Four days in London and Jesse’s first visit to Europe.

For most people, London conjures up the image of Buckingham Palace and Big Ben. However, Jesse and I were on a quest to go beyond these sites and find the true local gems. With the help of a local (a friend of Jesse’s from way back) we were able to get a full run down on the history and facts of the city, meanwhile enjoying some of the hidden treasures.

We stumbled upon the Camden Markets which were the highlight of our trip – a billion outdoor food stalls ranging from Ethiopian to Dutch to Paleo.

I was able to meet up with my childhood bestfriend (and neighbour) for a rendezvous and thanks to her, we got a personal tour inside the Parliament Building. After the touristy things were done and dusted we enjoyed taking the tube out to cute neighborhoods (such as Shoreditch and Soho) to explore and eat.

From 5pm an English pub is the place to be. Or from 12pm really..

It was quite a relief to be back in the land of left-hand drive and ‘tea time’ (and toilets that aren’t half full with water). We found London to be so similar to NZ in culture and vocabulary we felt quite at home. Unlike Canada, British drivers don’t give way to pedestrians and crossing the street is a matter of life and death. We took a double decker bus across down and loved the adrenalin of almost running down cyclists, speeding up towards crossing pedestrians and loud honking of the horn.

So much art and so many gourmet food stops. We loved our nitro icecream from Chin Chin Labs – Strawberry and Hay custard transformed into firm icecream within 5 minutes thanks to liquid nitrogen, and topped with grilled white chocolate crunch..

Any history that NZ lacks is more than made up for in London, and we were pretty proud to claim it as part of our own heritage. Statues of NZ soldiers at the war memorial, the odd NZ flag around the place, the royal meaning behind NZ customs such as ‘tea time’..

We were quite surprised by how much we enjoyed London  – its similarity to NZ and huge contrast to Canada, the rich history, the architecture, the parks and greenery right downtown, the efficient tube system and the general vastness of it all.