I stayed for three days in London before I went to Spain, in a university residence hall behind the Tate Modern on the South Bank of the Thames. I spent my time exploring the Borough of Southwark. I wasn't quite sure how to pronounce Southwark, suspecting it was one of those words that doesn't sound the way it looks. So I listened to how the Southwark Tube stop was announced, and it sounded something like "Sutherk."
Another pleasure of travel is seeking out the voices of the past, and Southwark has a particularly rich literary heritage: Chaucer, Shakespeare and Dickens are only a few of the writers who lived here or wrote about this borough.
A few steps from the (restored) Globe Theater, one can see this rose window, also restored, part of what little remains of Winchester Palace, the bishops' palace built in the 12th century and in use until the 17th century. This palace was probably the most important structure in the area for hundreds of years, but its fortunes shifted. It was mostly burned, and the remains were hidden until uncovered by recent development. And life goes on. If you walk the streets early, you see Londoners on their way to work, few tourists are about. Later the streets will be choked with people speaking Italian, Spanish, Russian, every language under the sun. Most of them will give the window a glance, take a picture, and hurry on to other attractions.
I had my own destination in mind, the pleasures of the Borough Market.
You can have a coffee at the Monmouth Cafe, and maybe one of these pastries, before heading to the fabulous Borough Market. This fruit and vegetable market also dates back to Roman times. These days, the wholesale operation is open from 2AM to 8, while the retail market is only open later in the day Th-Sat. It has now become fashionable and popular, not just for locals but for food tourists like me.
If you get there early, you can still wander this food paradise in relative comfort, and if you get lost, there is this map.
I've just found this wonderful online journal called Mad Shakespeare, which is a labor of love (or should that be labour?) by people who all have degrees in Shakespeare studies! A review of the production of As You Like It, that I saw at the Old Vic, explains why an otherwise very good production, that I did enjoy, fell short of being excellent.
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