Notting Hill, but no Hugh Grant

Another busy day!

Got up early, to have breakfast and be at the Tower of London when it opened at 9 am.  It's a bit pricey to get in, at 20 pounds (and 4 pounds more for the audio guide) - works out to about $38 each.  But it felt well worth it, as we spend 4 full hours there, and learned a tremendous amount.  The most famous attraction within the Tower is the Crown Jewels, and they certainly are amazing - one of the best is the sceptre held by the Queen for special events: it has a 530 carat diamond in the hilt!  We ended up learning a lot about the history of the British queens and kings, from William the conquerer in 1066 and onward.

Then we walked across London bridge and had lunch in Borough market, kind of like an outdoor St. Lawrence market.  Most of it was closed, but a lot of food stands are opened daily, so we shared a gourmet meat pie, and some amazing fish and chips.  Then we popped into Neal's Yard, the best cheese shop in London (it was featured on one of Anthony Bourdain's shows) and bought a very small piece of some delicious Welsh cheese - the place was like cheese heaven ;)

We next walked over to the new Shakespeare's Globe theatre, intending to go on a tour, but we couldn't because tours aren't running while plays are on stage.  But next door is the new Tate Modern museum.  It's like the MOMA in New York, but not as big a collection.  Quite a few times we looked at each other and said "is this art??",  for example, when a canvas painted all black is on the wall.  Oh well, modern art is often experimental, so it won't appeal to everyone.  There were some paintings we liked by Picasso, Matisse and Kandinsky, but the 2 exhibits they had on (Edvard Munch, and Damien Hirst) each cost 15 pounds to enter, so we skipped those.  We went back to the hotel to rest our aching feet, first walking across the Thames on the pedestrian-only Millennium bridge which you may have seen in many movies or TV shows (look it up on the web):

Dinner was at a place called "Hereford Road", a local Notting Hill restaurant that got great reviews.  It was excellent and VERY reasonably priced.  We had 2 starters:  a huge globe artichoke that was grilled, and a British dish of "potted crab", kind of like a crab cake without the filler :)

For main courses, we both had fish, which they specialize in.  They get the freshest local fish, and grill it perfectly.  We tried a mackerel, and a lemon sole.  Both came as the full fish, head on.  But it was worth working around the bones!

The fish was fabulous, and hard to believe how reasonable.  The mackerel was 12.50 pounds and the sole was 15 pounds, but that includes tax, so even after the exchange to dollars, it's half to a third of the cost of most fish restaurants in Toronto.  We were totally stuffed, but managed to share one dessert, and incredible panna cotta made with buttermilk, with a side of macerated rhubarb and some little sugar cookies:

More good eats...

Day Three in London started at the Churchill War Rooms, which were incredibly fascinating.  They are located in a building on Parliament Street, and were opened in 1940 to allow Churchill to command moves during the war.  There are rooms where he communicated with American Presidents and where he and his wife slept.  Within the museum is a room dedicated to Churchill's life and history.

We took the Tube back to Oxford Circus and had lunch at a great "Take-Away" spot called Leon.  It's a small chain in London that specializes in healthy, organic, locally sourced foods.  For example we shared grilled meatballs (on top of salad), and a Persian chicken and avocado salad, with a homemade ginger lemonade :)

Then we went to Selfridge's, one of London's biggest department stores, and wandered around the store (it is truly awe inspiring, especially in the Food Hall!)  We went up to the Roof Garden, which was only recently re-opened.  Last year, they had rowboats on the roof, and this year they have miniature golf!

After a bit of a rest we set out for dinner in Islington, and went to Ottolenghi.  It was fantastic, and as I have two of the cookbooks written by the Chef/Owner, I am super inspired to try more of the recipes (and Neil is glad I am inspired!)  We started with 2 salads, a grilled peach, endive, radicchio salad (with macadamia nuts and pecorino cheese), and also a roasted carrot salad with peas and coriander and cumin seeds.  The breads they bake were also superb, served with a nice olive oil:

We then shared an absolutely amazing duck breast, done with 5 spice powder and almonds:

Finally, we shared a lamb dish that had to have been the most tender lamb we'd ever tasted, on a bed of farro:

We even squeezed in dessert after that - Ottolenghi has a window display of desserts when you walk in, that are all homemade.  We had a slice of apple vanilla cake (with maple icing), and a lemon mascorpone tart; they even brought out a pot of creme anglaise to go with it, and we cleaned every morsel off our plates:

Our feet continue to be our biggest enemies, but after a good night's rest we will conquer more tomorrow!

To the palace....

London Day 2:

Another day with lots of walking - my new orthotics are getting quite the workout!

We started the day with a tour of Buckingham Palace.  There are only certain times of year you can do this, and we'd booked our tickets ahead of time.  We both felt it was well worth it - quite amazing to walk through the halls where the queen entertains guests.

Then we walked to Harrod's - it's enormous!  Didn't buy much - just some Earl Grey tea for myself.   The prices are very high, and the store is mostly full of tourists.  But we had a nice walk through the Knightsbridge area where it's located, and a super delicious take-out lunch from Ottolenghi (sorry, no pictures of it - I was too busy eating it!)

Dinner was at a local spot, called Il Bordello, in an area called Wapping, on the river, east of the Tower of London (almost at Canary Wharf).  We had arranged to meet my cousin Stephanie there, as she has lived in London a long time, and we wanted to get together.
Here is Susie and I with Stef:

This is a view of the Thames from Wapping:

And then there's our food - here is Susie's Linguine pescatore:

I had a special of the day - a tagliatelle with scallops, langoustines and monkfish - I ate every last bit :)

Day 1 - jet-lagged exploring of London

London Day 1:

Got in after an uneventful flight, but with no sleep at all.  Almost 1 hr wait in line for UK customs, but then quickly got bags, got on Gatwick Express train to London Victoria station, and walked from station to our hotel.  Since at that point it was 11 am, our room wasn't ready, so we stowed the bags with them and set off - in just a few hours, we went to Westminister Abbey (although didn't go inside), and we saw some of the National Gallery, and walked to Leicester square (theatre district) and Covent Garden shops.

Big Ben is just a short walk from the hotel, and it really is magnificent in real life!  Check out the London Eye (ferris wheel) in the background.

By the time we checked into our room at 2 pm we both felt we were ready to collapse.  So, we napped for a couple of hours, then set out on more journeying, and had a nice casual dinner at Chowki, right near Piccadilly circus.  On the way, we walked through St. James's park, one of many parks in the city - great to have such green space in such a huge city.

We then walked around Soho a bit - lots of cool restaurants and shops!  We finished off with some strolling on Oxford street, and checked out Selfridges, a huge and famous London department store.  We didn't make it much past the food section, which was incredible :)

London is definitely expensive!  You look at prices here, and they seem reasonable, but then you remember they are in pounds, not dollars, so you have to add 60% for exchange.  We took the subway (the Tube) back to our hotel tonight, and the ticket was 4.30 pounds each - almost $7 for a one way ride for one person!

Preparing for trip

5 days until we depart :)

Lots of research happening, but the exciting blogs will come once we arrive in Europe.

6 days in London, 6 days in Paris, then 3 days in Amsterdam.

more to come....