[Aug. 2022] After finishing the tour of the West side of Highgate Cemetery in London, of course we entered the East side as well.
Entering in East side is free for those who take the west side tour (£4.50 for east side only).
The East side is newer than the West side, having opened in 1860.
The main attraction here is, of course, the tomb of Karl Marx.
We had already seen a lot of the tombs in the West side, so we went straight to Marx‘s tomb.
It is an intimidating grave with a big face on it.
The names of his wife and grandchildren were also listed, so they must have been included together.
It was strange that, besides flowers, some foods were offered.
Looking at the pamphlet I received, it seems that there is a separate item called “Marx’s Grave Original”.
According to internet information, this splendid tomb was built as a memorial in 1954, and at first he had a more plain and ordinary tomb.
Since we had the chance to go to the original one, we went to look for it.
Interestingly, there were Chinese Mao Zedong books lined up as offerings here.
There are many foreign graves in this East cemetery, including Iranians, Chinese, and Poles.
There was also a grave of a child who died young, which looked like a flower garden.
This visit to the grave was blessed with fine weather, and the atmosphere was bright and fun.
There was no darkness like in Edinburgh.
It reminded me of the Monumentale in Milan, Italy, or the Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires.
Well, after leaving the cemetery, it was hard.
We headed to the restaurant we had reserved, and there was supposed to be a bus to get there, but my husband, who was just about reaching the limit of his hunger, walked ahead without even looking at the map.
I’m the one looking at the map.
As a result, we ended up walking part of Hampstead Heath and had to walk up and down a hill.
At least a bonus was the distant view of the city of London from the top of the hill.
The restaurant that day was an Italian called Mimmo La Bufala.
My husband and I shared calamari and crabmeat croquettes as starter, and I had the seafood linguine for my main.
It was just over ￡24 (about 27.50 euros), a little expensive for a pasta dish, and it was full of ingredients and the sauce was excellent.
My husband had crab spaghetti.
This pasta was thin like harusame (Japanese bean starch noodles).
Including dessert and a bottle of wine, the bill was just under £100.
Limoncello was also served, and it seems that the bread was free, so it’s a good price.
The waiter was a dark man from Palermo and lived in Venice.
When my husband told this waiter that himself was from Milan, he said, “I could tell by the way you spoke.”
