Go South – London Bridge and Beyond

This summer, I spent a photography rich week in London. You probably noticed it either in Instagram or based on some of my previous posts this fall (Streets of London and Hackney on my Mind). As I have masses of great pictures from the trip which will hopefully be featured in the up and coming Tripsteri London travel guide, I thought I would write a little bit about my old hoods. It has been five years since I moved to Sweden, but London Bridge and Bermondsey are still dear to me. Every time we are in London, we are pulled back to the south for some great food, wine and just relaxed atmosphere.

Streets of London

This weekend I have been editing photos from our summer road trip to London and beyond. God I miss summer. However, browsing these pics made me think about something – I really love the streets of London. They are lovely, quaint, messy, noisy, crowded and relaxed at the same time – alive! And this week, I thought I would share some of my favorite London streets with you. Its going to be a lot of pictures, and little or no text. But sometimes that’s just how it is.  A picture will tell more than a thousand words. Enjoy!

Hackney on my Mind

I took 4000 pictures a week ago when visiting London. 4000! I had to go and buy an extra memory card because the ones I had with me were full. It was a sunny week and the weather could not have been better for shooting for the Tripsteri London book, and I was very happy to visit Hackney for the first time as the author lives there. So I thought that I would add a few pictures and recommendations from there as a little treat on this rainy Sunday.

The Return to Joses

The best restaurants are the hardest to write about. Especially when you have some personal memories of the place, like um.. first (and probably second and third) date with hubby, reunions with friends and, well, Thursdays. In London everybody goes out on Thursdays. I will never be objective about Joses. But I can try explaining what got me so attached and what it is that keeps calling me back. Joses is a wine and tapas bar on Bermondsay street in London, just blocks away from where I used to live (when I was still cool).

Wineweek 146: London Vol. 2

This week has been genuinely uninteresting. Perhaps it was the limit reached on the credit card, or the two kilos I gained during the summer, doesn’t matter, we decided to lay low for a while. Its quite nice. No expectation of wearing anything else than soft pants and laying on the sofa. Thus, I am posting some more pics and tips from our trip to London. 

Wineweek 145: Best Pics From London

Finally back home. For the past three week’s it has been a marathon of travel in Finland, Estonia and most recently Great Britain. Tomorrow autumn will start with a return to the office and daycare; cold winds will blow and sooner than we know it, winter is here. For us that is actually not that bad, as we always have our long holiday starting in December, but until then days will just get shorter and we would rather be somewhere else. I am one of those people who was born to the wrong side of the globe. During our years in London we always exclaimed that we moved there for the weather. This year, however, the beginning of August was a bit chilly even there. But we had some awesome food and wine to keep us warm. I even found a possible new obsession.. The best pics from our trip to London var så god!

Bubbles’n Riesling

Did you know that sparkling wine consumption per capita in Germany is one of the highest in the world? Local sparkling wines: sekt and schaumwein are extremely popular. When I think of German sparkling, I think of Rotkäppchen Sekt (the little red riding hood), the cheap supermarket sparkling that I bought during my many trips to Berlin around ten years ago. That was vile stuff, but no matter, it cost only a few euros and was available in every corner kiosk in town. Today, the trend with German sparkling is more towards quality and differentiation. Vintners often select individual, small, high quality batches of wine for their sparkling wine production and favor the traditional method of second fermentation in the bottle. Exciting!

Dinner at Foley’s London

What is a Saturday without some food pictures – and the pictures from Foley’s London really get my appetite going (even though I just had lunch). However, the story of that evening is not all rosy (its not that bad either), so consider your options before you run and make a reservation.

At Greenwich Market

My recent trip to London was almost wine-free. So this week, I don’t have so many stories to share about the main topic of the blog. But street food is almost as good right? To love wine is to love all things good and tasty. Greenwich market is not your typical London tourist hangout. There is still something very genuine about it.

Wineweek 106: Sweet Sweet London

The weekend has been short but relaxing. I don’t know if I even mentioned it, but I have been in London, spending some time with my big sister who lives there. She does not drink, so I have not had much wine (just a bottle of Margaret River Sauvignon Blanc), but it has been a sweet weekend with a lot of girl talk, retail therapy (shopping) and long naps. I have been working my ass off all fall, so I really needed those naps. Now I am sitting on the SAS flight back home ready to take on the world again tomorrow. .