Day #3: Borough Market and St Dunstan in the East

Happy Friday! Today's story is told in pictures. The morning was a food tour of Borough Market. Six stops with different food and flavors of London, all centered around the Borough Food Market. It's a farmer's market on excessive steroids. My chef friends (and myself) would go absolutely bonkers here. The afternoon was a visit to St Dunstan in the East. The church was bombed during WWII and instead of rebuilding, they let nature take over and turned it into a park. The result is a tiny bit of beauty in the middle of the city.  I can use words, but the pictures do a much better job. :) 

Note: Apparently Blogspot decided to upload the pics in reverse order, so we'll start with St. Dunstan. Absolutely beautiful spot with lots of benches to sit quietly and reflect. 

Switching gears.....food tour! 

Sticky toffee pudding and tea from The Boot and Flogger. Absolutely yummy. 

Neal's Yard Dairy, a cheese shop. Cheese here came from individual farms, not even from regions. If you wanted cheese from Old MacDonald, they likely had it. 

Cider! Very different tasting than what we get in the states. More mineral, with a slight sour taste. I liked it better - this store had bottles (like wine bottles). I may have to find a shop that sells them to take one home. 

Part of the market, with stalls on each side. Packed! 

No British food tour would be complete without fish and chips. Not too sure about the chips (too potato-y for me), but the fish was fabulous.

The famous (at least in song) London Bridge. It's funny, because the Tower Bridge is much more ornate and fancy. Fun fact - the building that looks like it's bending (the walkie-talkie building) is home to the Sky Garden. I'm going there on Monday. 

Issak (our tour guide) joked that many tour guides in London were out of work actors. If you look at his facial expression, you'll see he was one of those actors. (He had a role in the Amy Winehouse movie, but it was cut) 

Winchester Palace, only discovered when workers began excavating the site for development. This was essentially a den of iniquity (sp?) for the local clergy. They may have been men of G-d by profession, but they didn't act like it..... 

Doughnuts! The shop manager said these had 1/2 the sugar of regular doughnuts. That makes them healthy......right? We tried the lemon meringue. 

Sausage rolls - fresh sausage wrapped in pastry. I'm probably breaking some sort of Southern code of ethics, but I would choose these over Bojangles any day. 

Our group at the last stop. Lots of fun!