Explore: Shoreditch, London

Sometimes, I forget that living in Bath, things become so much closer and accessible. The average trip to London on a direct train takes just 1 hr 40 mins which is the same journey as Redruth - Plymouth for a shopping trip. In the 3 years that I've been been a student in Bath, I've been to London a handful of times with various friends in various weather conditions (Normally wintery) yet we always seemed to head to the same sort of places over and over (The sights obviously - Piccadilly, Trafalgar, Leicester Square, Soho, Natural History Museum etc). I'm no expert, as I barely know anything about this vibrant city but I think it has helluva lot to offer beneath the tourist traps, overpriced restaurants and cheesy waxworks. 

When I visit places, I like to see all sides of it; gritty and glorious (Although that didn't stop me from being pretty nervous when we got lost in New York, Little Italy late at night). Tourist traps are predictable, busy and sometimes tacky. This time, George and I caught the train in on a whim with the intention of just meandering around and exploring. Okay, so Shoreditch is pretty up-and-coming and lets face it, hip as duck, so hardly the underground undiscovered treasure trove but it was pretty snazzy and made a nice change from mooching around Harrods and Oxford Street.

It is pretty bohemian and arty and filled with eye candy in the form of pretty graffiti and also has a plethora of adorably hip cafes, vintage shops and yes ladies and gents, a cereal bar. where you can buy breakfast cereal and eat it any time of day - like in that adorable film with Zoe Deschanel Flakes. 

It was a beautiful day and the views from the train window were glorious as we whizzed through the countryside racing the clouds as they scudded across the sky. We arrived at Paddington and took the tube to Liverpool Street station which seemed to us like the easiest way to get to the Shoreditch area. 

We hit the Old Spitalfields markets which had tons of fancy shmancy eats and some stalls that sold cool hats. 

We wound our way through the streets taking in all the glorious brickwork in all their colours (such a welcome relief from Bath's monotonous sandstone) and eyeing the elaborate sandwich and deli stores and hatches scattered about. This place was just so damn hip I could almost feel a beard growing as I walked down the street. We loved it. 

I loved this wall. Speckled with colour from layers of graffiti, it's almost a work of art in itself. We met several friendly locals who were chatty and keen to recommend places to see and also talk photography. 

My OOTD was my new SeaSalt sailor top in tomato, my daisy bag by floozie, a fat face coloured glass necklace, my old skirt I picked up in a sale eons ago for a bargain price and my eBay dollies. 

 We found a Cat Cafe. I had heard about these, and remained undecided as to if they were exploitative and unfair on the cats who would rather be left alone and not poked and prodded by strangers, or if the cats were actually having a whale of a time having belly rubs on demand. Either way, the place was closed and not a cat in sight.
One thing that WAS open that I had heard about was the Cereal Killer Cafe. We didn't go in, because there were no free tables but it was delightful with shelves filled up with novelty breakfast munch with milk served in old school milk bottles. I loved the film Flakes which was set in New Orleans (A city I am desperate to visit for it's Jazz & Blues & Cajun food!) and I wonder if that's where this guy got the idea?

Being on a student budget and me having just received my car MOT bill that day, we decided not to eat out and instead picked up some £3 meal deals and ate our wraps in the park in the sun. Had we wanted to eat out, Shoreditch is just teeming with restaurants and cafes in endless guises to choose from, not to mention street food vendors. You will not go hungry in Brick Lane.

Later in the afternoon, our good Cornish friend Josiah (who's currently working in the Big Smoke in his new, fancy, graduate politics job) clocked off work and so we raced to meet him. He gave us a grand tour of the finance end of London, (many a posh building here) a visit to St.Pauls Cathedral and a trip over the millennium bridge where we spent the rest of the evening pottering about South Bank soaking up the atmosphere and exploring its windy streets.

(and taking the rare tourist snap! poor Josiah, sunglasses were needed on this bridge)

I think today was one of my favourite trips to London to-date. No fusty photography galleries this time (muahah) and no trudging around the M&M's store (I really don't like M&M's but I seem to be the only person) We spent so much time just soaking up the atmosphere in the parks and chatting to strangers and were reluctant to get the train home at the end of the day.
I've never been a fan of big cities (I'm a country bumpkin born and raised) but spending a lot of time in Bristol has eased me out of my shell. There's something intoxicating and energising about all the hustle and bustle not to mention all the crazy things we just don't get in Bath (and especially not Cornwall). London has it all, and our next adventure in the big smoke involves a picnic with the bro's on Hampstead Heath which I hear is pretty darn lovely.