East meets West

What a great start to Autumn, this weekend has been brilliantly sunny and warm. On Saturday, Anna and I decided to take advantage of this and head out to Greenwich and follow a pub walk out that way from my CAMRA London Pub Walks book. Neither of us had been out to Greenwich since we had visited there nearly ten years ago when Anna was living here and I came over for a holiday.

The day actually started off with an excellent brunch at The Providores in Marylebone, Peter Gordon's restaurant in London (he's a Kiwi if you didn't know). We then traveled down to Greenwich to visit a few pubs.

After a pleasant pint in the sun at The Ashbourne Arms, we made our way to the main course, The Greenwich Union pub, which is the brewery tap for the Meantime Brewery - who produce an interesting array of beers, many of classic world styles. Sitting out in the back garden, I added a few more ratings and enjoyed a varied collection of brews. The pick for me being the Coffee, which was full of deliciously strong coffee flavours with chocolate and vanilla notes. Would be great as an after dinner drink (and served a little bit warmer).
After satiating my thirst for beer for the afternoon, we left The Greenwich Union and took a wander through Greenwich Park, heading up to the Observatory and the impressive views over London. That's Canary Wharf in the middle-ground, and the building off to the right of the main cluster being the Barclays building where I work.
Crossing into the Eastern Hemisphere, we had one more drink at the Plume & Feathers - meaning we had a drink in two hemispheres in one day. We then headed back across to the Western Hemisphere and on into town to meet Si & Kellie, and capped off a great day with a few more drinks and an excellent pizza in Belgravia. With some busy weekends ahead of us, it was nice for this one be so enjoyable and relaxing.