Sun sun sun

My first easter in London was wet and grey, if I remember well. And though the weather is generally better here than in the Dam, of course that weekend it wasn't. The second year I planned to go away, until a friend anounced he'd celebrate his 30th that weekend and hope we'd stay in town. Bastard then decided to stay in Peru for a bit and Easter weekend turned out wet and grey with no friends in town. So this year I planned to go away once more. Until friend Gorkem suggested a visit, and I decided to stay. And third time lucky: what a glorious weekend. Ridiculously warm for the time of the year.

Poor GG had to spend Saturday by himself as I'd gotten sick on Friday night and couldn't move, but luckily I was alive and kicking on Sunday. Brick Lane, Shoreditch, Spitalfields, via the empty City to London Bridge and the boat back to the Wharf. A perfect Sunday. Monday was spent walking from my place to Tate Modern, with a lunch break at Dim T in front of my office (new office, I may add, in the most amazing location, I can see Tower Bridge from my desk!). And off GG went again. A weekend with a fab friend, in the sun, after a few stressful weeks at work was just perfect. Glad I stayed!

East London FTW

Every so often I re-fall in love with East London. Today was one of those occasions. My friend Liesbet was here, and I decided to take her to Spittalfield Markets for brunch at LUXE. Good food, good coffee, and fantastic people watching. The shops around the market are generally pretty cool, I especially love the florists with the beautiful bouquets that I cannot afford. There is also a pretty funky hairdresser. The SM Barbie dolls in the pic were in its window. Only in the East end...

From Spitalfields it's a short walk to Brick Lane. Turn right and you will have to fight off a gazzillion Bangladeshi restaurant-staff trying to lure you in. Turn left and you will find loads of street food, cool market stalls, and loads of vintage shops. Actually, don't turn into Brick Lane straight away. First there is Nude Espresso, serving one of the best brews in London (staff fully dressed...).

From Brick Lane we wandered (well...speedwalked) to Columbia Road as I wanted to buy flowers just before the market closed. On a beautiful spring day like this it's ridiculously busy, but fun nonetheless. Three bunches of flowers for a tenner brought spring into my flat. As we walked a million kilometers yesterday, we then took a bus home, through Shoreditch High Street. I was still too full to consider tea, or I would have taken Liesbet to Pizza East, a good New York style pizza place in the Tea Building.

The things listed above could be anywhere. But what makes the East End so special is its variety of people. Once the Jewish part of London, it is now the home of many Bengali and hipsters. Especially Brick Lane and Columbia Road are fantastic for people watching: it's where all the cool Londoners seem to hang out on Sunday afternoons. And between the Alexa and Russell look-a-likes, you find the stalls handing out leaflets on Islam, and grey men with kufis. A good mixture.