Battersea Power Station

One of the things we wanted to do in London was to see what was new since we were last here, and Battersea Power Station is one. While built originally in the early 1900s, it was reborn in 2022 as a very elegant art deco-style shopping centre and residential complex. The original building was deliberately made "beautiful" to calm public sentiment about it being built, I wonder if they knew what it would become!

Other than shopping, you can do the Lift 109 experience. Basically, they've put a glass lift up the inside of one of the stacks, and when you get to the top, the lift becomes a self-contained observation deck with a spectacular 360 degree view of London. Unfortunately, it was overcast and a bit drizzly, but it was still a great thing to do. The pictures tell the story best.

When we got down, we headed to the fancier-than-average foodcourt for a tasty Argentinian lunch (you can certainly eat your way around the world here). Being a bit drizzly, Adrian found a good underground activity after that, visiting the Leake St tunnels at Waterloo station. Again, the pictures tell the story.

From there, we decided to do the 4km walk home (again) but still managed our walking-lite day.

Adrian rediscovered today that you can get alcohol at the supermarket. When he went to put it through the self-service checkout, a young staff member came up and asked him for his ID. Oh, how we laughed! The other thing is that he officially has an Australian twang, according to Dave the barman. I guess he'll have to stop supporting England in the cricket and rugby now! 🇦🇺🇦🇺

We finished the day with an amazing meal at another restaurant across the road from our accommodation. We'd been convinced by the aforementioned Dave the barman to book into their "chef in residence" dinner. The chef was Iñaki Bolumboru, a Basque chef we'd never heard of, but whose food was amazing! Good tip, Dave! It was our first experience of turbot (a fish we don't get in Australia). As nice as it was, next time we think we'd like to eat it with cutlery, not our hands (which Chef assured us is how the Basque people eat it!).Leggi altro