Three Chapatis, Two Naans, and a Beer for the Sidewalk Please!

Indian food you say? Why yes, London offers some of the best according to Bloomberg. I couldn’t tell you myself, because we didn’t actually find the time to indulge in this cuisine during our short four day stopover, but that didn’t stop the many restaurateurs from trying to win our business as we casually walked, drank, and bartered for no reason down Brick Lane. We actually ended up enjoying an excellent Turkish meal at Mangal which we did not have to barter for, or at least we didn't try. Afterwards, since we were definitely not hungry and had been catching up with friends at the Off License (A less costly alternative to the pub which consists of buying beer from the corner store and consuming it "off the premises"...pretty much legal in London) we had no choice but to buy the world's best salt beef bagel sandwich from Brick Lane Beigel Bake.


Our stopover in London was fourfold:

1. We were legally obligated to leave the Schengen Area of Europe since we had exhausted our 3 month tourist visas.


2. We needed to get to one of the world's biggest international airports to catch our connection to the Far East.


3. We wanted to visit some friends we met in Granada who recently relocated to London.


4. Heather really wanted a pasty (Great Britain is the pasty homeland)

So what else did we do?

1. Heather almost got us thrown out of the country for putting her hands on the Rosetta Stone at the British Museum. This one is actually a replica, the original is behind bullet proof glass in a temperature controlled environment. The sign in front of the replica literally says “Please Touch”
                              


2. Two more Museums including the Natural History Museum and Science Museum.

  

3. Borough Market and Harrods.

4. And of course no visit to London would be complete without a trip over to London Bridge...to take a picture of Tower bridge...and a photo op with London's most famous movie star.

 

                           

If it seems like we did a lot of museums, it's because we did. Most museums in London are free, which is easy on the budget. We also stayed in three different hotels, mostly scored with points or other free nights we've accumulated, and even stayed two nights in the Intercontinental Park Lane where we felt a bit out of place carrying in our backpacks, and even more out of place sipping our free welcome drinks in the lounge amongst what seemed like global dignitaries. But that's life on the road.