Brick Lane Brouhaha.

I have recently noticed that despite living in London for a little over a month now, my scope of London is very narrow. I live within about a one mile radius of my flat. Since everything is within walking distance from me (think Marks & Spencer, Top Shop, H&M, Zara, Mango, Aldo, cool restaurants, etc. all within 0.5 miles), I have very little need to venture outside of the WC1/WC2/W1/SW1 area. I have literally never been outside of any of those postcodes (except Canterbury) since I’ve moved to London! So, today, my flatmate and I have decided to broaden our horizons and hit up Brick Lane in the East End. Brick Lane is near Spitalfields, and is home to a huge Bangaldeshi community and has some amazing food, jewelry, clothing, art and vintage pieces.

You can feel like you’ve been now; welcome to the pictorial guide of our journey from the West End down to Brick Lane:

1) Me, very excited & getting ready to leave my magnificent, opulent flat in the West End.

2) A snapshot of High Holborn, the road we travel to get down to the Tube Station. Clearly a beautiful day in the neighborhood!

3) Good old High Holborn Tube Station, our nearby hub of love. Much better than Covent Garden’s tube station (which is the same distance from my flat), since CG’s gets overly crowded with tourist action on the weekends!

4) Liverpool Street Station — stepping foot on East End soil for the first time and getting ready to head to Brick Lane!

5) Old Spitalfields Market & the Sunday Up Market contain stall after stall of amazing ethnic foods, clothing, jewelry and arts & crafts.

We ended up grabbing lunch at Rainforest Creations in Old Spitalfields Market — amazing, super healthy food. For £5 you can grab an overfilled wrap of goodness and snag some seating nearby that’s perfect for people watching. Today’s sunshine-y weather was perfect for enjoying some hummus and lentil action.

We spent time just exploring and checking out vintage-y shops all down Brick Lane. The feel is 100% different from that of the West End/theatre area. It’s much more edgy and a bit seedy, but it adds to the overall appeal of the area. If a picture is worth a thousand words, some of these photos may help illustrate: