Oct 29, 2011
London

London Photos

Day by day trip notes are below these photos.

Photo album is here if you can’t see the slideshow.

Oct 01, 2011
London

Sep 29, 2011
London

Day 8

• London’s transportation system, while excellent in its coverage, is mystifying to a first-time visitor in it payment methods, among other things. Luckily, we have great big brains so we figured it out, but the cruise boats, which could have been so simple to use, make no sense.
• We took one anyway to show London who’s the boss. It was a Thames Clipper from Embankment to Tower Pier.
• We visited Tower of London with a 2 for 1 deal courtesy of the weekly Travelcard we got from a rail station and not a tube station. SEE WHAT I MEAN?
• Holy mackerel, the Crown Jewels are huge.
• We took a yeoman warder (beefeater) tour. He was humorously rude and has become my new role model. Stories included all the famous people who were prisoners in the Tower, including William Penn.
• We saw John Kerry taking a personal tour.
• We saw lots of young girls screaming for Jedward, some pop duo who was filming at the Tower. We also saw Jedward themselves who frankly look ridiculous.
• After the Tower of London, we walked by the Monument which commemorates where the Great Fire of 1666 started.
• Walked across London Bridge, the most boring bridge ever.
• Took a tour of the Old Operating Theatre and didn’t take any pictures because it was hot as hell and also, horrific!
• Students and observers could watch gruesome surgeries take place before anti-septic practices were implemented in this attic of a former church which was a former hospital.
• We went to Borough Market and had some beer at the Brew Wharf. Then we got charcuterie at Brindisa, cheese from Neal’s Yard Dairy and a loaf of sourdough at discount because everything was closing up.
• On way back to apartment, I bought a top at Peter Jones department store because after taking numerous trips, I still don’t know how to pack appropriately.
• We had an awesome meat, cheese and bread dinner. Ragstone goat cheese is the frickin bomb.
• Then we hopped in a black minicab to go to the theatre. It was the first time we were on the streets of London and not just walking along them. It was weird to be on the left. Didn’t feel right (har har).
• Got to the Royal Haymarket Theatre in the West End to see Ralph Fiennes (Voldemort!) play the lead in The Tempest. It was a terrific performance (i.e., I didn’t fall asleep).

Sep 28, 2011
London

Day 7

• Took a lovely stroll through St. James Park, the same park that we had blazed through 2 days earlier.
• Watched the Royal Horse Guard ceremony which was essentially a bunch of guards on horses looking at other guards on horses.
• Visited the Churchill War Rooms, the underground bunker that the prime minister and his cabinet worked from during WWII.
• Some Lehigh parents who were from Seattle talked to me in the War Rooms. My Lehigh shirt I had on may have given me away. Who can say?
• We took an unadvised walk through the neighborhood to get to Cask Pub Kitchen where we ate cheeseburgers and rested our sore feet.
• Went to see the craziness that is Harrod’s department store.
• Bought macarons from Laduree and Pierre Herme so we could perform a taste test. We do not agree.
• Walked though Green Park to get to The Wolseley for afternoon tea.
• We can be civilized when we want to.
• Thought it would be fun to ride bikes through Hyde Park. 
• We almost ran over everybody.
• In our defense, those rental bikes are hard as hell to control.
• So we rode to the Princess Diana Memorial and then returned the bikes as quick as we could.
• Thought it would be nice to take an evening cruise on the River Thames.
• London didn’t agree as there were no boats running, but we sat on a bench and watched the London Eye spin around.
• Not to compare, but the Seine is better than the Thames, if only for the fact that you can walk right into it if you want. The Thames has more obstacles between you and water.

Sep 27, 2011
London

Day 6

• This was supposed to be our easy, relaxing day. Ha. HA HA.
• We went to Leceister Square to the half-price ticket booth to see if there were discount tickets for The Woman in Black. Success!
• We took a tour of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Unexpected, but lovely mosaics and the American Chapel were beautiful. 
• Then I decided to climb to the top of the dome. Cylinda just looked at me and shook her head.
• There are three levels or galleries, one inside the dome and the other two outside. In total, it’s 528 steps which is the equivalent of 25 stories. I would totally do it again. The views of the city were spectacular.
• We ate at Ye Olde Chesire Cheese, the one of the oldest pubs in London. There were a maze of rooms and atmosphere felt old-timey. Well done, Cheese!
• Had beers at Craft Beer Company.
• On the way back to the apartment, we passed by a bank with a horde of people outside like they were reenacting the bank run from It’s a Wonderful Life. We held onto our money.
• Got some sandwiches at Pret a Manger, the ubiquitous prepared food chain and ate dinner back at the apartment.
• Headed to the West End to see The Woman in Black at the Fortune Theatre. It was a 2-man horror play that had some genuine creepy moments. The seats in the dress circle were built for 6 year olds, though. But all in all, the small theatre was charming.

Sep 26, 2011
London

Day 5

• Got a full English breakfast at a cafe on Kings Road. I thought I could finish it, but it won.
• Went to Westminster Abbey where so many famous people are either buried there or have altars in their memory. Also, it’s huge. 
• Walked across Westminster Bridge to the South side and marveled at the Houses of Parliament. Our US Capitol is just a shack compared to that.
• Walked entirely too quickly across St. James’s Park to get to our timed tour of Buckingham Palace. The State Rooms are open only 2 months during the year so we had to see how the Queen partied it up in her home. Unfortunately for us, a few of the rooms were overrun with Royal Wedding crap, but there were lots and lots of happy British ladies. Good for them.
• Then it finally happened: RAIN.
• It had been sunny and disgustingly lovely up until that downpour. It was the first day we didn’t take along our rain jackets that we hadn’t been wearing.
• So the rain, along with a Tube station closing down and not one empty taxi cab, kept us from seeing the Dennis Severs House that we had planned on that evening.
• Instead, we rested at Covent Garden (is that possible?). We drank some cider and ate some cheese before venturing out to find Tayyabs, the best Indo-Pak restaurant in London.
• Holy hell, it was busy, but we just lined up and then found us a table after about 30 minutes. The food was the best desi food I’ve ever had.
• Across from the Whitechapel tube station is the Royal London Hospital, the creepiest hospital we have ever seen in our lives. Quite possible that no one comes out alive from that place.

Sep 25, 2011
London

Day 4

• Another early wake up to catch a train to Bath.
• Who thought of up this itinerary? I thought this was a vacation.
• Passed by the Mini Cooper manufacturing plant in Swindon where one of our cars was born.
• Walked to tourist information center to get a map of Bath and then ate crepes because that’s what you’re supposed to do in a tiny, charming tourist town.
• Visited the Roman Baths where we wielded the first of many audio guide devices. The tour was extensive and explained in great detail the entire town that was built up around the thermal spring water. Cylinda was mesmerized by the Gorgon face.
• Ate lunch where I had my first Afternoon Tea experience. I fake being civilized pretty convincingly.
• We meant to take a free walking tour, but forgot how to tell time so we ended up going by ourselves to the Circus and Royal Crescent, both of which are rows of townhomes that are famous and expensive. Nicolas Cage lived in the Circus at one time before the tourists drove him mad.
• Napped and people watched in the lawn in front of the Royal Crescent. People do strange things for cameras. I wouldn’t.
• Shared a huge Cornish pasty. It was huge.
• Visited the lovely understated Bath Abbey.
• Went to Pulteney Bridge.
• Had cider at a cozy pub. Mine was possibly made of cheese from Cheddar Valley.
• Ate really good pizza before running off to catch the train back to London. Got half the pizza to go so I carried it all the way back to the apartment (on the train, on the tube, on the streets of London) which was kind of weird.

Sep 24, 2011
London

Day 3

• Slept in and I ate my beloved Tresor cereal.
• Took photos at St Pancras train station of its massive statue.
• Ah, first touristy thing to do in London for us was the British Library. We are geeks and went to see a Science Fiction exhibit before it closed the following day. 
• Also saw lots of rare manuscripts such as Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway notes, the Codex, Magna Carta and Da Vinci’s notebook in which he wrote backwards and right to left. What a weirdo.
• Lots of Tube lines were not operating because they wanted the weekend off so we had to be spontaneous. It was horrible.
• Went to Tralfagar Square where all of humanity had convened for an Eid Festival.
• Wandered through St. Martin-in-the-Fields church.
• Drank cider at Harp Pub and had a charming conversation with two British ladies. It was one of our favorite moments of the trip.
• Saw the River Thames for the first time as we walked partway on the Jubillee Bridge.
• We ate at a very mediocre Indian restaurant near Leceister Square.
• Headed over to Tower HIll to spend the evening at Bodeans BBQ where they show real football (USA! USA!) and watched the Aggies fall apart in the second half.
• Tube stations near midnight still felt safe and there were lots of people running about.

Sep 23, 2011
London

Day 2

• Happy Birthday, Cylinda!
• Woke up so very early to get to St Pancras train station for the Beer Birthday Bash in Brussels, Belgium
• Took the Eurostar which is blazing fast. It goes through the English Channel for 20 minutes. 
• There were very stupid girls carrying girnomous backpacks in the Brussels train station. When they found some railings to rest against and breathed a sigh of relief, I laughed for a good 15 minutes because I was judging them.
• First stop on the BBBinBB tour was Cantillion Brewery. We took a self-tour and then had a tasting. Also, bought a bottle of Zwanze (limited release) to consume on site. Lots of people come through that little brewery, including tour groups.
• Back to the station to eat at Mezzo di Pasta, Cylinda’s favorite fast food place on the planet.
• Took a taxi to Beer Mania, the first beer store on our tour. Driver wouldn’t or couldn’t speak English so I unleashed my French on him. It surprisingly worked.
• Bought a few bottles of black market Westvlerens, the best beer in all of the world.
• Taxi driver waited for us and then took us to the Grand Place. 
• We struck out on the three beer stores and bars looking for De Cam Oude Gueuze around the Place.
• The brick cobblestone streets of Brussels are no fun for feet so we stopped for a rest at Poechenellekelder, a bar opposite Mannekin Pis which is the statue of a little boy eternally peeing. 
• But that wasn’t the most interesting thing about Poechenellekelder. Inside, it’s decorated with lots of creepy life-size puppets since it used to be a theater. 
• Last BBBinBB stop was Moeder Lambic, a great sour beer bar. We had a terrific meat and cheese plate.
• And success finally in finding De Cam beer bottles!
• We left Brussels in the evening with a suitcase and bellies full of beer.

Sep 22, 2011
London

Day 1

• Arrived early in the morning and welcomed by a huge-ass line for immigration and customs. It moved fairly quickly considering how huge-ass it was and we got through in less than 2 hours.
• Bought Oyster cards at the Heathrow Tube station and rode the train for almost an hour before getting to our Kensington stop.
• That’s right, we stayed in THE Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
• The Royal Borough was royally confusing and we got lost, but then my super map skillz got us back on track.
• Our apartment at the Nell Gwynn House wasn’t ready yet so we took a walk around the lovely neighborhood, but then had enough of that and sat in the building lobby until the porters couldn’t handle our odor any longer. They gave us the keys to the apartment a few hours early without checking ID or signing anything. 
• Against all advice, we took a nap.
• I hate advice so much.
• I left Cylinda jetlagged in the apartment and went to a bakery to pick up a birthday cake for the lady.
• We ate the cake even though it wasn’t her birthday yet. It didn’t feel right, but it tasted really good.
• Time for dinner! We wanted Indian food, but it turns out, Kings Road in Chelsea is the only road in all of London that has no Indian restaurants.
• So we stopped at Waitrose supermarket and bought out all the boxes of Krave (Tresor), the best frickin cereal in all the world. Oh yeah, we also got frozen Indian meals.
• SLEEP!