Borough Market, London

London is the final European city on our 2013 Great Escape. I’ve been to London a few times before but this was The Boy’s first time here. Now, I LOVED London on all of my previous trips and I’ve often daydreamed about utilising my British passport and returning here to live but this time I just HATED it. I HATED London’s guts BIG TIME! I wanted to punch it in the face and stomp on it…HARD! I’m not sure what it was about me and London this time around but boy, did I have the sh!ts with this city for our entire 6 day stay.

I think a big part of my London grumpiness was the fact that the lovely AirBnB flat I’d picked out for us in Notting Hill fell through at the last minute. We ended up staying in South London, in Camberwell which I’d describe as a really “nothing area” with nothing to do - may as well be living back in West Ryde! Yawn.

There was really nowhere to eat or shop locally and I really missed having that “just-step-outside-of-your-front-door-and-everything-is-at-your-feet” feeling. I also think I was cross with myself…there was A LOT I wanted to do and see in London but no enough time to do it – so I just ended up feeling cranky and rushed the whole time. When The Boy casually dawdled around The Tower of London I was nearly tearing my hair out as I was already ready to be away to the next place to see.

The next place to see of course was the famous Borough Markets. I don’t know what I was worried about – that they’d sell out of ALL the food and I’d go hungry. Not likely.

The Borough Market is thought to date back to about 1014 – it’s incredible if you really sit down and think about it. People have been buying and selling food on this very site (or near enough to it) for nearly a thousand years! The market is split into two sections that are separated by a narrow road.

On the one side you have a lot of stall holders selling ready-made titbits that you can eat on the spot. All of it looks really tempting and it’s hard to decide on what to buy. I made a silly mistake earlier on as I was SO hangry The Boy and I stopped for a quick bite to eat at Pret A Manger so neither of us were that hungry by the time we got here. D’oh!

On the other side of the road stallholders are selling all sorts of meats, cheeses, vegetables, fruits and breads – I wonder if this area is the older part of the market? It has more of that ye olde worlde feel to it and is undercover whereas the other side of the road was open air (not so great in the rain).

 

The Boy and I go a bit nuts on this side of the market – buying all manner of goodies in the hopes of recreating some of the wonderful meals we had for ourselves in Paris.

We had a pretty good picnic back in our flat, but it just wasn't Paris if you know what I mean. Le sigh.