3 things I learned in  London

1. Bus + Subway + Walking is better transportation than a car at home
2. Beer is cheaper than water
3. I should wear more suites (everyone in London wears a suite)

3 things Nic learned in London

1. Elevators are mean. Do they really need to try to take your limb off when you hold a door open?
2. Even though cigarette packages say “Smoking Kills” on the front, everyone still smokes
3. If you don’t like walking on dead people…don’t look down in a church (yes, those are tombstones you’re walking on)

All in all London has been amazing. Abbey Road, amazing churches, good food (even though everyone says it’s terrible), fun bus and subway rides, miles upon miles upon miles of walking every day, bridges, castles, friendly people, a lil too much litter, crap television, good beer, amazing – i mean seriously amazing paintings and more. For a town that Nic “had no interest in” 4 months ago she and I had a great time.

Day 3 started later than expected. As Nic mentioned earlier we over slept and her knee was hurting so we didn’t leave the hotel room till after 12:00. I, honestly, was a lil peeved. I mean, we are in London, let’s get going. But, I soon realized that the extra sleep was needed and deserved and got over it. We made our way to Rock & Sole Plaice; what some people have said is the best fish & chips in our area. We hadn’t had fish & chips yet so why not start with the best. We found the restaurant which was crowded and they offered to sit us downstairs. Downstairs smelled like mold + fish guts, we opted to wait outside. 15 minutes later we were sharing a picnic table esque bench with two women who didn’t speak english, or at least they didn’t speak it with us around. The fish & chips were very good. Honestly I can’t remember the last time I ate fish & chips so they may have been terrible, but I enjoyed them. Nic had fried cheese but tried my fish & chips and agreed that they were delicious.

From lunch we headed to the tube to take 3 different lines back to the Tower of London. We wanted to walk across the London Tower Bridge. In an earlier post I mentioned the London Bridge, I was mistaken, it was the London Tower Bridge, the London Bridge will come later in this post. The London Tower Bridge (LTB – too much to type this late) was really cool. It had bright blue supports and tall towers (hence the name). The center raises to allow boats to come in and out of the London Pool. We walked across the bridge and headed to the Queens Walkway.

The Queens Walkway is a fancy way to say: walkway by the river. I don’t know why it was the Queens other than someone opened it in her honor, and it wasn’t particularly Royal looking, but it was nice. It led us to three suprise encounters 1) the London Bridge isn’t that cool, 2) an old gothic church and 3) an open air market, like Pikes Place in Seattle. We hit the jackpot. Fish mongers, butchers, pies, cookies, jams, salts, chocolates, fruits and veggies galore.  One butcher had a whole pig in his area, head and all. It still had the eyes. Kinda creepy, but…..kinda delicious too. Nicole bought some salt with spices mixed in and we made our way back to central London. Oh….the church….it was cool too. Free to go into.

(Insert a mile walk plus two tube stations)

Next stop: The National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. This was an exceptional collection of paintings back to the 1200s. Cezannes, Rembrandt, Raphael, Michelangelo, Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet and more. We saw paintings that I had to study back in school, paintings I’d only read about or seen on the internet. I had never seen a Rembrandt self portrait and I must say that it was exceptional. His use of paint to create light was like nothing i’d ever seen. There was an artist copying a painting by Ruebens, and while this artist was good, you could see just how masterful these old painters were. Even 400+ years later Ruebens painting blew the doors off of the copy. I nerded out for around and hour and a half before they closed the museum and we went on our way. Even now, writing about these paintings, I can’t explain how magnificent they were. Everyone should come to the National Gallery.

(Insert a couple mile walk)

Next Stop: London Eye. Yep, I rode it. And I rode it at night. The lights came on in the city and I was 450 feet in the sky to see it. With London sprawled out before me I took a zillion photos of the Parliament, Big Ben, the Thames and a bunch of other stuff I couldn’t make out. The ride is about 35 minutes but it is well worth it. I recommend going at night. The pictures are harder to take but the view is well worth it. Nicole enjoyed the view from a bench below as she tries to opt for 2 feet on the ground.

After the London Eye we took the camera on a lil night time photo shoot. 2-10 second exposures, small F-Stops and a tri pod made for some great pictures. We walked down to the opposite side of the river from the British Parliament and took pictures. With my back turned to the path a homeless guy came up right next to me, I mean seriously right next too me, and ask me for pence. I told him I didn’t have any cash (the truth) then his pit bull attacked a joggers dog so he left me alone. Seriously, this guy got too close to me for comfort. I woulda ninja chopped him if I had too but luckily it didn’t get that far. Someone should give him a lesson in personal space though. No one likes to have a homeless person sneak up on them for change. Jeez.

(More walking + tubes)

Dinner started at Piccadilly Circus. How can I describe PC? Hmmmmmm. Times Square with a London twist. I mean seriously, a zillion people, lights, cars, buses, tube stops, statues, stores, restaurants, more people. I loved it! It was full of energy and just the place to start looking for dinner. We walked up the street and away from PC but towards more shops, restaurants, theaters and people. Eventually we made our way to SoHo and found a small Italian joint down a side street. It was packed, smelled amazing and full of Italian people yelling and running around. Sounded perfect. We sat down and learned a new trick, ask for tap water NOT still water and they charge you 1.20 for unlimited glasses of water. Yes, I still ordered a beer. I think I’ve had beer with every meal that isn’t breakfast on this trip. That’s okay though, it’s vacation .

Dinner ended with two stuffed tourists ready to call it a night. We walked back to the hotel, stopping by Punjab so we could get more crispy cracker and chutney stuff and headed to the hotel. We had a quick conversation about whether or not we were lame because we weren’t out at a pub getting sloshed (with the rest of the town) on our last night in London. We decided that Yes, we were lame but that it was okay. We’ve had a great time in London and don’t need to be drunk or stupid to top it off. Besides, there are better ways to end an evening…

Flickr Photostream

London Day 3 Pics

The cathedral is breathtaking. It was built circa 600a.d. and it is absolutely mind  blowing to think that people were capable of building such amazing structures without all of the technology we have today. Kevin made the great journey up into the dome. It was a 600-stair, one way, realllllly narrow, stairway up into the dome. I made the decision to remain on the ground level and wait to see him poke his head over the balcony in the top of the dome. There were three levels, the interior “whispering” platform and two exterior platforms that were near the top of the dome. He said it was amazing but concurred that I would not have been happy squeezing my way up 600 stairs. We also toured the crypt at St. Paul’s. I’ve come to the conclusion that one thing I don’t enjoy doing is touring crypts. Creeeepy.

After St. Paul’s we had lunch at Pizza Express, rather good! Though, we’ve figured out that our drinks at our meals cost nearly as much as the meal itself. I ordered a Fanta, Kevin a beer and we shared a still water and it came out to 9 pounds, my pizza was 7 pounds! The still water (a 1 liter bottle) costs more than a beer! I think I understand why people drink a lot here. I will definitely not take free water for granted at home anymore!

Once we finished lunch we crossed the Thames via the Millennium bridge (the one that was in the beginning of the newest Harry Potter) and headed over to the Tate Modern Museum. It is a huge building with a wide range of art from Picasso to Warhol and everything in between. Some of the art was beautiful, but frankly, a lot of the “modern” crap makes me cringe. There was literally a blank canvas with a slit in it, um, that is art? Then there was the giant rope that was just lying on the ground. Art? Seriously? Oh, and there was the giant palm tree, roots and all, lying on it’s side. The only impressive thing about that was the fact that they somehow got it into the building in one piece! But, art? Come on people! Thankfully there were some classic works there which saved the Tate for us. And, maybe best of all, it was free!

We walked out of the Tate and headed west over to the Shakespeare Globe which is a replica of Shakespeare’s playhouse. It is the only building in London that has a thatch roof, so it definitely stands out. It was small and cute outside.

We crossed back over the Millennium bridge and hopped on the Tube to (thanks Dad for the awesome suggestion) Abbey Road to the crosswalk where the famous Beatles album cover was photographed and the record studio where their album was recorded. We weren’t the only people checking out the famous street and we could tell that the locals were used to us “dumb tourists” holding up traffic to try and get a shot of ourselves crossing Abbey Road. It was a very, very cool thing to see and I’m so glad we went!

After Abbey Road we hopped back onto the Tube over to Hyde Park. This is a HUGE park in the middle of London. We walked for what seemed forever and only covered a fraction of it. We saw school children running laps around the lake in the park dressed in their school uniforms which were red shorts and khaki polos, tucked in, so proper and adorable! We also saw the Princess Diana memorial fountain, a somber place.

We decided to take a double-decker bus back to our hotel to get ready for dinner. We hadn’t realized yesterday that our daily tube pass is also good for the local bus system, score! We guessed at the bus we needed to take and got lucky! We got to ride on the top deck of a really old double decker bus, what an experience. It was around 5pm at this time and London was packed with people and cars everywhere. Total chaos, but somehow it was organized chaos.

Once back at the hotel our awesome concierge recommended Punjab, the oldest Indian restaurant in London, and the #1 restaurant in Covent Garden. He also made reservations for us, drew us a map, and showed us the best way to get to the theater after dinner. I love how helpful and pleasant people are here! Though, on a side note, I did hear a guy yell a racial slur at a Muslim woman praying in the park today, aside from the fact that he was a total racist a-hole, it was almost refreshing to know that this town ISN’T perfect afterall, I was beginning to wonder!

So, we had our first Indian dinner ever tonight, and it was delicious! It was fresh and light and very tasty! After dinner we walked to the theater and watched 39 Steps, a hilarious comedy based on the Hitchcock story. The theater was about 3 stories underground and older than dirt. It really is amazing how old stuff is here.

After the play we walked through Chinatown and SOHO, had some delicious Chinese food (yes, second supper is acceptable on vacation!) and then headed to Trafalgar Square. There were hundreds of people out, just hanging around, and it was after 11pm on a Wednesday night. So different from home. There is a “living” art exhibit happening called One & Other, some local kids rollerblading around cones to music that was playing, and a crew from the museum packing up the largest chess board I have ever seen! It was just so cool. Such a great vibe!

We walked down the Strand back to our hotel and now here we are! Exhausted again with a big day ahead of us tomorrow.

We’re glad that you guys are enjoying the blogs and we LOVE getting your comments, so keep the coming! It takes a lot of time to write these blogs, so I will try to make tomorrow night’s shorter so I can reply to some comments instead! Miss you all! Nite nite.

Pictures:
Our most recent on flick
London Day 2 set on flickr

Today started around 9am. Nicole and I ended up sleeping a bit later than expected but that turned out to be okay because we were both seriously exhausted from the flight and time change. We made it out of our room around 9 and headed to a Tube station to make our way to the London Tower.

Of course, we took the long way to the Tube as I have zero sense of direction. We made our way down the Embankment road along the Thames and into a tube station that dropped us off at Tower Hill.

Exiting the tube we quickly found the London Tower and an unexpected suprise (we hadn’t looked at a map in a while) The London Bridge! We walked up to buy tickets to the Tower of London and found our first treat of the day. Low fat blueberry muffins. Wait, let me rephrase that. The 2nd best blueberry muffin we have ever eaten. Second only to the mythical blueberry muffins we had in Hawaii almost 10 years ago.

2 blueberry muffins and one bottle of juice later we entered the Tower of London. The Tower of Lond was much more than a tower. It was multiple towers, barracks, protective walls, a jail, an armory and a nest of ravens. We were lucky enough to see the King Henry VIII exhibit entitled “Dressed To Kill.” The exhibit featured armor, clothing and weapons all used by King Henry VIII. The collection was comissioned by his son, who was crowned at the age of 9 after King Henry died. We were able to visit the jail to see old grafiti, names and dates of people who were kept prisoner in the Tower. A grass field is still in place where executions took place over 900 hears ago. The White Tower was an armory area displaying cannons, swords and more armor used throughout the Tower’s history.

From the Tower we made our way back up the Tube to Westminster Abbey. Our exit of the tube put us smack dab in the middle of the London Eye, British Parliment, Big Ben and the Westminster Abbey.

We found lunch at a small cafe near the Abbey. Our waiter was a crazy, i mean seriously crazy Italian guy. He asked to take our order 3 times before we had finally decided what we were having, and it only took us about 7 minutes to decide! He ran throughout the sidewalk, restaurant and kitchen like a mad man. Nicole ordered a veggie lasagna and I had a panini. To be frank, the panini was okay, not great, and Nic’s lasagna was amazing. A bowl full of veggies, noodles, sauce and cheese. A small salad, Fanta and a beer accompanied our food and set us back less than $30 (i can’t find the pound key).

Okay, the Abby. From the outside the only word I can use is spectacular. The architecture is beyond description. Large, ornate, grand. Just an absolutely amazing building. The inside, equally amazing, but surprisingly cluttered. Rooms full of entombed kings, queens, philosophers, religious and political people all remembered with grand tombs of gold. We walked through the Abby for over an hour before making our way outside to take pictures of Big Ben and the British Parliament.

Hi, Nicole here! Kevs is getting sleepy! So, after checking out the Eye and Big Ben we decided to walk back to the room as we were, once again, exhausted. I’m not sure how much sleep we’ve gotten thus far, but I am certain it hasn’t been nearly enough. We both laid down to “try to rest our eyes” thinking we MIGHT fall asleep, and setting our alarm in just case. Well, we were both sound asleep within minutes of our heads hitting the pillows. We woke up around six-thirty and headed to the Boxwood Cafe. For those of you that don’t know, Kevin and I are BIG Gordon Ramsey fans and were excited to have the opportunity to eat at one of his restaurants in London. We did some research ahead of time and settled on the Boxwood Cafe. A special thanks is in order to Auntie Martha and Uncle Brian! They were sweet enough to call the cafe a month ago and order a gift certificate for our dinner. It was awesome and greatly appreciated!

Knowing that Gordon has high standards on the show “Hells Kitchen”, Kevin and I had equally high expectations of Boxwood. Amazingly those expectations were exceeded! The location was excellent. The service was flawless. And the meal was D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S! Corn and lobster chowder, crab pasta, spinach and ricotta bake, lamb neck with gnocchi and peas, mixed green salads and fig tart with white chocolate and vanilla ice cream. Plus delicious Innsomething-Gunn beer! Yum!

We perused the Knightsburg area, did a bit of window shopping, and then headed back to our room. Here we are again, exhausted. I’m beginning to see a trend. We’re hoping to sleep it off tonight as it is only midnight! Earliest we’ve gone to bed in a week by far.

Before I wrap this up I want to say that I’m very surprised by the people here in London. Everyone is extremely friendly, kind and helpful. It has been awesome. The city is beautiful and interesting and I can’t wait to explore more tomorrow. Until then, cheerio!

Weather: Sunny, Cloudy, A Little Windy but warm and beautiful: 70 degrees