Italy: Verona

I spent 10 days in Italy earlier this month. Apart from the hordes of people (the Vatican City was a particularly horrendous experience), which I'm not absolutely sure one can complain about when you're on holiday being a tourist too, I absolutely loved it. There is far too much to describe fully, you're probably relieved to hear, so here are just some highlights, starting with Verona.

 It's a pleasant and slightly quieter city than some. Worth visiting is the arena or coliseum, still used for opera performances and almost intact (as opposed to the Colosseum in Rome) apart most of the outer wall, the remaining three or four arches of which were anyway covered in an enormous billboard as they were being restored. This was a common theme in Italy - the Bridge of Sighs was almost entirely obliterated by advertising but then I suppose that's how they afford the upkeep. There was also the notorious Casa di Guilietta, or Juliet's house, the home of the Dell Capello family, supposedly the inspiration for the Capulets in Romeo and Juliet. Rubbing the right breast of the statue outside is supposed to bring you luck and you can also pose on the balcony. All a load of complete bunkum of course, both are relatively recent additions to the attractions, and I found the amount of graffiti amazing, even including people's wads of chewing gum which they seemed to have stuck on just to get a space of white (or grimy cream) to write their initials and hearts on. I much preferred the beautiful churches.

100 things: curry in Tooting

I was so rapt with first the excellent beer and then the excellent curry, that I almost forgot to take any pictures at all of this night out, but it was definitely one to love. We started in The Selkirk, an excellent pub not fifteen minutes walk from my new workplace. It's not quite as cosy as I ideally like my pubs, and didn't have enough sofas, or enough tables tucked into corners, but there was a fire going which I welcomed after a day in my rather chilly office. I had a pint of Sambrook's Wandle. I chose it because it's a local beer, and it was most enjoyable. Makes me think I should do a whole entry on trying different local beers to prove that London can do local produce too. I need to find a beer expert though, because I'm not sure I have a very sophisticated palate.

I've had various suggestions about curry houses but we ended up going to the Lahore Kahari on a recommendation and it was really good - spicy, tasty and incredibly cheap for a three course meal, helped by it being Bring Your Own. There was some confusion about our order, and we didn't quite get what we'd originally asked for, but we didn't mind too much. We started with onion bhajis, fairly standard, and lamb chops, the spiciest part of our meal, thin, well cooked and packed with flavour. Then one of the specials, lamb keema kahari, which was minced and again very flavoursome, with sag aloo.

Another couple of beers with our meal, and some little Indian puddings to finish, absolutely dripping with syrup, of course, and we absolutely rolled out of the place feeling like we wouldn't be able to eat again for a week. Not bad for £25 plus the beers from the off licence. Thanks to Agnes and Leah for the suggestion, and to Anna for going with me!

A comma not a full stop

I haven't disappeared. Not that I think anyone is going to notice, but just in case. I haven't done any more things to love in London since I got back, though I have one planned in on Wednesday, and hopefully maybe Friday too. I want to put up some pictures from my holiday to Italy, which was amazing (despite the number of other people enjoying the country too) but they're going to take a bit of sorting out. Anyway, still here - this blog will keep going. In fact, it might be inspiring a similar enterprise down in Devon. Anyone else want to do a "things to love" about where they live?! Or got any suggestions for fantastic things to do in Devon (north, preferably) which I can pass on?

100 things: Claudia's house

The house of one of my good friends is not really accessible to most people, of course, but I think merits inclusion for several reasons - quite apart from the fact that once it had been suggested, she would have been extremely offended if it had been left out. One good actual reason is that it has now housed two friends of mine as lodgers who just needed somewhere to stay and found a home; another is that it is a brilliant place of gatherings, parties, meetings and conversations; another, well. Everyone's got at least one friend in London, don't they? It's definitely something great about this city: so many people I've met elsewhere are here now, or have lived here once, or will live here one day.

So for the purposes of this blog, let's have Claudia's house represent not only its welcoming cosy self, where I love to hang out, but also all the houses of all the friends I have in London - and their hospitality. The photo is of smoked salmon, scrambled eggs and bagels, apple juice and coffee from freshly ground beans, eaten this Monday morning in the garden, in the sun, after a late night of drinking and laughing and dancing. Thanks to Andy for pointing out that this really should be on my list!

p.s.

I'm off on holiday for the next two weeks, so no updates for a while - I'll be doing more when I get back.

100 things: Kenwood Ladies' Pond

Today I went and swam in the Kenwood Ladies' Pond at Hampstead Heath for the first time - I can't believe really that I've never done it before. It's not that I'm against open air swimming - I grew up swimming in rivers, lakes, the sea and the tendency now to call this "wild swimming" I find a bit ridiculous. Unless it's in the Arctic or somewhere like that, surely it's just "swimming"?!

I went with my parents so we originally headed for the mixed pond but it had closed today for the winter, so we divided up. Not so fun for Dad to be on his own but Mum and I got to swim in the ladies' pond which is much more famous. I don't have any photos because we didn't want to take too many valuables with us (there are no lockers) but you can find plenty if you follow the links or google the ponds, variously known as the Highgate Ponds or Hampstead Ponds - officially the mixed one is the Hampstead Pond, the men's is the Highgate Pond and the women's is the Kenwood Ladies' Pond - as listed on Camden Council website anyway.

The Heath itself is amazing. It's not as big, for example, as Richmond which is my nearest really big park, but at 320 hectares it's still pretty impressive. We walked through about a quarter to a third of it this morning and I couldn't believe how much more stretched up to the north west beyond where we were. Then of course I've heard of the amazing view from Parliament Hill and seen it in films but its not the same as going up there yourself. We got the Overground to Gospel Oak in the south east corner (you can also go to Hampstead Heath, or Hampstead, Golders Green or even Tufnell Park on the tube are all near various parks of the heath) and walked up past the Lido before realising the mixed pond was on the other side from the others, then it was closed, so we came back... so, not knowing the park very well, we went up and down Parliament Hill twice, and with the sun blazing down were a little hot and bothered by the time we finally sorted out which pond was where. We did manage to admire the rather hazy landscape of London, from Canary Wharf barely visible in the distance, to St Paul's (the view of which was ruined rather by the Shard now directly behind it), to the top of Victoria Tower (part of the Houses of Parliament) and the Post Office Tower. Apparently the reason why it's called Parliament Hill might be because Guy Fawkes and his co-conspirators went there to make their plot. I am slightly sceptical.

The ponds themselves were lovely. The Highgate and Kenwood ponds are on the East side of the park with other ponds - a model boating pond, a duck pond, etc - between and above them. Originally the ponds were a series of reservoirs for drinking water. The entrances are all on the side nearest the edge of the park (we did a bit more walking around them) The men's is bigger but with some areas roped off for fishing, and it has a grass area by the entrance which has been adopted as part of the pond area, where lots of men were sunbathing. There is also apparently a rather small bit of grass inside for nude sunbathing.

The women's is more secluded with bushes and trees all around, and has a larger meadow where mobiles are banned and a smaller grassy slope where plenty of women were sunbathing topless too. It costs £2 (or £1 concession) but you're trusted to pay, and then there are changing rooms, mainly open but a few cubicles, toilets and cold showers (and a rather charming arrangement with a hot tap and a basin if you want a warmer wash). There are lifeguards on duty and life rings moored sporadically around the pond to clutch whenever you need a rest, as the pond is deep and there is really nowhere else to get out other than the jetty at the entrance. It's pretty cold, even on a hot day (the temperature starts to drop off after August) and we both had to persuade ourselves a little bit, but once in, it was wonderful! The atmosphere was peaceful, with people chatting, exchanging remarks about how cold it was as they swam past, the ducks joining us in the slightly cloudy water (the quality isn't bad - reports can be found on the City of London website), and all enclosed by greenery. Afterwards we had our picnic by the boating pond until the heat overcame us. And all in late September.

So, many thanks to Ella for a fantastic suggestion! The ponds were threatened with closure a few years ago and there was uproar - I'm not surprised. Definitely one to love.