Pubs, Pub Food, and the Culture of London

Over the past three weeks I have had the opportunity to experience many pubs in and around the London area and I have come to realize what a big part of the culture pubs are here.

There are pubs on every street and just about every corner. Of course they all advertise having the "best fish and chips in London." Besides fish and chips, pies of the day, Pimms, and of course beer are always on the menu.

Before I left on my trip to London, my uncle Terry had recommended a pub called Porter's in Covent Garden for my flatmates and I to try. With such a busy schedule it took a while before we could make it there, but we finally made it there last night.

We enjoyed ourselves and some of the traditional pub drink and cuisine. I ordered their daily special called "Toads in the Hole" which was a bread bowl filled with sausages, onions, and gravy served with mashed potatoes. Crystal had a fish pie, Erica ordered a steak with new potatoes, and Cynthia had a steak and cheese pie. We shared a couple pitchers of Pimms and Erica and Cynthia saved room for dessert. Erica's was called "Spotted Dick" which we all found to be an interesting and humorous name for a dessert. It was a small cake with raisins and topped with custard.

Here are some pictures from our night out at Porter's.

Time Flies

This is a picture of a really cool clock I saw while in Hyde Park today. This caught my attention because it is something I find myself saying all the time. Time seems to fly even faster as we get older and especially when we are having fun!!

These past few weeks have been very busy and I can't believe tomorrow is my last full day in London. I have learned so much on this trip and have built memories to last a life time. I am so glad I have had the opportunity to "live" and study abroad and I'm thankful I will have this blog and pictures to look back on because as the saying goes, "time flies."

Reflections on My First Impressions of Paris

This weekend we went to Paris and I was a little surprised because it wasn't everything I had expected. After visiting London and other parts of England over the last two weeks I had certain expectations for the subway system, cleanliness, and ambiance of the city. In my opinion, London is kept much cleaner and neater than Paris. There was a lot of litter in and around the Metro stations as well as a lot of foul smells. I also did not notice the flower boxes and planters in Paris as I noticed in London. I have really enjoyed that aspect of London. It is so nice to walk through the city and see clean streets free of trash. The colorful flowers in boxes outside windows are so pleasing to the eye.

The areas I visited in Paris did seem rather crowded, but then again London is rather busy with people too. I wonder if Paris just struggles with maintenance due to so many visitors and overcrowding and has yet to figure out a good system to keep up with the high volume of people?