It’s a dull, wet day today but not as cold as recently. We set out cheerfully for Walthamstow where we hoped to visit an art exhibition.

A dull wet day

We caught a 205 in Pentonville Road to start our journey,

Figures by Stik

The bus took us to Shoreditch where we see these figures by Stik. This used to be a lively area for street art but since then the artists seem to have moved elsewhere, leaving just a few remnants of their works.

Aboard the 55

Here we boarded a number 55 bus which would put us on the way to Walthamstow.

We stopped off in Leyton

We stopped off in Leyton for a coffee break in a branch of Costa Coffee.

Aboard the 97

After coffee we braved the rain again to catch a 97 for the rest of the journey.

Waltham Forest

We left the bus at Waltham Forest,

The William Morris Gallery

We walked to the William Morris Gallery where the exhibition we wanted to see is being held. It is entitled New Arts of Young Poland 1890-1918. Admission is free and photography is allowed without flash. Below are a few of the works we saw, by no means a representative sample in such a wide-ranging exhibition.

Gallery staircase

Having viewed the exhibition, we descended the Gallery’s elegant staircase and went out once more into the rain.

Gökyüzü Turkish Restaurant

One of the advantages of visiting Walthamstow is that here we find a rather fine Turkish restaurant called Gökyüzü. We have had lunch here several times before. The food is good, with a fair number of vegetarian dishes, and they have plenty of staff so that you never wait long to be attended to.

Salad and bread

Before even asking what you want, they bring you Turkish bread and salad (free) and then…

More salad

…some more free salad! Also in the picture is a glass of ayran (drinking yogurt) and a cup of Turkish tea. (Your first cup of Turkish tea is also free.) When Tigger asked for ayran, the waiter was surprised and asked her – half in fun – whether she was Turkish!

Turkish lentil soup
Photo by Tigger

They make a very good Turkish lentil soup here and we both ordered it. As it happens, we were not very hungry (perhaps the ginger biscuits we had had with our coffee had spoilt our appetite). Thus Tigger made do with soup, bread and salad while I followed my soup with…

Grilled halloumi

…grilled Halloumi.

Starting back

From the restaurant it is just a few yards across the park to the bus station where we were just in time to catch the first of our buses for the journey back to the Angel.

This was our first ramble of any distance for quite a while. As a result, we are both rather out of condition and found today’s outing rather tiring. Will we recover our form again? I certainly hope so.