London: Parkland Walk and Green Lanes - plus Bulgarian Crepes, Yogurt Dip and Turkish Gözleme!

This morning we had a big brunch around 11:30 AM. Nancy and Chris had gone on a 10 mile run; Anna and I slept late.

Then we headed off to Highgate to go on a walk. We took the Parkland Walk, which used to be a railroad, but now is a partially paved, flat trail that goes for 3 miles uninterrupted (since it goes on bridges or tunnels when passing roads). It was a really nice trail - very green, with some nice views of the city and various landmarks. If I lived anywhere near it, it would be great for running too. I'm really excited that London has things like this - so much green and so many outdoor things to do when the weather is nice.

Here are some pictures from the trail.






We ended up in Finsbury Park, where we came across a baseball game! It was a real team, with uniforms and everything! I was surprised to see it. We continued walking onto Green Lanes, which is a commercial area with a big Turkish population. Our first stop, however, was at a Bulgarian restaurant where we had a takeout order of crepes filled with chicken, and some delicious cucumber yogurt dip. They were very good, and the lady at the restaurant was very nice. I'll have to go back! About 1 block later, we stopped at a Turkish restaurant that had gözleme, which are also crepe-like and filled with different things. We had two made w/ spinach, very fresh. They were similar to Afghan bolani, like the ones sold in San Francisco. This place seemed great too, and I'll come back to try their Turkish pizza and kebabs.


I took a picture of peppers at a Turkish market.

We continued walking all the way to Turnpike Lane - living this far up wouldn't be ideal, but it's on the Picadilly Line which has direct trains to my school....so it's a possibility. The idea of good Turkish food all the time is tempting.

We took the tube from Turnpike Lane down to Finsbury Park tube stop, walked around there for a bit, then took a bus part way home.

After resting a bit, I went out again to meet up with Caroline and Laurence, friends of Becca and Kyle (and other Tufts folks). They are both really nice - they live a bit far out in South London, but they had lots of good advice for me. I am looking forward to seeing them next fall as well - hopefully they'll have some BBQs in their big garden. We had some food and some drinks, and then I came home to check in to my flight for tomorrow. I checked in right on time, and it appears that I got emergency exit seats for the flight to Hong Kong. If so, that will be great.

Anna and I unpacked my package that I shipped to London directly from San Francisco. I'm happy to report that Kelly Clarkson made it safely!


I'm all up to date now...tomorrow I leave for China!