Today started out very drizzly. I took the tube to Barbican and wandered about the desolateness in the rain. I never really knew, and still don’t, what Barbican is all about. Other than the theatre it is like a housing commission estate, albeit more beautiful, and an excellent location in almost the centre of London. From there I headed up towards Old Street and to the Turkish Baths on Ironmonger Row. I had been planning to come here for the last year, in fact, since we first moved to the UK. Friday is ladies day at the baths, so I was all psyched up to go get a scrub down. Now Michelle and I had been to the Colonial Baths in Montreal before (back when they used to have Ladies nights – Tues I think) and initially we were shocked at the age of them and the general state (let’s just say they weren’t pretty, not even 20th century’ish) anyway, these were even older and even more outdated. If that is possible?

But I guess the point is nothing to do with how the baths look, but whether they have a steam room, some scrub down marbles, hot rooms and a plunger pool – and the Ironmonger Row baths had all that was required. I did my steam, plunge in icy water, hot room, plunge, steam, plunge, hot room, plunge, steam, plunge, hot room, plunge for about 2 hours, then 1 last steam before I lay down on a marble slab for my scrub. Wow! Sandi, who was wielding the iron brush, scrubbed out any dirt, along with the top 7 layers of skin just to be sure. She did it with soap, then an iron brush, and then with salt – then I turned over – and the process was repeated. Finished with a gallon of oil I felt like a very clean olive as I slipped my way back into the hot room to let the oil soak into my skin.

I left the baths 3 hours later and much cleaner and softer than I think I’ve been since the last time 7 layers of skin were forcibly removed from body. It was amazing. This is now going to be one of my regular stops whenever I go to London. And I would urge you, men and women alike, to drop by. It really is a lovely relaxing and refreshing experience, especially if you’ve been doing the tourist trail for weeks and couldn’t face another museum or bunch of tourists�. Most of the people there look like they’ve been coming there for years, some of them since it first opened! Here is an interesting article.

Next, I headed for Borough Markets for lunch. Now, I’d heard all about the Borough Markets, and had some high expectations both for the quality of the food and for the celebrity spotting. I was certainly not disappointed with the food. The problem with travelling and living out of hotel rooms is that you cannot buy fresh food – there is just nowhere to put it�. The fruit was amazing, as was all the fish and meat I saw. And for lunchtime, it was like this huge smorgasbord. Gourmet sausages, burgers with rocket and grape tomatoes, sushi, noodles, fresh juices, you name it, if you could eat it – you could buy it at Borough Market on a Friday lunchtime. The only disappointment was that I didn’t see any celebrity chefs in there haggling over spinach� nevermind. And more, if you enjoyed Bridget Jones, you might be interested to know that her apartment (in the movie) was located above the Globe Pub in the markets… see this article.

After the markets, I made my way back towards the hotel, stopping for a wander around Leicester Square and Chinatown, and then for the obligatory walk along Oxford Street, before taking a bus back to Notting hill Gate.

Friday night was supposed to be the highlight of our trip, what I had been working towards, and looking forward to for months. Now this is an entry on it’s own. I need some time to work on this one. This was a meal like I’ve never experienced before – many many many courses, amazing flavours and challenges�.

I’ll fill you in soon�.