Monday, November 21, 2011

Momma Gagnon Comes to London

Yesterday I was lucky enough to share the day with Jessica and her mother, who arrived on Friday and will be staying here in London with her until Sunday. We are all excited to have a  mother duck around to keep us all in check. Jess was kind enough to share her mother with me all day yesterday as we explored central. It was a very busy day full of sightseeing, good food, and exciting, first-time encounters. Allow me to recount.

We got an early start and headed into the city via the London Overground (tube closures across all of the good parts of the city made getting around in the usual way impossible). Overground travels is fun though, and lets you see more of the city AND ride backwards like in a roller coaster! Once arriving in Waterloo, it was a short walk to the back end of the London Eye (a place I had never even though of going) where a wonderful little market was happening. The "Tea and Coffee Festival" was setting up shop, and since the restaurant we had chosen for lunch was not yet opened, we decided to wander through the market.  Independent makers of coffees, teas, cakes, cookies, fudges, and other sweet deliciousness had gathered here to sell their goods. It was cold, and the temptation to buy everything warm and sweet was high.  We resisted temptation, promising a particular baker that we'd be back after lunch, and headed towards the London Eye.

All along the river, Christmas themed shops were set up selling a variety of knickknacks. Wooden ties, candies, leather purses, glass figurines, artwork, and the list goes on and on. The regular street performers and pedlars were there as well. One guy, with an interesting hairdo of tightly twisted mohawk-like spikes down the middle of his head, was my favourite. I dub him the Bubble Man. It's not hard to guess why. He was there with huge buckets of soapy water, and two different bubble-making contraptions. I have decided that if I fail here at Roehampton, this will be my future job. Kids and adults loved him and stood watching in amazement for long periods of time before tossing spare change into a red bucket which was filling fast. I'm willing to be that this guy hauled in more money than any of the other performers, and his craft brought genuine joy to those watching. I took some pictures and videos. If my dream to become a bubble woman is not fulfilled, I will at the very least create this contraption and amuse myself in the lawn outside my dorm.

We lunched on dim sum at a place called Ping Pong. It was delicious! It was the first time I have had dim sum in years. We didn't take any pictures of the spread of food. I guess we were just too hungry to think of photographs and instead dove headfirst into delicious dumplings of various fillings. YUM! We all must have saved a small pocket of our stomachs for the cakes in the market outside. We returned to the same baker we had chatted with earlier, and purchased sweets to wash down the dim sum. "Super moist" carrot cake for me, green tea white chocolate cupcake for Jess, and an espresso brownie for Momma Gagnon. We people watched as we ate, then headed out for more adventure.

We walked across the Westminster bridge toward Parliament and Westminster Abbey. After taking loads of pictures, we headed on to Green Park where we found something I had never seen unclose before. A pelican had found his way out of the designated wildlife area of Green Park and was pacing frantically along a park path. We took some pictures and videos of him. I marvelled at his size, and then we moved on feeling a bit sad that we couldn't help the poor guy back over the fence to safety and his friends. We soon found ourselves wandering down Oxford Street, shopping and enjoying the Christmas lights and music. Nearly out of energy, we headed back to Putney for dinner at Putney Pies! Scrumptious pies all around and dessert too! What an awesome day!




Thanks, Jess and Momma Gagnon, for a fun filled day, good food, and great memories.