A return to Shoreditch

Tuesday October 10 was still very warm and sunny with a high of 24C.   We decided to go for a stroll in the Shoreditch neighbourhood in East London, where we stayed during our last two visits.

We walked to the Borough tube stop just a few minutes away.  There is a group of street food stalls just minutes from our apartment.  The salad stall still had a lot of very nice salads and there were lots of people out at noon time having lunch.  We have noticed a lot of groups of vendors in other neighbourhoods as well.

Salads- yum; just one of about 6-8 vendors in the parkette

Tables to eat at as well

We took the subway four stops to Old Street tube station which is undergoing a huge renovation.  There are a number of new high rises at the station roundabout which we hadn't seen in 2019.    

Under construction near the tube stop

Another building

Wow!

We then passed Shoreditch Grind, a coffee shop/cocktail bar very near Old Street, which has been there for a while.

Shoreditch Grind

We decided to have lunch at Ozone Coffee, a great buzzy place that has fabulous coffee and an excellent brunch/lunch menu.

Take out counter at front and kitchen at right side of photo

We shared a delicious omelette with pesto, potatoes and seeds

We carried on walking, passing lots of Shoreditch graffiti. 

We then passed a very new, upscale Nobu Hotel.  Amazing design.  The posted menu was out of sight price-wise.

New Nobu Hotel in Shoreditch

We made a quick stop at the Hoxton Hotel where we had stayed a number of years ago.  It is very pricey now, but there is always an interesting art display in the lobby area.

There was a display by Electric Gallery, a print gallery for modern and contemporary art, founded in 2020.  The exhibit featured some prints by Dave Bounaguidi AKA Real Hackney Dave.  In 2003, Buonaguidi created the iconic Make Tea Not War poster for the march against the war on Iraq.   This exhibit featured some fun pieces about London.

Dave Buonaguidi, London is Always a Good Idea, 2023

Adventure is Always a Good Idea, 2022

We continued our walk past #plantsagainstpollution plant holders.

We then walked down Redchurch Street which connects Shoreditch High Street to Brick Lane.  It used to be one of our favourite streets with a great mix of small independent shops, some food stores, restaurants and cafés.  It must have been very hard hit by COVID.  There were a number of boarded up stores with graffiti, most of our favourite stores were gone, and it was quite depressing.  

Thank goodness, Allpress, a New Zealand originated coffee shop was still there.  We stopped for some beans and had a nice chat with the Barista.

Allpress Coffee

We continued to Brick Lane--- no real changes there--- lots of graffiti and street art, mix of vintage stores and, of course, Brick Lane Beigel Bake, open 24 hours and home of some of the best salt beef sandwiches.   There was a small lineup outside-- it moved very fast.  

Outside Brick Lane Beigel Bake- opened in 1974

Putting our sandwich together

We walked down Brick Lane to Old Spitalfields Market-- which has a number of independent vendors of clothing, jewellery, street food as well as some restaurants.  It seemed to be doing very well. 

 

Inside the market

Outside the main market was a new upscale area with pricier shops and restaurants.  There was an exhibit of life-sized bronze elephants called Herd of Hope.  Each of the 20 baby elephants represented a real orphaned elephant in the care of the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.  The artists Gillie and Marc created the bronze elephants.

Part of the Herd

The Mother Elephant

There was a wonderful piece called Together Forever on Wheels, by Gillie and Marc.  They have created many pieces of public art in over 250 cities.  They are best known for their beloved characters, Rabbitwoman and Dogman who tell the tale of two opposites coming together to become best friends and souls mates.  One of their pieces can be found in Toronto, on Scollard Street.  Gillie and Marc have also done a lot of animal pieces to help people understand the need to conserve endangered wildlife.  

Marc is the first generation of a holocaust survivor, and is from Melbourne Australia.  Gillie is Catholic,  her father was from India and her mother was from Holland.  She was born in London and spent the first 12 years of her life living in some of the poorest countries in Africa. They are presently based in both Sydney and London, sharing their time between their two countries of birth.

We decided to walk back to our 'hood.  We walked down Bishopsgate to the Monument.  The Monument stands at the junction of Monument Street and Fish Street Hill.  It was built between 1671 and 1677 to commemorate the Great Fire of London (1666) and to celebrate the rebuilding of the City.  It was designed by Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723), Surveyor General to King Charles II and the architect of St. Paul's Cathedral, and his colleague Dr. Robert Hooke (1635-1703).

The Monument

We then crossed London Bridge-- a lovely clear day for views of the many bridges on the Thames.

On London Bridge looking at Tower Bridge

Shard from London bridge

We stopped for a glass of wine outside of a small Italian deli on Bermondsey Street.  We then headed back to the apartment at around 6:30 p.m.  We heated up our delicious salt beef sandwich from Brick Lane Beigel Bake which we had with a green salad and the last of our wine.

Salt Beef sandwich- yum

Wednesday October 11 will be our last full day in London.  We are planning a visit to the Design Museum, which is located in Kensington, an area in west London with we haven't yet explored this visit.