Nomadic Community Gardens...

Veronica was excited to bring us to the Nomadic Community Gardens that she had found on one of her earlier explorations of Shoreditch. This garden, combining art with vegetables, was unlike any we’d ever seen before.

The deeper we ventured in, the more I thought about dystopian movies like Mad Max.

There was a lot of art made from recycled tires.

 There was also a huge mish-mash of design elements.

London Street Art...

We saw lots of interesting street art during our visit. Shakespeare was in Southbank...

 ...while the rest of these were in Shoreditch.

 Some involved famous characters...

 ...while others included scultpure.

 Not surprisingly, some made political statements...

 ...while others made questionable statements.

More Awesome Views...

I was thrilled when I found out that Terri and Chris would be in London while I was there. Between our lunch at GSK and dinner at OXO Tower, Ashlynn and I headed to their new apartment in Battersea. Along the way, I spotted the Cookie Monster near the roof of a school.

 No surprise at all that their apartment was absolutely stunning.

The view from the master bedroom was especially incredible.

I admired all the hard work that Terri put into the design of each room. I especially liked the many cool light fixtures. My favorite piece of art was this squid made from Formula One parts.  

Pretty cool that they can even see the London Eye from the balcony.

Special Meals...

Veronica was thrilled that Ashlynn and I could join her for a ramen lunch at GSK...

...followed by bronkies (brownies crossed with chocolate chip cookies).

That evening we had an amazing dinner with Terri, Chris, Habe and Nina at Oxo Tower Brasserie, offering incredible views over the city (which I failed to capture). You might just be able to see the red neon OXO on the right.

Afterwards, all us ladies went to see Nina’a son Max starring in an off-Broadway version of Carmen. We had seen Max in shows at the BSN and the Panto, so it was extra special to see him grown up and as the lead male in a small, but extremely professional version of this musical. We all really loved the show and, as you can see, Nina was very proud.

Camden Market...

Veronica had to work during the day, so Ashlynn and I found ways to entertain ourselves including visiting Camden Market. The main parts of the market had been upgraded substantially since I had last visited and the food options were incredible.

There was still a lot of cool street art...

 ....unusual storefronts...

 ....and eclectic collections of stuff for sale. We had planned on hashing that evening, but public transport worked against us and we ended up in a pub instead.

London at Night...

I had some time to wander between seeing Camilla and meeting up with the girls, so I snapped some shots of my surroundings including this view of St. Paul’s Cathedral from the Millennium Bridge...

...and this selfie from a random metal sphere.

Although we met up at Monument, Veronica led us on a long walk across Tower Bridge...

 ...across Southbank...

...to Embankment with lots of lovely views along the way. Veronica has entirely embraced living in London and loved sharing one of her favorite walking routes with us.

Billy met up with us after returning from a business trip.

Drinks in London...

From Bath, we caught a train to West London to spend several days with Veronica. That first evening we went to a Vietnamese restaurant for pho and then to Evans & Peel, a secret bar in Chiswick. From the outside it looks like an old-fashioned pharmacy until they open the door and the windows black out so no one can see the bar inside. 

Unlike The Doctor in Rotterdam, I was allowed to take a photo inside this cute bar.

The following day while Veronica was at work, I pulled off a major surprise for Ashlynn. I had completely thrown her by telling her that we had an appointment after lunch. When we approached the theater showing The Lion King and she realized my bluff, it brought tears to her eyes. Despite having seats in the back row, we both thoroughly loved the show. Afterwards, she went to Veronica’s choir practice while I met up with Camilla at a small café at the impressive Somerset House. It was so great to see her that when she invited me to spend a night at her place later in the week, there was no way I could turn her down.