Cheers to London!

We the Pringles are blessed to have great friends, the Fletchers, who live in London and were gracious enough to allow my friend Leah and I to spend the past week with them.  And what a week it was!  In terms of sightseeing, we saw it all – Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, London Eye, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Piccadilly Circus, Tower of London, Kensington Gardens, and Harrods department store.  Other highlights for me included attending a rugby match (go Leicester Tigers!) and seeing War Horse, a new play in London that is coming soon to Broadway.  I even found time to meet up with some friends (from BC as well as Barrington) who are studying in London for the semester.  Always fun to casually text a friend, “Meet me by Big Ben at noon!” 

Typically when people talk about England, they do not make complimentary statements about the food there.  There are very few dishes that the country is famous for aside from fish and chips.  However, I am happy to report that my culinary experiences in England were all in all quite positive! 

One afternoon Leah and I walked through Borough Market located at the south end of London Bridge.  There were hundreds of food stands and samples galore.  Olive oil, breads, cheese, cakes, ravioli, homemade pesto sauces…all for free!  I was in heaven.  Leah and I ended up buying some sun-dried tomato pesto and this amazing bread that had been baked in flowerpot (see picture below). 

One of the most memorable parts of our trip to England was the time we spent in the Cotswold’s, a rural region north of London that was the home of Shakespeare himself.  The Fletchers have a home in Hornton, a darling and foggy little village in the hills with matching thatch-roofed houses, narrow roads, and fields for sheep and Shetland ponies.  During our walk around the village we made a stop in the village pub to get warm and have a cider.  This tiny, run-down pub, known as the Dun Cow, appeared to be the sole commercial establishment in the entire village.  The place was a perfect cliché, complete with a fire blazing, a sleeping old dog, and a barkeeper with a long gray beard who referred to me as “the fair maid.”  I’ll never forget the Dun Cow. 

What will I miss most about London?  English Breakfast Tea and Cadbury chocolate.  Fortunately the Fletchers sent me off with some of each, so I’ll be in good shape for a while at least.  But now it’s time to say good day to London and buongiorno to Firenze!