Hampstead Heath and a Nice Cuppa (22 January)

Even though it was one of the coldest and windiest days we've felt in London so far, we decided to meet at Gospel Oak station again and wander across Hampstead Heath. We found a footbridge very close to the station

that took us directly to the Heath and its wonderful expanse of space. Oddly, one of the first sights we encountered was a trampoline in the distance.
A brave (foolish?) few of us were on the Heath, fighting the wind and enjoying the views.


Like most of London's green spaces that we've visited so far, there is a distinct lack of signage on the Heath and we later realized that we had walked through a substantial part of the park without really knowing it. Luckily, we found familiar ground before the sun set and emerged near Hampstead tube station, thoroughly chilled and hungry for a snack. I remembered the perfect solution to our dilemma: Louis Pâtisserie, a wonderful pastry shop we visited in 2005, and it was just steps from where we were standing, shivering away. For once, I have to heartily disagree with Time Out's assessment of a café; perfect tea, yummy cakes, a thoroughly enjoyable old-school atmosphere, and a nice long sit equipped us to head back out into the biting wind, where we found we had quite a bit of energy. We ended up walking for a while and having a look at the Swiss Cottage Library (part of the Camden borough's library system) before getting on the tube and heading home to make dinner.
The library was a great space with extremely comfy seating (and nicely designed too) in the reading areas; an ample selection of DVDs, books, and magazines; plenty of internet access; and a nice little café, all in a comfortable, airy building. So far I have library cards for the Hackney and Islington libraries, but I'll definitely be back to Swiss Cottage to sign up for Camden libraries too!