British Invasion II
An overnight trip to London without the kid was a lot of fun. Lots of walking around. Lots of sight seeing. We were spitting distance from St Paul's Cathedral, which is really impressive. I suppose that's why the Royal Family likes to get married there.
We found a great curry in our travels, but were unfortunately very disappointed to find that every "pub" in London is chain owned. Imagine walking in to a centuries old ale house thinking it would be authentic and full of character, but finding it was really something more like a TGIF only pub flavored. We did much better on our second day, and avoided these places like the plague, but were still horrified to see that they encompassed about 95% of what we walked past. We ended up getting the best pub experience at an ultra modern bar along the Thames near London Bridge.
We fit a lot into 24 hours, so here is the summary:
Garden and finding a really good curry house that my brother had taken us to 6 years ago on Portobello Market, Kensington Gardens and Palace, Royal History Museum, pub lunch, London Underground experienced during heavy tourist season, hotel check in (sweet place too!), more Tube, lots of walking around Covent Garden and Leister Square before finding crappy chain pub #2 (this is when we figured it out - same exact menu), walking back to Covent Garden, excellent curry dinner. More walking, then disappointing pub #3, bed.
Starbucks, no drip coffee or tea available (WTF?), Tube, Tower of London, with about 8 miles of tourists lined up at the ticket windows. We skipped it. I thought it would be cool to see the Crown Jewels, and get my picture taken with a Beefeater, but we were not int right frame of mind for queuing.
We did take the tower Bridge tour though, a massive feat of Victorian engineering. It was the one thing I had never done before.
Afterwards, we walked back along the South Bank, and took in such sights as the H.M.S. Belfast, the Design Museum, The Golden Hind, The Clink (yes, really), a bike shop that had never even heard of a 29er, the ever impressive Tate Modern before taking the train from Waterloo to Guildford.
It was all in all a great weekend.
We brought in 2008 with a gigantic box of fireworks, that when lit, shot rockets up into the air for 3 minutes.
Then there was the 18 year old single barrel whisky. Not single malt, single barrel. Oh, it was smooth, and it went down horrifically quick.
We were glad to get back to the states in one piece.
We found a great curry in our travels, but were unfortunately very disappointed to find that every "pub" in London is chain owned. Imagine walking in to a centuries old ale house thinking it would be authentic and full of character, but finding it was really something more like a TGIF only pub flavored. We did much better on our second day, and avoided these places like the plague, but were still horrified to see that they encompassed about 95% of what we walked past. We ended up getting the best pub experience at an ultra modern bar along the Thames near London Bridge.
We fit a lot into 24 hours, so here is the summary:
Garden and finding a really good curry house that my brother had taken us to 6 years ago on Portobello Market, Kensington Gardens and Palace, Royal History Museum, pub lunch, London Underground experienced during heavy tourist season, hotel check in (sweet place too!), more Tube, lots of walking around Covent Garden and Leister Square before finding crappy chain pub #2 (this is when we figured it out - same exact menu), walking back to Covent Garden, excellent curry dinner. More walking, then disappointing pub #3, bed.
Starbucks, no drip coffee or tea available (WTF?), Tube, Tower of London, with about 8 miles of tourists lined up at the ticket windows. We skipped it. I thought it would be cool to see the Crown Jewels, and get my picture taken with a Beefeater, but we were not int right frame of mind for queuing.
We did take the tower Bridge tour though, a massive feat of Victorian engineering. It was the one thing I had never done before.
Afterwards, we walked back along the South Bank, and took in such sights as the H.M.S. Belfast, the Design Museum, The Golden Hind, The Clink (yes, really), a bike shop that had never even heard of a 29er, the ever impressive Tate Modern before taking the train from Waterloo to Guildford.
It was all in all a great weekend.
We brought in 2008 with a gigantic box of fireworks, that when lit, shot rockets up into the air for 3 minutes.
Then there was the 18 year old single barrel whisky. Not single malt, single barrel. Oh, it was smooth, and it went down horrifically quick.
We were glad to get back to the states in one piece.
posted by mandy at 7:33 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home