Tag: travel

Mercado de San Miguel

One of my favorite food places in the world is the Mercado de San Miguel in Madrid. The mercado is what I would call food heaven. After our first visit all I wanted to do is return again and again while we were in Madrid. You can get small samples of anything you can think of Spanish related. We had so much fun going from booth to booth tasting things. We ended up spending a large amount of time at the Vermut (Vermouth) and Sherry tasting booth. It is there that I discovered my new love for Vermouth. Evenings there are fun but crowded. Serious eaters should arrive earlier to avoid the lines.

My favorite was the Vermut tasting. A glass of sweet, dry or semi-sweet vermouth was great with a plate of olives.

It wasn’t until the end of our Madrid stay did I discovered that I liked Sherries as well.

One mustn’t forget desserts as well. There were plenty of those to try.

Found Photo : San Francisco

I recently found some photos I took in 2011 during a trip to San Franscisco that I never edited. I had a chance this morning to edit them using Lightroom and the Tone Curve. Back when I took the pictures I thought they were so terrible that not even photoshop could save them. Using the Curve tool, I have made them look slightly better.

Sutro Baths

UK Pubs : Camden

One of our last stops was the borough of Camden Town, in northwest London. It is an interesting and eclectic part of London. We visited because my cousin now lives close to this area. Originally I wanted to make it out to the famous Camden Lock Market but we never seemed make it during opening hours. Instead we wandered around town and visited a couple of pubs.

 The Worlds End 

The Worlds End pub is sort of a landmark in Camden. It was a nice meeting place across from  the Camden tube station. The Worlds End pub is a large establishment and its history boasts famous past visitors (like many other London pubs). While we were in here I saw a belligerent drunk old man spill his beer all over the hallway and a yuppy girl break a red wine bottle all over the floor (I guess she was going to a party afterwards). It seemed to be a mix of different types of patrons. The music was heavy alternative.

The Camden Eye

Another pub close to the Camden tube station is The Camden Eye. The pub was busy on arrival but we chose to eat in the empty dining area upstairs. The upstairs was much quieter and provided us a view of Camden Town. We experienced our last fish and chips here but they had an interesting pizza selection (the names too).

The Earl of Camden

Our final pub visit was to the Earl of Camden. We happened upon trivia night. We tried to play along but the topics were more international and British in nature. It proved to be challenging for our group. An adorable large dog was calmly hanging out in the pub while his owner had a few drinks.