This little piggy went to market...

Everyone has been telling me to go to Borough Market, so that's what I've done! (Three times in fact!) I made the short tube ride there Friday around lunch time, and boy was it bustling! (Marc likes to tell me that that was nothing and that Saturdays are WAY worse. I can believe it!) I took my sweet time looking at all the delicious food vendors, the sights and smells quite satisfying in themselves! I wasn't overly hungry so I settled on some dried fruits and nuts and a couple truffles, just to taste. The choices were overwhelming! After that I walked around the area, and made my way to the path along the Thames. The odd sun-shower interrupted the day, but it always made for chit chat with strangers as we found cover under awnings or flower planters...etc. I stopped to admire the Globe Theatre, then made my way to Tate Modern. I spent a good couple hours in there...

Some of my favourites at Tate:
Black Virtue - by Matta
Three Dancers - by Picasso
Ithaca Mirror Trail - by Smithson
Untitled (oil on canvas 1971) - by Kounellis
The Window; Nude in the Bath - by Bonnard
Figure - by Cordell
Waterlillies - by Monet
Summertime: Number 9A - by Pollock
Marilyn Diptych - by Warhol
Ed Ruscha, in general!
I was able to find some postcards of a few of these, so I can decorate my new digs once I get to Poland!

After my captivation there, I crossed the Millenium Bridge to walk along the Thames on the other side, towards Tower Bridge. I made it home by 7pm. Big day out! Then a couple of Marc's friends came over, so we hung out and then headed to a pub for the evening!

Saturday Marc and I got up early to return to Borough Market to beat the crowd...well, we left at 9:30am. We shared the most AMAZING raclette toasty....mmm. I also had a wild boar sausage, and we got some fruit and Turkish delights to enjoy in the park. We took our treats to St Jame's Park, near Buckingham Palace, and we read and just enjoyed the sun. Then we walked back along the Thames, to meet up with Marc's friend Hannah, we got some groceries (at Burough Market!), then we tubed it to Hamstead. There we went (a VERY round-about) way to Hamstead Heath for a picnic! We met up with Nancy and Rahim too (friends of Marc's that I've met by now). Our spread was impressive - sausage, baguette, cheeses, olives, dolmades, crepes, peaches, plums, cherries, leiche nuts, rasperries, wine....it was delightful. There was a carnival nearby that we checked out after. My tummy was too full to ride anything, but I think I had just as much fun watching a few of the others go for a ride. We then walked some more and ended up on Parliament hill with a most fantastic view of the city. We eventually rolled back to Marc's around 9:30 last night. The small group of us made tea and listened to some music (Sliimy!). Another big day!

Today will be a quieter day. I just have some things to organize. I may check out the Columbia Road Flower Market too. I'm going to take Marc out for dinner this evening....and tomorrow's plan is the Notting Hill Carnival!

Hope everyone is peachy. xo

Broke in my new runners

Correction: trainers is the term the English use. Not that I need to sound like I fit in. My accent (or lack of one?) is a giveaway. Yesterday Marc and I went running along Regent's Canal, and I did the same route this morning while he is at work.

Good flight back from Faro. I slept the whole time. Another good night's sleep afterwards. Travelling is not the time to try and be on any sort of regular sleep schedule!

After running yesterday, Marc had a haircut so I wandered some, on New Oxford Street. Then we came back to Marc's and some of his friends came over (all such lovely people!). We made pancakes. Yey! It was so silly and fun. Then the group of us went to see Coco Before Chanel. I adored it. Romance, set in France, early 1900s. Beautiful.

Yesterday I FINALLY washed the salt water from my hair. It was getting rather dread-like. I had rinsed it in Portugal, but never gave it a good wash. Ah, soft hair again...so foreign to me.

Now I can say it: last Monday I had dinner in London with Jenna!!! It was like a blind friendship...we both knew so much about each other but had yet to meet. It was really wonderful, and I hope to see more of her when we're closer in location! I just couldn't say anything because she was going home early and it was a surprise.

Meeting up with Chris today, and making plans for Greece. I am strongly considering going to Croatia first....

Now back to getting my luggage sorted out!

Always ask about the cuttlefish

Cheers from Faro, Portugal.

Jodi and I have officially parted ways. We took the same train from Lagos this afternoon, and now I fly out of Faro, back to London.

Last Thursday morning our flight was at 6am. I will never know or understand why we decided to not sleep before our flight. We'd been up at 9:30 on Wednesday morning, and just never went to sleep! Mind you, we did have to leave Marc's apartment around 2am to start our night bus and coach journey to Gatwick airport. We most definitely slept on our flight.

As soon as we stepped out of Marc's place, I was instantly in my state of heaven - wearing my life on my shoulders. How I love the feeling of being a nomad...

I was instantly captured by Faro. It's quite arid, but that makes the heat so much more tolerable. We got here about 10am Thursday morning, and our train to Lagos was not until 1, so we had some time to spare. We immediately headed for the church of Ordem Terceira do Carmo. I've seen a lot of churches, but this one was still oh-so-stunning. Especially chilling was the Chapel of Bones beyond the back. Skulls everywhere. I've noticed that all the churches in the Algarve region seem to have very similar architecture, such that they are practically identical. Very simple, very beautiful. After checking that out, we had a cheap lunch of toasties and beer. I wandered off to do a couple errands and returned to find Jodi chatting with Joe and Katelyn, a couple from England, so we sat with them on the train. Very handy having them along so they could wake us up at our stop!

Our arrival in Lagos mid-afternoon had m slightly concerned about finding accomodations. We had plans to check out some camping sites, and also to go to information on some hostels we had picked out. I was feeling so exhausted though and was really just hoping that someone would be at the train station to take us somewhere. Sure enough, it happened! A sweet old man lead us to an apartment where he rented rooms, literally right beside the city centre, and for at least half the price of any of the hostels we were considering. Yey! After settling in we explored Lagos. I already have plans to return next summer for work...

Lagos is the perfect little beach town. Gorgeous beaches surrounded by grottos, cobblestoned streets, endless shops and restaurants and bars, and brightly coloured buildings. It's an old fishing town, so there is a lovely marina too. We stopped into Eddie's bar before going to dinner. It was full of English and Aussie guys, watching cricket. We were warmly greeted by the (beach comber) bartender, asking if we wanted cocktails. Nope, beer for us. He said he could tell we were Canadian because of our nice accents and the fact that we tipped. He then brought us over to introduce us to "the boys". "Jodi, Leah, meet the boys". "Hi, boys". It was fun chatting. Then we headed to dinner, and an early night to bed. Ahhh, 13 glorious hours of sleep.

I did groceries in the morning then we spent Friday at Praia Batata, after checking out Pinhao and Praia Dona Ana. We had been told about Batata. Turquoise waters and those grottos. I swam around some to see that the beaches were separated by them. So so amazing. We took a boat tour of the grottos later in the afternoon. Because it was just me and Jodi with the guide, he totally took us into one where we had to duck as flat as the little 2 and a half foot high boat to enter. He was good at pointing out various shapes in the formations too - elephant, submarine, lady shoe....That evening we ended up at Casa Rosa for dinner...for an extra 5 euros we got "all you can drink in an hour". Bad idea. We spent the rest of the evening at Redeye bar, where some of "the boys" work. It was a fun night. Not so good next morning.

Saturday was another day at the beach. Followed by a more tame evening at Redeye once again. Sunday we went surfing!!! (I did not meet the love of my life.) We were taken to the west coast, to Cordoama beach. Jesus was our instructor, and there were a few others with us. We left Lagos at 9:45am and got back around 5pm. Very full day. It was trickier for me than when I went in Mexico, I think because we were barefoot. It was harder to grip my feet. I still managed to get up though. And as challenging and exhausting as it is, I still love it and want it to be my hobby. I will master it. We wore full suits, as we were on the Atlantic so the water was a little chilly. The waves beat us down, but that was no discouragement. How I love the thrill of surfing. I had to stop a few times and look around and take in the fact that I was surfing in Portugal!!! That was another early night (9pm!) to bed! (Jesus called me chocolate, and noted that our skin was almost the same shade!)

Monday was our last beach day. We stayed in the shade of one of the coves of grotto. It was nice. More swimming, lots of reading. Ah, the life. For our last meal out we realized we hadn't had fish yet!! So we decided on cuttlefish, because it was prepared Algarvarian style. Life lesson - if you're not a big seafood person, ask about the fish. Cuttlefish is definitely a mussels meets calamari meets octupus meets squishy texture. I did my best but was glad it came with some potatoes. We found a little cafe afterwords for a pastry to fill us more. Our last evening out we did a little bar hopping. It was a very late night indeed!

Today we had a leisurely lunch and last wander about Lagos before having to catch our train. Oh! The street that we stayed on was Rua do Cemeterio, so we went to see the cemetary this morning. Beautiful, though slightly eerie, as the plots were all above ground. We had lots of laughs on this little trip together. Now Jodi is off on her own, and me too, with my own plans in mind. Not to mention I start teaching in three weeks!!! Whoa. Exciting.

I am pumped to see Marc again so we can really catch up! Hope all is well with everyone. Miss you and I'll be in touch again soon. xoxox

Not-so-foggy London

Since Jodi and I have arrived in London, it's been sunny and hot! Weird, eh? So it's not like we need to escape to Portugal for the heat and sunshine (although it's supposed to get cooler and rainy here once we leave), but why not?

Last night I could not fall asleep, thinking about Lagos (that's where we'll be going in Portugal). This is in the Algarve region, at the south end. All I could concentrate on was surfing. And then I started panicking that I shouldn't have booked a round-trip flight back to London, because WHAT IF I MEET THE LOVE OF MY LIFE WHILE SURFING??? (Are you surprised?) He'll just have to come back with me, or meet me elsewhere. I'll just deal with it once I'm there. haha And I feel so spoiled because all I have to bring is my backpack. The rest of my luggage I will leave with Marc. Yey!

We haven't done too many touristy things here so far. We spent today in Hyde Park (again) with a friend of a friend of Jodi's, and two of her friends. The three girls we met are all teachers here: one from Winnipeg, one from Sarnia, and one from Kitchener! The two Ontario girls went to Lakehead, so we had lots to talk about. We did see Buckingham Palace. Yesterday we wandered around Covent Gardens - we ventured through Picadilly Circus and Soho. Lots of neat little shops. We visited Marc at his work too; a really edgy, funky underground bar called Freud. We're still not over our jetlag, so our days are a little wonky, time-wise.

Well, that's all for now. Not sure what my internet access will be like in small-town Portugal, so until next time, this tube-expert is signing off! (Be back in London late Tuesday!) xo

Going to Portugal!

Leaving Thursday morning, and returning to London Tuesday evening. Surfing and beaches here we come! (We, meaning me and Jodi.) We'll part ways there, as I'll be returning to London and she'll carry on! SO EXCITED!

Read the fine print

Sooooo beyond exhausted. About to get a GOOD night's sleep!

I flew out of Hamilton last evening. Yesterday morning was a bit of a panic. I realized that I had to prepay for my excess baggage, otherwise anything over 20kg would cost $35/kg at the airport. I decided to buy an extra 30kg...my luggage totalled 48kg. *phew!* That was close. The lady at the service counter was pleased that I had purchased it in advance, noting how much money I saved that way. Everything's coming up, Leah!

My flight was fine. I slept as soon as I was able to use the bathrooms after take-off. I think it was the most tired I've ever been. I woke up here and there to notice that the in-flight movies were "Duplicity" and "Pirates of the Caribbean". We landed in Belfast around 7:30am and most people left the plane at this point. It was between Belfast and London that I really slept the best.

Met up with Jodi at Gatwick airport no problem. Then we made our way via train and tube to Marc's flat. I'm so proud of how smooth it went! We are having no trouble with the tube maps here. Marc had some work to do on his dissertation so us gals wandered around the neighbourhood a little (we checked out a Bikram studio, of course), then headed to South Kensington, to walk around Hyde Park. Very gorgeous. Reminded me of New York, as the neighbourhood was posh, so it felt a little like Central park and 5th Avenue. We went to a little pub for dinner, and now we're ready for sleep!

I should mention that the weather here today was GORGEOUS! Not too hot, very sunny, and blue skies. We still don't have any concrete plans. Ireland, or Portugal, maybe! Marc is very willing to put us up and show us around so we are totally appreciating that.

Our waiter at the pub this evening was Polish, from Krakow. Very cute I might add...!

That's all to report for now, as my eyes are starting to close. xo

Great night, folks!

Thanks to everyone for an AMAZING night out last night. I'm glad so many people could make it out. It finally started to hit me that I am leaving such wonderful friends (and family) for a time...I will miss you!!! (I am discovering that I can only put up 5 pictures per post. Oh dear.)

Karma

I'm moving to Poland to teach English. I leave on Sunday. Today is Friday. Whoa.

Karma is on my side. I almost had to change my flight because the Polish consulate needed to keep my passport to approve my working visa for the year. I went on Tuesday and they told me it would take at least a week to process the visa. But they worked really hard to get it done and I was able to pick it up today! I didn't even have to cry or make a scene. I just went with the flow, because I need that visa. This was out of my hands. There was no point in stressing, so I remained perfectly calm. I will remember this. (My dad and Elise seemed to know in advance too, that good karma would have its way with me on this one.)

It's been a busy week, seeing friends and family. It's weird for me to say good-bye. It hasn't hit me yet. It doesn't seem real. I think it's easier for me because I am the one leaving. This is my adventure...

Back to packing for now! And tonight will be a good night! (I gotta feeling...)