Up at 7:30, though Jess was a little lazy, as usual. Tea and crumpets for breakfast, and Jess had Tesco Maple & Pecan Crisp cereal. Jer did not care for the cereal. The first of Jer's anniversary presents arrived, or, rather, an empty box that was meant to contain a present. Jess was distraught, Jer was highly amused, but stilfed his laughter in order to be supportive.
Eventually, we made our way by foot, bus and Tube to the British Tourist bureau, where we picked up our London Passes. (Buy it through Ebates, and if you're not a member, sign up here!) (On the way, we got turned around and ended up seeing the Horse Guards, headed to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard.)
We found ourselves hungry, but in an expensive area with rather posh food. After checking out a couple of restaurants only to be dissatisfied, we decided to wander toward another neighborhood that Jess thought had a better selection. Jess recalled having eaten at a resturant called the Crypt Cafe, in the basement of a church, which was tasty and cheap. On the way, we passed the St. Marylebone's Parish Church, which contains a resturant clled the Crypt Cafe. We went there, and it was tasty and cheap. However, it was not the same Crypt Cafe, the previous on being in St. Martin-in-the-Fields. We both had jacket potatos, hers with cheese, his with chilli. Both were quite good, and Jer was happy to finish Jess's skins. When we were rang up, we had to laugh, having paid less than $20 for a filling meal for two. In Iceland, that meal would've been at least twice as much.
Determined to put our passes to use, we headed to the London Zoo. Jess went into the office to discuss Jer's anniversary gift; she was asked to leave her information and someone would contact her. So, we headed into the zoo. When we reached the first squirrel monkey exhibit, Jess announced to Jer that these were his adopted animals. Jer was so excited that he squeaked! They're very cute. (Later, we got to get up close and personal with the monkeys. There was an outdoor enclosure that was available to both sorts of primates.) The London Zoo is very twisty and maze-like. At first, we found ourselves backtracking and missing things, but after a while we learned to submit to the Will of the Zoo, and found better routes. Jess didn't much care for the reptile house, but Jer found the lizards adorable. The sand cats in the Arabian desert got two thumbs up. Eventually, the zoo closed, and we headed out.
The sun was beginning to sink low in the sky, and we were both secretly a little dissappointed that we had only visited one of the attractions on our list. A bolt of inspiration struck Jess, and she asked if it might be possible to go to the London Eye. By God, it was. If we hurried, we might make it in time for sunset. Hurry we did (pausing only to take a quick piccy of some swarming geese & pigeons in Regent's Park) and made it to the Eye as the rays of the setting sun were turning golden. In retrospect, we might've been 5 minutes later, but it was still lovely, looking down on London along side a setting sun. (Jess was quite taken with the view of the Houses of Parliament, so it was much photographed. A nice Canadian lady admired one of Jer's pics, and he offered to e-mail it to her from NYC.)
We had heard of a "Porter's and London Eye" deal, but no such offer was available when we got to the Eye. Regardless, we headed to Porter's for dinner, where Jess had bangers & mash, and Jer had wild boar sausages and... mash. For "afters", Jer had portered Stilton (blue cheese, mixed with lager and walnuts), and Jess had Lady Bradford's gingerbread sponge with custard. After he downed 3/4 of the bottle of our free-with-the-London Pass wine, Jer had some difficulty locating the Tube station. Having only had 1/4, Jess was eventually able to spot it... across the street. In Jer's defense, he was able to get us within 20 feet of the entrance (4 blocks from the restaurant).
Back at the flat, we did laundry and plotted the next day's adventure, before falling into bed around midnight.
London 2005-09-08
The alarm went off at 7:15, and for once Jess got up and showered, leaving Jer snoozing in bed. Eventually, we got going and had crumpets, cereal, juice and tea, then finished the laundry and got ready to go out.
The trip to Paddington Station was uneventful, except we had a bus driver who drove like a parody of a New York City cab driver. Jess, astoundingly, did not get carsick, but Jer was a little queasy. After some mild confusion, we got on the proper train for Hammersmith, and a very nice young bus driver told us where to get off for the Wetlands Centre.
We had limited time at the London Wetlands Centre, but we arrived with enough time to fly through the Waterlife section — where Jer learned that he needs bogbean, a plant with cooling and anti-inflamitory properties — and then follow along as a be-wadered staff member went around describing and feeding the rare captive birds from around the world. One of the wild birds managed a direct hit into Jess' bag, damaging her meticulous shot log from yesterday's visit to the Zoo. If some of the captions for the Zoo read like "this is a pretty lizard", blame the bird, not us. We saw many water birds, including an Australian goose, the only waterfowl that mouthfeeds young.
Right after the feeding tour, we hopped on a bus back to Hammersmith, where we booked tix for the evening performance of "The Winter's Tale" at the Globe. From there, we caught the Tube, bound for Kew Gardens. Before entering the Gardens, we stopped at the Original Maids of Honour tearoom, where we had quiche (mushroom for him, bacon and spinach for her), scones (plain and fruit) with jam and cream, and the namesake Maids of Honour tarts [ post-trip note: rather than trying to describe them, we'll just post a recipe ], all washed down with strong black tea.
Thus fortified, we set off into the Royal Botantic Gardens, which were lovely and pastoral. Highlights included a 10-story pagoda (sadly, closed to the public), a Japanese gate and garden, a lilypad pond with coots, and a (blooming!) rose garden. We also watched a lady hand-feed the peacocks and peahens. It was a pleasant way to spend a warm, sunny afternoon.
When the gardens started to close, we caught the Tube back into London, heading toward the Globe Theatre. We had good luck and the first train to come by had the right end station. (On the Tube, trains within a similar route are distingushed by their end station. So, in New York, the A, C, and E would all have the same name, but the train fomerly known as A would have a different end station than the train formerly known as C. The Tube seems to have more branching routes than the NYC subway... or than most trees.) Anyway, we got to our stop and got turned around, but eventually made it over London Bridge (exceptional only by its view of Tower Bridge, which is what that guy in Arizona meant to buy) and to The Globe. The Globe is awesome. The tightly-packed seating, proximity to the stage (no amplification), and round shape gave it more the feeling of a surgical theatre than the thespian sort, but it worked well. Since we had been walking all day, we sprang for seats as opposed to standing in front of the stage. Even though we bought our tickets a few hours before the show, we got great seats. We were in the upper gallery, so we had to listen carefully to hear everything, but we were right in front of the stage. The play, The Winter's Tale, was rather silly, but was very well-acted.
After the show, we went to The Real Greek, which was nearby and had been reccomended to Jess. It's a family-style souvlaki place (although they have a good selection of appetizers and salads). We split a plate of olives, tiropitakia (phyllo triangles filled with cheese and spinach), horta (warm greens with beets and feta) and a skewer of lamb souvlaki. The food was terrific, and the prices were pretty good considering the location and quality. We (astoundingly) skipped dessert, as Jess was about to turn into a pumpkin and had to get home.
We once again were blessed by the Buddha of Correct End Stations, and made it home fairly quickly, despite several (apparently common) inexplicable intra-station stops.
London 2005-09-09
Got up with the alarm (after some cajoling by Jess) at 7:30. Jer was too lazy to go down to Tesco to get more grain products, so we ate breakfast bars from IcelandAir. Headed out for second breakfast at a Hungarian bakery at 8:00. We both got croissants, Jer a plain one and Jess with apricot and almond. She did better than he, as the fillings rather made up for the mediocre croissants (which were more like sweet bread, not flaky at all). Caught a well-driven bus down to Little Venice and walked to Paddington, apparently our favorite Tube stop. We got there just in time to catch the train to Slough, and there got a smooth transfer to Windsor Castle.
We headed into the Castle just in time to see the end of the Changing of the Guard. It was much more interesting than at Buckingham Palace, as spectators are much closer to the guards. The guards were very stompy, and rather ungainly in their stomping. Jer wondered if the weight of their hats was too great, or maybe if they should try Shaolin kung-fu.
Our first stop was St. George's Chapel. The stonework was amazing, as was the painted organ. Jess's favorite part, though, was the choir, which is decorated with the banners and emblems of the Knights of the Garter (past and present). The tombs of the various royals and other important people varied in size and ornateness. The plainer ones were in some ways more dramatic.
Jer decided that he was hungry, so we got re-entry wristbands and headed out into Windsor. We soon happened upon the "Bridge that Gap" Cafe, in the Windsor Parish Church of St. John the Baptist, where we had a tasty, inexpensive lunch served by people with learning disabilities. Jer had a massive jacket potato with chili and cheese, and Jess had an egg mayonnaise sandwich. We split a delicious slice of Victoria sponge for dessert. The whole thing was a little more than £8, which is less than a single main course at one of the surrounding places. If you're hungry in Windsor on a Friday, it's a great deal.
After lunch, we took a brief digestive walk down the Long Walk in Windsor Great Park (adjacent to the Castle) for a bit, and conjectured about how often the Queen blasted down it as fast as her fastest motorcar would go, and how much air she could get on the various hills.
We then returned to Windsor Castle and toured the apartments, including the 1/12th scale Queen Mary's Dolls' House. We were much taken with the dolls' house, which had a working elevator, electric lights, and many other miniature marvels. We also admired many things in the State Apartments, including a lock that shot you if you incorrectly tried to open it, a Thai crown (Jess didn't believe that it was supposed to be worn at first), sedan chairs for carrying Queen Charlotte, and the wonderful inlaid furniture and paintings all about. The collection of armor and weapons was also quite magnificent — there were some stunning decorative pieces made with precious metals, gems and mother-of-pearl, mixed with pieces "taken" or "captured" during various military campaigns. Mmmmm, plunder.
After buying a couple of small items in the gift shop, we took a brief stroll across the footbridge to Eton, then back to the train station. On the way, Jer got a rediculously expensive set of lithium batteries for his camera. Travelers take note: be sure that your battery charger does *not* destroy your batteries before you go.
We hopped back on the train to London. We made our way (with some difficulty, due to Tube problems) to the British Museum, as it was one of the museum's late closing nights. Only certain collections were open, largely the Egyptian and Greek ones. In the Egyptian collection, we got to see the Rosetta stone, a large number of mummies (of people, cats, ibis and oxen!) and funerary objects, sphynxes, pharaohs and other statues. The centerpiece of the Greek collection was the Elgin marbles (taken from the Parthenon), but we also saw a Lykian temple and other Greek statuary.
When the museum closed, we set off toward the North Sea Fish Restaurant for fish & chips. It looked nearby on the map, but it felt like miles to our aching feet. The restaurant wasn't a typical chippie, though the menu had the right items. We shared a jumbo fried plaice with chips and peas. The fish was enormous and fresh, but greasier than it should have been. Similarly, the chips were good but could have been a bit crispier. (In other words, the oil needed to be hotter.) (Jer thought the chips were fine, and that it's not the resturant's fault that Jess likes her chips overooked.) The peas were sadly overcooked — old school British style. All of this sounds more dire than it was — the food was fine, just not great, and the homemade tartar sauce made it better. Jer finished the meal with a dram of Lagavulin, and we split an apple crumble with cream, which was very good indeed. Odly, most of the other patrons were pensioners, and the only other people in the under-50 crowd were with older family. Also rather strange was the faffy atmosphere; the place felt much fancier than would be appropriate for the menu, and for the quality of the food. We only spent £22 for both of us, so it's not like it was expensive. Just very odd. Is this the kind of English restaurant our mothers warned us about?
Well fed, but still not recovered from our third day of all-day strolling, we shuffled to the Euston Square tube stop, managed once again to see the tiny little Underground signs and miss the gigantic one, and eventually got the train home. We fell gratefully into bed around midnight.
London 2005-09-10
Alarm went off at 7:30, Jer hit snooze and we got up at the next set of beeps. After some debate, it was decided that Jer would dash to Tesco to restock our depleted supplies of breakfast food. We showered and ate white muffins (English muffins in the States), which were more filling but less fun to eat than their American counterparts. They were quite doughy, and lacked proper nooks and crannies.
Headed out to the Tube, only to find that the District and Circle lines were incapacitated, this time due to construction, as opposed to signal problems like yesterday. They were to be our main source of transportation inside London, but it wasn't raining that hard, so we decided to use our tired footsies.
We made good time to the Tower of London, to which we devoted the better part of the day. Jess had been there before, but was more than happy to visit again (particularly the Jewel Tower — we went past the Crown Jewels twice). We also went through the medieval castle, the armouries in the White Tower — Jer was particulary interested in the more silly weapons like the gun shield and the holy water sprinkler, the exhibit about torture in the Tower, the Bloody Tower's exhibit abouut the princes who disappeared there (presumably after being murdered), and a number of other towers and exhibits. Jer was pleased that this bore evidence of having been an actual fortification, rather than just some nancy palace. We got a bit wet, as the promised rain appeared, but Jess had her trusty brolly and the showers soon passed.
From the Tower, we followed the Thames Walk to St. Paul's cathedral. Jer was quite impressed by its scale and its monuments, as well as by the opportunity to climb the 530 stairs into the dome. (Jess accompanied him to the Whispering Gallery and the Stone Gallery, but couldn't quite bring herself to ascend to the Golden Gallery. She missed out on a slightly hazy but otherwise excellent view.)
By this time, we were both ravenous. After a couple of false starts, we found an open pub, The Black Friar, and ordered a late lunch/early dinner. Jer had roasted vegetable lasagne, which was very cheesy, and a pint of Appleton's cider. The cider wasn't as good as Woodpecker, but was much better than Strongbow. He also helped Jess with her ham-and-cheddar melt, chips and salad. Jess dispatched her tomato basil soup and bitter lemon soda by herself. All in all a lovely meal.
Duly sated, we decided to take a bus to Charing Cross Rd., as Jess wanted to stop into a bookstore. This was made all the more adventuresome by the fact that we didn't have a bus map. We got on a bus that seemed to be going the right way, and followed along on our street map as we cruised through the city. This actually worked quite well. The bus dropped us off near Trafalgar Square, so Jer climbed onto the base of Nelson's Column to be photographed on a lion. Then we made our way to St. Martin's Theatre, where we booked tickets for Monday's performance of "The Mousetrap". We sprang for the best of the cheap seats, Row A in the Upper Circle. That errand done, we set off to get Jess's books. We found them in Borders (!), having failed in Foyles and Blackwells.
As we had laundry to do and Jer was exhausted (for once, more so than Jess), we headed back to the flat. After a brief stop at Tesco for snacks (including Bombay Bad Boy noodles), we settled ourselves for some laundry and passive entertainment. We got sucked into the tail end of ITV's "best 50 shows in ITV history" (The Muppet Show was the only one we'd seen, though we recognized the seminal shows for American Idol and Celebrity Fear Factor). After that, we watched Pirates of the Carribean, fast forwarding through the dull bits. Despite our best abridging efforts, we didn't get to bed until 12:30.
London 2005-09-11
Given our level of exhaustion and late night the previous day, we elected to sleep in to the decadent hour of 8:15. Even so, we managed to get on the Tube before 10:00. We initially blanched at the array of closed lines (5 of 12), but thankfully our way to the London Aquarium was clear. Being in London really makes one appreciate the New York MTA.
We arrived at Waterloo, and walked over to the London Aquarium. The Aquarium was nicely designed, with a set path that made it easy to not miss anything. The tanks were quite well-lit, and had good fishies. (The enormous brown trout caused much lip-smacking.) Jer got to pet several rays in the Touchpool. Jess was particularly taken with the large Pacific tank, filled with sharks, giant rays, and lots of schooling fish of various types. (Jess loves rays.) Indeed, our only complaint was with the fish signs. There were many fish that were not identified, and many signs for fish that were not in the tanks (at least as far as we could tell). We left a comment in our survey. The only other bad thing was the Portugese family that didn't seem to understand indoor voices. We walked across the bridge to Big Ben and along the Thames a bit, then caught the Northern line from Embankment back up to Hampstead, with a few transfers and delays on the way, of course.
We got home and started to make tea, realizing halfway through that we were out of sugar. Jer ran out to Tesco to get sugar, and came home with sugar, a bag of Walker's Slow Roasted Lamb and Mint crisps, and a Yorkie ("It's not for girls") bar. The crisps (potato chips) were fine, but tasted a bit weird. This weirdness was heightened by a perusal of the ingredients list, which includes "powdered lamb." (Better not to dwell on that.) The Yorkie bar is not for girls, apparently, because girls are too smart to spend their hard-earned money on a bar of decidedly middling milk chocolate.
Eventually Nikki, Graham, and Jack (their 10-month old son) arrived, having been caught in horrific London traffic. Jack was slow to warm to Jer, which is to say that Jack burst into tears every time that he looked at Jer. Jer, apparently, is scary. Jack quite likes the ladies, though, so immediately fell in love with Jess. ("Good taste, but she's mine. Remember, I'm scary." — Jer) After Jack was fed, we headed to a nearby Italian resturant (Frascati) to feed the old folks. By this time, Jer had become an object of curiosity, as opposed to an object of abject terror. We had rather hoped that Jack, who was very tired, would settle down for a nap in his pram, but the Hampstead scene was just too interesting for the little guy. This neccesitated many trips out of the resturant to keep him from getting fussy. This is where Jack learned the true value of Jer, which is that Jer eats quickly, and is perfectly happy to carry babies around strange towns while their parents eat. Jack decided that Jer, while not as visually appealing as a woman, was a stand-up guy. Eventually everyone finished up, and Jack started to doze on and off. We lingered a bit at the restaurant, then went back to the flat. We hung out for a bit, then Nikki, Graham, and Jack had to head out.
Jer was getting hungry again at this point, so he decided to try a British curry. We found a menu for an Indian place in the kitchen that our friend (who owns the flat) had praised, so Jer called them up. After explaining that he didn't know his way around, and that he had a terrible map, the nice man on the phone gave him directions. We headed out for Fleet Tandoori, and adventure. It turns out that Hampstead has way more shops and eateries than we had thought, so it was a pleasant walk down to the restaurant. Since we weren't positive that we'd find the place, Jer didn't order in advance. However, the directions were excellent, and we arrived without confusion. Jer ordered vegetable samosa and chana masala, and Jess ordered a kheer. The gentleman that Jer had talked to earlier generously offered us free drinks while we waited, and we were pleased to find that Indian people living in England know what masala chai is, unlike Scottish Indians.
The chai was very nice, but tasted markedly different than we have had it the States. It was much heavier on the cardamon, and lighter on the other spices. It also had a hint of coconut. Anyhoo, our bag of food arrived, and we walked home.
The differences between U.S. and English Indian became more pronounced when we opened the bag. After digging through a bit, Jer found a papadam, a regular English side salad (shedded iceberg with tomatoes and sweet pepper or cabbage, this one had cabbage), Jess's kheer, and his chana masala. Apparently you need to know to order rice or naan, as the waiters don't ask. In a separate bag were the samosa, sans dipping sauce. The samosa were wrapped in something like a spring roll wrapper, unlike the more doughy wrappers that one finds in the US. These samosa were, in truth, less good than the ones Jer has had in New York. The filling was not nearly as flavorful. The chickpeas in the chana masala were also entirely different from any variant that Jer had consumed stateside, but these were just as good. The (non-spiced) papadam made an excellent substitute for rice or naan. Jess's kheer had a very different consistency than ones we'd had before, more like a dry risotto than a pudding, and it had a bright yellow sweet sauce on top. It was also quite good, with lots of plump raisins and slivered almonds. Our dinner done, we resolved to go to bed early. With our journaling and travel planning for the next day, we got to bed at 12:30, as usual.
London 2005-09-12
Jer had forgotten to turn his Pilot to "make noise," but fortunately its vibrating on the nightstand awoke him. Jess, sporting her stylish turquoise earplugs, slept peacefully on, so Jer got up and started breakfast, waking her a bit past 8.
After showers and breakfast, we set off to the Zoo. On the way, we noted that gas in London is about US$8 per gallon — so no whining about US gas prices. After an impromptu shortcut to the Zoo, we were able to collect Jer's gift (finally): a mother and baby squirrel monkey set. Jer immediately started playing with them and acting like a little monkey himself. Jess was too amused to take a photo at first, then gradually wound down to being embarrassed, rather than amused. She later bounced back to somewhat amused.
We crossed Regent's Park, seeing many blooming roses (largely scentless — Jer felt the need to check them all), giant morning glories, and lots of waterfowl, including black swans and herons. Finally, we reached Baker Street, and headed down to the once non-existant address of 221b, where the Sherlock Holmes museum now resides. It consists of a gift shop, connected to a house that contains a reproduction (or, rather, a production) of Holmes' rooms, and several rooms with wax figure depictions of scenes from the books. (Jess was a bit startled by one display, which included a mechanical snake.) All in all, our guidebook was right; it wasn't worth £6 per person. However, it was a great value at £0 through our London Pass cards. The letters to Holmes from children around the world were by far the best part of the museum.
Upon leaving the museum, we undertook another bus adventure, and managed to find Kensington Gardens with little difficulty. We went straight to the Orangery for lunch. The room was lovely and bright, overlooking the gardens, with freesia on every table. Jer ordered the goat cheese, spinach and sweet pepper tart, and Jess had a salad topped with poached eggs and bacon. We split a raspberry meringue and berry coulis and clotted cream. It was a delightful meal, though we got meringue and berry coulis everywhere.
Since we were right next to Kensington Palace, we decided to stop in for a peek at the royal ceremonial dress collection. Jess was very taken with both the Queen's dresses and Princess Diana's, though on balance she'd rather wear the Queen's (from the beginning of her reign). We were able to walk through Princess Margaret's apartments; though all of her furnishings and personal effects were removed after her death, there were some lovely photographs and paintings on display.
Next, we hopped another bus, this time to Jermyn Street, where Jess bought two fancy dress shirts from T.M. Lewin (shirtmakers since 1898). She chose one dark green and one burgundy, and she got an excellent deal, courtesy of closeouts and the London Pass. Jer was very sad that he didn't like their men's shirts at all.
After changing into one of the new shirts, we took the Tube to the London office of Jess's new law firm. Conveniently enough, we ran into one of her colleagues from NYC just outside (he was working in London for 6 weeks), and he gave us the tour. It's super swanky.
We had a two-bus super adventure back to Covent Garden, where we headed to the Gay Hussar for a pre-theatre dinner. Jer had roast duck and applesauce with bacony potatoes and red cabbage. He also tried the house red wine, which was a fruity Hungarian variety. Jess had asparagus and bacon salad, followed by a venison soup. While both of our meals were delicious, they were eclipsed by the magnificent chocolate and raspberry gateau. All in all, a superb meal and an excelent value.
After dinner we popped next door to Milroy's of Soho, which has a quite excellent whisky selection. Jer got a bottle of Ardbeg Uigeadail, a vatted whiskey based around the 10 year old and finished in a sherry cask; it's not available in the US. [ Post-trip update: Uigeadail is now available in the US, but isn't all that good. ]
Then we were off to St. Martin's Theatre to see "The Mousetrap". It was amusing, but not as original as when it opened 52 years ago. Some of the acting was quite decent, but some "lacked subtlety" (as Jer put it). One actress in particular didn't seem able to project her voice without shouting, which was distracting. So, all in all, it was a bit of a tourist trap, but Jess was still glad to have gone. (Jer was just glad it wasn't a musical.) We saw show number 21,998.
After a quick Tube ride home, we packed. Well, Jer packed our stuff — Jess is abysmal at packing, particularly when space is a concern. It was a hard-fought one and a half hour battle, but Jer somehow triumphed. Still, no bed until 12:30m yet again.
London 2005-09-13
Jess awoke with a start. Light was streaming through the cracks around the shutters. What time was it? Were we going to miss their flight. She shook Jer awake. "Did you set an alarm?" Jer was having difficulty getting properly excited. "I don't know, what time is it?" That was, indeed the problem. Jer groggily navigated through his Pilot to discover the horrible truth — it was 7:26 and the alarm hadn't gone off yet.
After a bit of panicking on Jess's part, we quickly showered, ate and gathered our things together. We took the bus to Paddington Station (again), where we caught the train to Heathrow airport. Of course, we were in plenty of time for our flight to Reykjavik, and from there to NYC.