Iconic London

During my 10-day visit to London, I took over 300 photos using my IPhone.  Each night I would review the day's photos, marvel in my experiences and download the photos to my laptop.

In the spirit of travel and in celebration of good times, here are my favorite iconic photos of London. 

The Rain.  As if to protect me from a bad omen, I received many forewarnings of bad weather from friends and colleagues prior to my arrival. But the weather held up beautifully and there was only one day of relentless rain.  So here's to the London rain!  

The Tube.  One must know the Way Out (of the station) and remember to Mind the Gap!  The gap is a devious little space between the train track and the platform.  Along with automated station recordings, transit personnel stand on the platform and holler out "Mind the Gap!"

Many tube stations were air-raid shelters during World War II.  The deepest station in Central London is 41 meters (134 feet) below street level.  Theatre and musicals are advertised extensively in tube stations.  

Theatre.  Whenever I get back to London, I will always set aside time for the theatre.  I love the art form and nothing says London like a good ole British play.  I went to the Criterion Theatre to see The 39 Steps.

Inside the Criterion Theatre

The Tower of London and the Tower Bridge in the background.  I could have spent several days learning about the history of the Tower of London beyond the crown jewels, beefeaters and beheadings.  The Tower encompasses over 1,000 years of documented history.

I was at the Tower of London during the commemoration to mark 100 years since Britain's first involvement in World War I.  888,246 ceramic poppies were installed from July to November to commemorate the loss of British soldiers during the war.

The London Eye.  I have several photos of the Eye but this is my favorite.

The Thames River and a sightseeing cruise.  Visible from the waterfront is the Shard of Glass, London's 87-story skyscraper.

 The Millennium Bridge for pedestrians to walk across the Thames.

Although the cruise ended at Greenwich, I got off by the Houses of Parliament & Big Ben.

Westminster Abbey.   Did you know that there are about 3,000 bodies inside and the last burial was an unknown soldier?  Photos weren't allowed in most of Westminster Abbey except for the Cloisters.

These are from inside the Cloisters.  Some clergy and staff live within the Cloisters.

The astounding design, artwork and architecture of Westminster Abbey.

Big Ben and The Houses of Parliament and a little construction.

The Houses of Parliament late afternoon

Inside the Houses of Parliament where photos were allowed.

Museums.  The Charles Dickens Museum was once one of Dickens' London homes.  On this day, I discovered that street names may change from one block to the next and that numbers on the buildings aren't always sequential.  

The British Museum

                            

Red telephone booths.  These were just outside the British Museum.

 

Waterloo Station.  I took the train from Waterloo Station to Windsor.  Waterloo is big and busy but the mayhem was no different than Penn Station in New York City.

Now this isn't iconic but surprising and a little curious; the bikes parked outside of Waterloo Station.

Windsor Castle

The flag at full mast means that the Queen is home.

 Leaving Windsor as the sun sets...

Day is done, gone the sun,

From the lake, from the hills, from the sky;

All is well, safely rest, God is nigh.  --lyrics to Taps















Eating My Way Around London

How could I blog about London and not highlight my food experiences?  There were many but I'm only touching upon those that were memorable or surprising in some way.   Most of these experiences were with my cousin Walden who was an exceptional host and tour guide.  

On my first night in London, the family took me to Durum.  Durum is a Turkish restaurant located in the Finchley section of London.  The appetizers and my lamb were very good. However, this hot mint tea after my meal was the star.  Made of hot water and mint, this simple tea was soothing and refreshing. 

I visited my first pub in Leicester Square.  By the way, Leicester sounds like Lester.  At the Bear and Staff Pub I had a delightful meal of fish and chips.  It came with mushy peas which I hear is common in these parts.  I liked them but if you don't like green peas or mashed up green peas, you will not like mushy peas.   The cod had just the right amount of batter made from their house ale.

Whilst in London, one should have a traditional afternoon tea.  We went to the Grosvenor Hotel in Central London near the Victoria tube station.  Cousin suspected they would have a good afternoon tea and I was inclined to believe him. The hotel entrance was stunning.

Here's what I learned about afternoon tea straight from the Grosvenor Hotel menu:

Whilst living in Woburn Abbey, during the nineteenth century, Anna, the 7th Duchess of Bedford is credited as the first person to have transformed afternoon tea in England into a late-afternoon meal rather than simple refreshment. 

I sampled from the tiers of sandwiches, scones and cakes.  My tea was Organic Earl Gray.  In spite of the decor, folks were dressed casually and it was child-friendly.  

Pubs abound in London.  Out of convenience, we went to the Liberty Bounds pub.  The food was decent and the plates were charming.  The pub is close to the Tower of London.  During the 16th and 17th century, prisoners were held at the Tower, walked to the scaffold and lost their heads.   

At the Bengal Lancer on Kentish Town Rd in London, I ate one of my favorite meals.  I had a vegetarian platter (Vegetable Thali).  A few items on the platter I couldn't pronounce but my taste buds were dancing.

My feet were aching as we entered the Royal Oak Windsor.  I had just toured the Windsor Castle. By the way, whenever the flag (top right side below) is flying at full mast, the Queen is home.

Don't let the royal name fool you.  The Royal Oak Windsor is another pub.  I was in the mood for a healthy and satisfying meal which I thought was not pub possible.  On the menu I saw salmon or sea bass with veggies.  I asked my waiter and he suggested the sea bass.  He said it came with a delicious wine sauce with shallots.  He spoke affectionately about dipping their hot bread into the sauce and offered to bring me out a basket of it.  He's also from Portugal so he may know a little about fish.  It was beautifully prepared and exceeded my expectations.  Well done mate...well done.

Have you ever tried baked Camembert?  I hadn't until I went to the Museum Tavern after a visit to the British Museum. It was served with toasted garlic bread and a cranberry sauce.  Simply sumptuous.  

On Thursday, my cousin was at home cooking a lovely Thanksgiving meal.  I went off on my own and visited the Charles Dickens Museum.  First, I went to the cafe and had a tartlet (quiche), salad and tea.  It was unremarkable.  The cafe only took cash but the bookstore allowed payment by credit card.  I had to go there anyway to pay for the museum entrance fee.  I was given a sticky note receipt. Quite remarkable.   

The weekend after Thanksgiving, we toured the Westminster Abbey and the Palace of Westminster. Between the two tours, the security guard at Westminster Abbey pointed us in the direction of food. We found several options on a sleepy side street many blocks away.  I reluctantly selected the Bamboo Basket.  It didn't seem particularly special. Realizing that every experience doesn't have to be extraordinary,  I decided to give it a go.  I was pleasantly surprised and loved the seafood soup and fried soft shell crabs.

A few hours later, after an audio tour of the Palace of Westminster, we stopped by the cafe to rest our weary feet before getting on the tube.  I had the prettiest vanilla latte.

A couple of days before leaving London, the family took me out for Italian at Zizzi Ristorante in the Finchley section of London.  We had appetizers of bruschetta, arancini (fried risotto balls with mozzarella) and calamari.  I also had one of their signature pizzas, the Primavera. The entire meal was spectacular.

 

 Cheers!

Hello London!

I always wanted to travel.   One day I realized that I needed to make it happen.   My assumptions and desire for travel were not resulting in actual travel.    So, in celebration of my birthday month, last August I bought a ticket to London.  London was an easy choice as I have a cousin living in London.


My flight was delayed an hour so we left Dulles International at 11:00 pm.  I enjoyed a lovely meal and glass of wine in the airport. 

The flight was enjoyable after the cabin settled.   But first, the baby onboard had to scream out all her troubles and a hipster would tire of amusing his pal with his loud talking and cursing.   Then the very British flight attendants offered a dinner of pasta or shepherd’s pie.  I sat back and watched a disgruntled older man drink bottle after bottle of wine.  I sighed out a prayer. 

Finally, about 2 hours into the trip, the plane became very quiet.  I didn't think it was possible.  It was quite wonderful.  In due time, we reached London.   I  never did go to sleep  but stared at everyone else while they slept.  I only began to nod off as the plane made its descent into Heathrow Airport. 

My cousin Walden picked me up from the airport.  We were joined by his 11-year old daughter, Morgan, who would keep me entertained.  I knew this when I spotted her at the airport with her pigtails and hot pink sweater.   Walden had a plan to keep me up until at least 8 pm to reset my internal clock.  Full of disbelief, I turned to Morgan and said, “Great, only 7 hours to go!”     

After we dropped my things off at Walden's we got on the tube and went to Harrods. If you need to stay up and want non-pharmaceutical stimulation, go to Harrods (below on right).  Here are a few pictures from my first day in London. 



I was fascinated with the food section. 



I tried something new; cockles in vinegar.  I ate them so I could say (with a British accent), "I once ate cockles in vinegar..."

Mostly, I enjoyed the energy of the streets and the holiday lights.