half market, half mess. You should go there if you want to see something crowded but relaxed, and somehow alternative. 

• Baker Street : Sherlock Holmes' place
  To give reminiscences and please ourselves and to Emilie's big brother Julien, we went to Baker Street, especially at the 221b... The most famous adress in London (as we prefer fiction and Conan Doyle's stories than the Royal buildings with tons of tourists). We could not take the visit of the museum, but we could enter the building and view many goods about the greatest detective ever.

Don't forget all our travel pictures are organised and viewable on our Flickr account : http://www.flickr.com/photos/eyr/collections/72157622604154162/

So this is a high score that London made on our stay so far. We knew of course that with somewhere to sleep and cook, everything would seem easier and better, but at first London looked just like a big crowded mess. And it still is. But we could enjoy it this time !

One more anecdot? Oooookay...

See this picture?

These are escalators in the London Underground.

The one on the left goes down.

The one on the right goes up.

Both worked perfectly at this time.

In the middle, this is not an escalator.

These are stairs.

Don't ask why, Emilie started climbing them RUNNING.

In the end, legs hurt.

And we noticed that climbing running was exactly the same speed as quietly waiting staticly on the escalator.

What would have you chosen?

Oh shit, we didn't count the number of steps. Let's go back!

This is it (so far) for our discovery of London, and we still have more days left to discover again...

Who knows if London will take some more good points?!

We almost forgot to talk about : Sushi time in Bristol !

Before leaving Bristol to go to London the 12th of November, we went the day before at a japanase restaurant, to fill our appetite and craving for sushi again (remember? we talked about our need to find sushi quickly in our previous post). Though the restaurant was empty, the sushi were delicious, and most of them were half price! So we could have double of our serving, and taste some new, like the surfclam, or cooked sushis. It really is a very nice place to go. It is called O'bento on Baldwin street (http://www.obento-bristol.co.uk/). 

Our great and relaxed second sushi moment of our travel, this time in Bristol

All for today people, as you can see, it is always worth giving someone/something a second chance. Do it and you might be rewarded with good moments, and amazing discovery !

Kisses !