new london sites (8 to go)
Monday, November 23, 2009 at 2:07AM 
A Swedish housewarming brought me to London this past week, and since I was making the trip anyway, I decided to make a day of it and cross another item off my leaving-England-to-do list: explore a new London neighbourhood.
I had three sites in mind, actually, and a view to take my time and see whatever I may along the way.
First, inspired by this photo and a recent interest in pie, I took myself to Exmouth market, near Angel. In the end I passed on the pie and instead grabbed myself a bagel, a cappuccino and a window seat at Brill - notably one of the best London coffee shops I've found (cosy, friendly, perfectly priced, delicious coffee and great tunes played at that magic volume for getting a spot of work done and brilliant eastend people-watching when you need a distraction). In addition to good coffee, Exmouth had some amazing stationery, gift and book shops: all the makings of a great London find in my books.
From there I ventured south of the Thames to the Imperial War Museum. This visit was partially inspired by some WWII posters I recently spotted in a mag, and my own research for an article that will be coming out here next week. This museum actually blew me away. There was so much more than I expected: a floor dedicated to the Holocaust, an exhibit on children in the war, the Blitz, spies in both wars and some incredible machinery. Not surprisingly, I actually spent the most time mooning over WWII and Cold War design and debating whether or not I have room for one more poster in my luggage.
I made one last stop on my way back to Baker Street, at Borough Market - one of my favourite corners of London - to pick up a housewarming gift and an overpriced cuppa from Monmouth. ah, bliss.
Now, admittedly, I'm a bit behind on my to-do list, but I have been doing plenty of other fun things in the meantime:
+queueing to see New Moon with all the pre-teens on Saturday night
+eating curbside falafels and chips
+meeting with sweet American friends for coffee
+having two lovely Londoners in Oxford for a day of clean air and hot drinks
+planning one last euro adventure before we leave (stay tuned!)
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