marketing in the boroughs

When I planned on meeting up with my friends while in Londontown (Yes, because of Kanye West, I will henceforth only refer to the capital of England as Londontown) and they asked me what I wanted to do while I was there, I really had no idea. I've already been there a couple times before and done the stereotypically tourist things, like see Tower Bridge, Big Ben, and London Eye, and with the travel fatigue setting in, I really didn't care. I mainly just wanted to catch up with friends over a coffee and a meal. Or five. I was just hoping they had a couple ideas to find food.

Boy, am I glad I left the sightseeing plans in their capable hands. Well, I guess there was less of an emphasis on seeing sights and more so on eating and sampling foods. Only five minutes into arriving at the Borough Market and I was glad I made it. Based on stereotypes I guess, I wouldn't normally associate England with quality food, but that's about to change.

Olives on top of olives, mushroom patés, whoopie AND banoffee pies, It was all too much for someone who probably dedicates way more than the adequate amount of time thinking about and consuming food. Then there were the cheeses.

Wheels of comté, thousands of types of parmesans I had never seen, and drunken cheese. I didn't even know cheeses could get drunk. But wow, it was pretty good. Makes me wonder what other foods would be better if they were inebriated.

why won't you take my money?

"That's 10.75 euro, please."

Says the cash register lady. Or so I assume. I don't understand Spanish or Catalan, nor can I tell the difference between the two, so I just looked at the price that popped up on the register and handed over my€50 euro note. It's all I had in my wallet, other than receipts, so I mistakenly assumed that she would appreciate it.

Cash register lady flashes me the dirtiest look ever. I feel like I've just slapped her in the face, or just told her she has an ugly kid. It's the biggest greasy I have seen since, well, the last time I used the term "give someone a greasy". She stands there, mutters something and waits ever so patiently for some different moneey. I don't, but she doesn't seem to take that as an answer even when I show her my only 5 cent euro coin. Fortunately, my brother was there to show all the chance he had too, for her to pick out the coins she wanted and give some change.

I left the shop sheepishly, feeling guilty that I had even attempted trying to pay for something with a note that big. What was I thinking, expecting people to accept payments with cash? I wonder what Spanish people do when they get crisp €50 bills from the ATM. Do they just give the ATM a dirty look until it spits out smaller ones?

weiner schnitzels and apple strudels

It's really not like me at all. Usually I do a bit more prep before I travel, like check wikitravel and make a list of stuff to do at the destination. Knowing I was heading to vienna for a few days with my brother, I started my list:

• weiner schnitzels
• apple strudel

... And that's as far as I got. Three full days in a country, and that's all I had. Even after wikitraveling, there were a few places I thought I should check out, but my list didn't really get any longer.

Vienna did turn out to be an awesome place to visit. Especially after the whole Japan thing and seeing temples on top of temples, it really did give me a greater appreciation of churches and European-style buildings.


And yes, after three days in Vienna, I can now say I've checked off everything I aimed to do there. All two of them. I'm still recovering from all the giant schnitzels though. Ordering a schnitzel resulted in two plate-sized pieces of meat on top of a mountain of chips. I think Japan's got me used to eating smaller portions that are probably closer to an amount that you should be eating.