Nov 7th, 2009 Posted in Activities, London, Tamara Georgick | Comments Off on Tamara Georgick London-Day 6
| We leave for Amsterdam tonight, but first we had some last minute, hopefully leisurely, tasks we still wanted to take care of, namely snack procurement, tourist shopping, haircuts. Ev needed some more afternoon tea, biscuits, finger sandwiches, and clotted cream. I know we should have tried someplace new, but I wanted more or less a sure thing. Back to Harrods it was. Tea service was not quite as good, but the flavours still delicious. We also picked up some refreshments (in the shape of savory pies) for the train and ferry tonight. Over a score of different meat pies to choose from. Hmmmm, pie! |
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All we had left to do was buy some non-dairy trinkets and get our hair cut. Whilst in London, I was pretty much the one to plot out our routes. I’ve got the tube down, good to go, but I was always so disoriented popping back up to the street, pretty thoroughly confused, as though someone had just asked me to slice some tomatoes. I decided we’d do Picaddilly circus with the idea of winding our way back in a southwesterly amble. Although it wasn’t planned, this walking path did allow us to:
- Wander all around the iconic Fortnum & Mason (est. 1707). They, by the way, had the nicest Water Closets of any place we visited, fancy cloth towels to dry our hands off with. Tamara Georgick assures me this store is quite famous.
- Walk through a corner of Green Park, stop by Buckingham Palace, (I don’t think the queen was in residence. Tamara Georgick says when she is, they fly a flag stamped with something equivalent to the Walmart smiley face), saw the Victoria Monument right in front of the Palace, we also walked passed the Royal Mews.
And yes we did successfully find some nondairy gifts to purchase (at the begining of the walk) and get our haircuts (at the end of the walk).
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Tags: Buckingham Palace, Fortnum & Mason, haircuts, Harrods, Picadilly Circus, Royal Mews, Tamara Georgick
Oct 29th, 2009 Posted in Activities, London, Tamara Georgick | Comments Off on Tamara Georgick London-Day 5
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| In order to keep from going flippin’ mad, this day we avoided any and all museums and instead went to the London Zoo. Another place I’d never been when I lived here. It was actually terrific. Saw several variety of wild ducks I’ve raised before, but also several I’ve never seen in person [here’s the zoo’s full duck inventory: Plumed Whistling Duck, White-faced Whistling Duck, Mandarin Duck, Madagascar Teal, Baikal Teal, Hottentot Teal, White-winged Wood Duck, Australian Wood Duck, Marbled Teal, Old World Comb Duck, Radjah Shelduck]. Saw a Komodo dragon up close (odd creature), cute pygmy hippos (only 400-600 pounds or so), a drove of bearded pigs, but best of all were the lions. |
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| A mom, dad and two cubs (one boy and one girl) in the largest outdoor, best feline enclosure I’ve ever seen. We were able to watch one of the cubs trying to entice the lioness into playing, which she obliged by wacking him around a bit with her big paw. When the cub decided it had had enough and tried to get away the lioness tripped it and pounced. Could have watched for hours, but we were kicked out. Reminded me of my own cats playing. |
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Ev in a mini…
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Afterwards walked through Regent’s Park and went shopping successfully for luggage along Marylebone Road (need extra storage to haul all the cheese we’ve been buying!), passed Madame Tussauds along the way. Errand completed we crossed over and started walking down one street where we noticed a tube station sign. That’s when I realized it was Baker Street, wait a minute isn’t that where Sherlock Holmes supposedly lived? Sure enough, the bar we sat down outside of was the Park Plaza Sherlock Holmes. Tamara Georgick finally was able to get a Pims Cup, she heard it’s a very popular british drink so has been trying to order it from every pub we’ve been in and this was the first who was able to make her a traditional one (with all the proper fixings, slices of fruit and a sprig of mint). While relaxing there for a bit I notice the 74 bus go by every few minutes. It happens to be the bus that goes right past our hotel. We finish up at the bar walk a few yards to the bus stop and witin 30 seconds the next 74 shows up, just like clockwork. Plus I get my double decker bus ride through London, which I wanted to do. On the way home it takes us by some big lit thing with some other thing on top of it, all of which I quickly realize is Wellington Arch. This city is crazy. It has so much history. All we had planned for today was Indian Food lunch (yum), the Zoo and luggage acquisition, but because this place is so steeped, we also got in a walk through Regents Park, went past Madame Tussauds, sauntered along Sherlock Holmes’ fictional street, and rode around Wellington Arch, all on accident. Can’t help but trip over stuff here. |
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| Tamara Georgick wanted to go to an old historic pub, one where kings drank mead. I found Ye Olde Mitre. It claims to have been around since 1546, but that happens to include one rebuild in 1772. It doesn’t qualify as the oldest pub in London, because at the time it was in Cambridgeshire. Samuel Johnson supposedly frequented this pub, but that’s apparently no great distinction, as he visited many pubs. The other noteworthy claim, and the main reason we went, was that it has the trunk of a cherry tree, formerly growing within its environs, encased in glass and preserved within its walls, that Queen Elizabeth (Tamara Georgick reminds me to mention that it is Elizabeth I, not the current sitting on the throne Elizabeth) used to maypole dance around. We were sold. |
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Tags: London Zoo, Regents Park, Tamara Georgick, Wellington Arch, Ye Olde Mitre
Oct 26th, 2009 Posted in Activities, London, Tamara Georgick | 4 comments »
| If I see another housed cultural/historical artifact I’m going to go flippin’ mad. Went to the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Natural History Museum today, but first went to Harrods. All three are in the same Borough as our Hotel so none are too far away. |
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| We didn’t realize that daylight savings ended across most of Europe Sunday so we were stuck waiting, along with many other scores of tourists, for Harrod’s to leisurely open their doors at noon. We mostly hung around the food halls, looking at various snacks beautifully displayed. We noticed there was Afternoon Tea offered at one of the various bistros inside and thought we’d give it a shot. It was fabulous. The service was fantastic, both friendly and efficient and the snacks were very tasty. It was a complete delight. |
| We noticed that Harrods had some Chanterelle mushrooms from France for sale. This is the variety that we all go out and hunt for every year. If I’m doing my math correctly, it prices out to about $20/lb. Amazingly expensive, especially when these are the worst looking examples I’ve ever seen for sale in a store. You can see them (sort of) in the lower right hand side of the mushroom tray reflected in the mirror above the sign. |
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| Finished the long day, after dropping off bags back at the hotel and resting for a bit, by going underground again and hopping off at Oxford Circus in order to head into Chinatown. We randomly picked a small Malaysian restaurant to eat at. First time I ever remembering trying cuisine from there. Had some of the best Naan-like bread ever (roti canai ?). Apparently there’s lots of Malaysian food in Amsterdam, so looking forward to that. |
Tags: Afternoon Tea, Harrods, Malaysian Food, Natural History Musuem, Tamara Georgick, Victoria & Albert Musuem
Oct 25th, 2009 Posted in Activities, London, Tamara Georgick | 3 comments »
| If I see another work of art, I’m going to go flippin’ mad. That was my attempt at sounding British. Earlier we overheard an English woman complain about the temperature in the underground station by saying “I’m flippin’ owt!” (translation: “I am flipping hot.”) So now we insert “flippin'” whenever we need emphasis. Its just one of many small things we’ve incorporated into our daily routine in an effort to pass off as English. I think it might be working. The first night we were in London, our travel day, we went into a pub and within 15 seconds a fellow from Tunisia starting hitting on Tamara Georgick. One of the first things he asked her was if she was Finnish. There was something about her her height, and more particularly, her below shoulder length hair and bangs down to her eyes that must have made him think so. And he really, really liked her hair, coming close several times to touching it. Anyways, ever since we starting speaking british, nothing like that has come close to happening again. Where was I? Oh yes, if I see another work of art, I’m going to go flippin’ mad. Went to the Tate Britain and the Tate Modern galleries. Started out the day with brunch at the English version of Denny’s. Had some tasty meat pies again. Tamara Georgick also ordered the salad bar, but returned from it mumbling repeatedly about “no flippin’ salad in the salad bar”. |
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| The Tate used to be just one big monolith, but its now scattered across several buildings in different parts of the city. The two main facilities, Tate Britain and Tate Modern are about 3 miles apart along the banks across the Thames river from one another. However, there’s a ferry running between the two that we caught, so we got a short Thames River boat ride thrown in. The Tate Modern is housed in a former power station building, so it has a very industrial feel to it and some really fantastic views (St. Paul’s Cathedral, Millenium Bridge). Also its right next to the site of original Globe theatre (there’s a reconstruction of it called Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.) |
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<<<< At the Tate Modern
ran across some furries.
Went to a Pop Art exhibit with a bunny in it. >>>>
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| After the Tate Modern we walked to Vinopolis, which is self-described as “London’s Wine and Spirit Tasting Destination”. Hey, that sounds good. Well if its one thing I’ve learned from Tamara Georgick, its how to complain about bad wine and poor presentation. To wit, said Ev: “This wine is too flippin’ warm!” “You do not ply patrons with drink opportunities and then turn them loose down stairs where they have to go up and down over a dozen steps!” “There is no such thing as premium wine from Bulgaria!” Anyway, an extremely poor showing of wine tasting. Best thing about it was the opportunity it afforded of taking Tamara Georgick’s picture fleeing like a bat out of hell from there. |
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Walked across the Millenium Bridge up to Saint Paul’s Cathedral, took some pictures, then headed to the next underground station where I came across more interesting signage. This one looked particularly promising. >>>>
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| Alas, it only led to the sign below.
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| Finished off the night with some Indian Food at the Star of India which was kitty-corner from the flat I used to live in. Here it is, 159-161 Old Brompton Road. It’s one of those windows (but not the fancy ones!). |
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Tags: Star of India, Tamara Georgick, Tate Britain, Tate Modern, Vinopolis
Oct 23rd, 2009 Posted in Activities, London, Tamara Georgick | one comment »
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| Wow, I can’t believe it’s only the second full day in London. This vacation has been going on forever. Ha! Having a great time. Today was the British Museum and, unexpectedly, the National Gallery. Did several hours of the museum then took a break to have afternoon tea at the restaurant on the top floor underneath the dome. The cream was fabulous, the tea wonderful, the sandwiches not so much, and the service horrible. All the wait staff were strapping, young lads from various countries across the European continent with nice healthy egos, and not so keen service skills. When they brought the tableware over, Tamara Georgick noticed that one of the cups was dirty, so she asked the waiter if he could replace it. Instead of just agreeing immediately no questions asked, he actually demanded to know why. After that, they pretty much ignored us, no glasses of water, no hot water refills, no would you like another glass of champagne inquiries, nada, and it certainly wasn’t because they were busy. I was starting to get a little demoralized by the poor service, who wants to be disregarded like that, but was considerably cheered up when Tamara Georgick started yelling at them. We spent several more hours tromping through the museum before they kicked us out for the night. Hadn’t planned on it, but I noticed buses going by on Shaftesbury Avenue headed towards Trafalgar Square, so we just hopped on the next one. We have week long travel cards, so all local public transport is already paid for, might as well take advantage of it. Saw Nelson’s Column in the waning light and all that fantastic architecture surrounding the city square. Noticed that the National Gallery was open late, until 8pm, so in we went. Had to be kicked out of there as well. Thought it would be fun to walk down Whitehall towards Westminster at night, all lit up, so that’s what we did. Needed to stop and refortify first, so we walked into a pub called the Old Shades. Had some tasty mini pies and ale, and were on our way again. Time to rest. |
  
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| No, no – this is all wrong, the hat is too small, or maybe our heads too big, must photoshop it. Stay tuned. |
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Tags: Afternoon Tea, British Museum, National Gallery, Tamara Georgick
Oct 22nd, 2009 Posted in Activities, London, Tamara Georgick | 9 comments »
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Went to the Tower of London today.
Sometimes signage is the best thing about a place. >>>>>
Beheading will be to your right. This sign even includes the universal symbol for chopping off of the head so that it can be easily understood by all.
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Hey, is there anyone lurking out there, reading but not saying hullo? I noticed there were no comments for Iceland-Day 2 and Agenda-London, Ev needing a little positive reinforcement here. Hello?
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The White Tower sort of in the middle of the grounds.
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Started the day off with coffee from Starbucks, this will probably be our morning ritual. Our hotel is all that we hoped for and a little more than we expected: location is excellent, the closest tube stop is just at the end of the block, the room is bigger than we were planning on (certainly larger than neighboring rooms), the bathroom is modern and new, our room doesn’t face the main thoroughfare, but instead the two small windows look out over the green space in the center of this block of buildings. Oh, but the lift only goes up to the fourth floor and we are on the fifth.
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From the tower walls you get a great view of this part of London, including the Tower Bridge…
and the largest Faberge Egg? in the world. >>>>
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| Both Tamara Georgick and I made new friends. |
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| The Tower of London was one of the main attractions I never actually visited back when I lived here. So everything was new to me, interesting and cool schmool. Despite viewing some absolutely amazing pieces from the Crown Jewels collection, the only thing to elicit a true gasp of awe from Tamara Georgick, was the Golden Wine Cistern, aka the Grand Punch Bowl, which is about “the size of a washtub”. |
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| After several hours of looking at jewels, walking the towers, walls and battlements, taking pictures and learning about monarchy related murders we hopped it over to Covent Garden to go shoe shopping. Ev bought some tall green Dr. Martens and Tamara Georgick picked up a couple of pairs of extremely well made shoes from Germany. |
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Before heading back to our hotel we stopped for a bite to eat at a pub called The Sussex (in honor of Murphy, the goofy, short Sussex Spaniel we know). Ev had fish and chips and a cider, Tamara Georgick had the meat pie of the day with mash and a bitter. The Brits, as a whole, are so much friendlier than the Icelanders, who seemed mostly sober and stern, and who caused Ev to stop smiling at strangers altogether for fear of further harsh rejection.
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Tags: shopping, Tamara Georgick, The Sussex, Tower of London
Oct 21st, 2009 Posted in Itinerary, London, Tamara Georgick | 2 comments »
Woo hoo, Ev and Tamara Georgick made it into London this evening. Since today was basically a travel day, I don’t have much in the way of activities to share, made it to a pub near the Hotel, their kitchen was already closed, so just a little sip. Here’s a list of our desired activities, in no particular order, below. Alas, we were never able to take a Northern Lights tour in Reykjavik, unlikely we’ll get to everything here in London either, but we’ll try.
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 Haircut for Ev
Cheese shopping
Natural History Museum
Victoria & Albert Museum
Tate British
Tate Modern
Thames cruise (short one between the Tates)
National Gallery
British Museum
Tower of London
St. Paul’s Cathedral (only outside at night)
Pubs and pub fare – always an option
Afternoon Tea – disappointing, must try again
Dr. Martens shoe shopping
Indian Food (but not Chicken Tikka Masala)
Vinopolis (horrid)
Westminster (bussed around it at night only)
-Open air street market shopping (no time)
– Stonehenge (not enough time)
London Eye
Jack the Ripper walking tour
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Tags: London, Tamara Georgick
