Loving Life in London

Duck sandwich.  Oh, yeah, baby.  I could get used to lunch hour in Borough Market!  Imagine a giant farmer's market right at the base of the London Bridge filled with the most unbelievable assortment of gourmet foods imaginable (truffles, drunken cheese, fresh oysters, goat cheese made by fourth generation goat farmers in Bath).

Duck is my favorite food.  Ever.  And there was a stall where a nice man had a meter-wide skillet full of sautéing duck.  He scooped up a generous amount, with delicious crispy bits, and lovingly tucked it into a ciabatta roll with a little watercress.  Hmmm.  I felt so refined walking around eating duck in a open-air market.  And then I scored!  I actually found a place that had iced tea.  In the States, especially in the hot states, iced tea is ubiquitous.  In Texas, you can buy it by the gallon--always with the question, "Sweet or unsweet?"  Here, forget sweet or unsweet, they don't even know what you are talking about when you order ice tea.  This was a find, never mind that this iced tea didn't actually have ice in it.  It was resting in a bucket of ice, so by British standards, was pretty frosty.

The Borough Market is about the eighth market I have been to in London since last Tuesday.  I love the markets!  I did an amazing tour of the East End Markets on Sunday, with the Alternative London walking tour company.  I haven't posted on that yet since I am doing a multimedia digital story project on the East End.   I am really excited to share my pictures and some of its fascinating history on my blog.  Those markets were a bit grittier, and filled with more real Londoners than the Borough Market.  This was about half-and-half, I would say.  Lots of men in suits buying their lunch and lots of fresh grocery vendors operating--and they don't cater to tourists in hotels, they are selling regular folks food to cook for dinner.

As we left the market to take the tube home, we happened upon a very large protest march making its way down the street.  Having seen big protests Chile and in Paris, I wanted to see how it was handled in London.  In Chile, government workers were demonstrating to keep their benefits.  It was chilling, partly because I was aware of the Pinochet dictatorship's legacy there, but the police and army were out en masse with tanks, machine guns, masked officers and German Shepards in bullet-proof vests.  

In Paris, the demonstrators were angry and had microphones, shouting and waving thier fists.  There were police stationed at the corners, about a block away, but ready if the crowd got rowdy.  I was so curious to see what the protest was for--at it turned out to be in support of PETA and animal rights.  This protest was very orderly, there was a route planned out and taped off down the very busy street.  There were armored trucks following the marchers and a police vehicle leading them, clearing a path.  But, it was also a very orderly bunch--firefighters, and their supporters from all around who were asking the government not to close down their local stations.     

We also toured the Tower of London and saw the Crown Jewels, but that was not the highlight of my day.  I realize that the regular "tourist attractions" hold little appeal for me, but I love being part of the daily life of a place.  I walked across the Thames today--the sun was shining and people were everywhere, and I was just so smiley.  I kept thinking, "The world amazes me.  I love life!"