Borough Market, Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, Jack the Ripper

Posted by Andrew on Sep 19, 2010 in London, England | 1 comment

Wow, today was busy! We started the morning at Borough Market in Southeast London, a farmer’s market of types with vendors selling everything from exotic meats to freshly-baked breads (and everything in between). The best part about it all was the fact that almost every vendor had samples you could try of their delicious offerings. Every booth had a specialty and some of the cheese shops were just amazing, many selling cheese from just one area of the world. One of the best things we found that Cheryl recommended was this little booth called Pate Moi which sells nothing but a delicious creamy pate made of a mix of beautiful woodsy mushrooms. I bought two containers in the hope that the American Customs Agents will be nice and let me keep them. I’m crossing my fingers already. We also bought some delicious caramel chocolate and a jar of a spicy pepper jam. Yum! Another highlight was an amazing french butter with crunchy sea salt. We supplemented all that sampling with croissants and coffee and that was basically breakfast and lunch for us.

Next it was on to Westminster Abbey which we missed the first day when we saw the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. (Westminster Abbey is literally next door.) Unfortunately when we got there, it was closed in preparation for a visit from the Pope. We were able to get some amazing photos however of the outside of the building which is just magnificent. There were people and news crews everywhere so we cut our visit short and hopped on the Tube to the Tower of London. The Tower of London, famous for the executions and torture of prisoners for centuries also houses the Crown Jewels which turned out to be both of our favorite part of the Tower. We got to see them up close and personal in all their sparkling glory, even the Royal Sceptre which holds The Great Star of Africa, the largest cut diamond in the world weighing in at over 530 carats. It was breathtaking! The only disappointment was that they didn’t allow photography, but we understood why. Also noteworthy were the modern exhibit on armor made for English kings and the display of torture implements.

At 7:30 we strolled over to the Tube station and met our tour guide Steve for the Jack the Ripper walk. What a fun and slightly morbid way to spend the evening. Our guide took us through dark alleyways and described, in grisly detail, each of the five murders. We were able to visit the location of three of them on the tour, even poor Mary Jane Kelly whose place of demise is now a lovely four story parking garage. Okay, so many of the places have been morphed into more modern buildings, but a few of the locations still looked similar to what they did in the late 1800s when the murders took place. He also spent some time describing a half dozen of the main suspects in the cases. Despite being tired from being on our feet all day, Steve kept us awake and entertained (except for Andrew’s brief nod off against the wall) with his riveting descriptions of the how the events unfolded. He was an excellent performer and we enjoyed it immensely. You would think that after all that, our adventures for the day would be over, but no. Steve, although a great tourguide, spent two hours walking us in what appeared to be circles and then left us somewhere completely different than (and a mile away from) where we started. It was now 9:30 p.m. and we already missed the closest Tube station (Steve’s directions weren’t the best) and just kept walking to a station we were familiar with. At the beginning of our walk, there were lots of people around filling up noisy pubs, but as we kept walking there were less and less people and the people that were around were more and more intoxicated. We were lucky enough to see only two people urinating in public. Thank goodness only one was facing us while doing so. In spite of the drunkards it still seemed pretty safe, as long as you could avoid being hit by a taxi. We finally got to Cheryl and Mickey’s place around 10:30 p.m. ready for bed. I am writing this in the morning because I again fell asleep with the laptop in my lap. Au revior for now, Chelsie and Andrew

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Buckingham Palace and Harrods

Posted by Andrew on Sep 17, 2010 in London, England | 1 comment

Hi again! Today we had another early morning filled with croissants and cappuccino. I don’t typically drink coffee so I asked for orange juice and I was pleasantly surprised that the Barista at TomTom fresh squeezed my orange juice promptly and gave it to me in a little orange paper cup with tomtom hand-stamped diagonally on the side. It might have been the best orange juice I have ever tasted. After that we walked a few blocks to Buckingham Palace because we had tickets to see the State Rooms which are the rooms that invited guests of the palace use and the places where the Queen entertains. We were so lucky to see them because they are only open briefly once a year. You won’t see any pictures of us inside the Palace because we weren’t allowed to take any. We had a little bit of a scare when we went through security because they wanted to take the iPad that Mickey lent us and hold it until the end of the tour. I guess laptops are a security threat. I was reluctant to give it up because it’s not ours, but I really had no choice. I handed it over and got the equivalent of a coat check ticket for it. At the end of the tour I crossed my fingers that it would be waiting for us and it was. Phew, what a relief! That thing has been a lifesaver for us as it has an internet connection and the streets in London can be confusing. Buckingham Palace is breathtaking inside and out. The audio tour they gave each of us was good and told us about the rooms, what was in them, and how they are used. The entrance staircase and the ballroom were my favorite parts. They also had a really good special exhibit on the Queen since 2010 is apparently the Year of the Queen. Some of the gowns the Queen wore for past occasions were on display and they were just stunning.

After finishing the tour we walked along Green Park towards Harrods, the infamous London department store. People have told me how big it is before, but nothing, absolutely nothing prepares you for that kind of experience. It was room upon room upon room of high-end shoes, gowns, handbags, perfume, coats, scarves, musical instruments, furniture, lighting, entertainment, chocolates, toys, couture for children etc. etc. etc. They also had a pet boutique that was at least 5,000 square feet of nothing, but high-end pet gear. Nothing chintzy about it. This was the Prada of dog boutiques. We bought the Pugs a robot plush. It was the only non-consumable item we purchased there. I think we were overwhelmed more than anything else. I would have shopped for clothes, but I was almost in a trance wandering around because there was too much to look at. There was even an opera singer complete with red couture gown singing in the escalator corridor. All that and I haven’t even begun to describe the best part of all…the food area. I believe they called it Food Hall and it really was as big as a large hall if you add up all the rooms. They had a whole room of nothing but chocolates, another of candy and pastries, another of fresh seafood and meats, one more with prepared foods, yet another of dairy and cheese and another of just fruits and vegetables, not to mention the wine cellar and all the restaurants sprinkled around. And these aren’t just any meats/seafood/fruits/veggies. These are the cream of the crop, just butchered/caught/picked from the farm hours ago foods. This place makes the two-story Whole Foods in Pasadena (which I still love, by the way) look like a Seven-Eleven. We were lucky enough to go during their British Food Festival where all the best England has to offer was on display. I had a wonderful English mushroom, goat cheese, and spinach lasagna with homemade pasta and Andrew had a Sicilian pizza with spicy salami. And on top of that, the guy that made our pizza sang to everyone in Italian every few minutes. Just amazing. All-in-all we were in there over 2 hours. When we left our heads were spinning. After that we walked about a mile back to Mickey and Cheryl’s flat. Tonight I think we are going to eat in. Mickey wants to use the BBQ one last time before they move as the new flat doesn’t have any outdoor space. Tomorrow Mickey and Cheryl are taking us to a large farmer’s market type of thing and we are really looking forward to that. Oh, and one more thing…we’ve been walking about 10 miles a day and it looks like that is a trend that will continue. Hope you are all well back at home. Miss you all. Au revior, Chelsie and Andrew

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Big Eye Millenium Tate

Posted by Chelsie on Sep 16, 2010 in London, England | 4 comments

Today was an incredible start to our London sightseeing. We began the day at Mickey’s favorite coffee shop called TomTom Coffee. Then we walked a few doors down to a great French bakery, Poilâne, where we got an amazing croissant. We were actually thinking about how good that croissant was for most of the morning. We will hopefully go back tomorrow for another. After that we set out and braved the subway or “The Tube” as they call it here. It was a little scary because I wasn’t sure that we were getting on the right train, but we hopped on, risked it, and everything was fine. As we walked out of the long tunnel that exits the tube, we caught our first view of the Thames River. Then we turned around and looked up and there was Big Ben, looking as majestic as you see in the movies. It was so beautiful. After snapping a few quick shots we moved on to the London Eye, the world tallest ferris wheel where we could see everything and where we kind of figured out how everything is oriented.

By this time we were getting hungry to we ate open-faced sandwiches at a french cafe, Le Pain Quotidien. Andrew had smoked chicken and I had crab and avocado. It was incredibly tasty, but the best part was the pear tart we shared at the end. Here in London, Mickey has a friend who works as a photographer and he suggested we go see an exhibit at the Tate Modern called “Exposed.” It deals with the voyeuristic aspects of photography and we both enjoyed it immensely. By the time we had seen the exhibit it was about 3:30 p.m. so we started heading back over the Millennium Bridge. Andrew has always wanted to go on this so he was very excited and took lots of pictures. We finished the day up with a trip to St. Paul’s cathedral and a walk in St. James’ Park before meeting Mickey and Cheryl for dinner at a restaurant Inn The Park. The food was good, except the rabbit terrine which Andrew didn’t care for, but ordered anyway to be adventurous. He said it tasted “organy” (i.e. like internal organs). Since our feet were aching, we took a quick (and a little crazy) taxi ride and now we are getting ready for bed so we can see lots more tomorrow. Au revior for now, Chelsie and Andrew

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Best Flight Ever!

Posted by Chelsie on Sep 16, 2010 in London, England | 0 comments

We got off to a slightly (very slightly) rocky start with the delay and a gate change, but after that is was smooth sailing all the way. What a great flight! The least amount of turbulence we have ever experienced and, get this, I (Chelsie) slept 7 hours. Can you believe that? Andrew also slept a good chunk of the time too. When we arrived, we had dinner with Mickey and Cheryl at a great restaurant close to their flat and had sweetbreads for a starter. Sweetbreads are the thymus or glands in the neck of the calf. They were delicious and Mickey perfectly described them as pork shops with the texture of blubbery chicken nuggets. Andrew also had duck and I had cod. Both pretty good. After dinner we visited a private park that is only accessible to people who live on Mickey and Cheryl’s square. It’s great because once you are inside the gate you feel like you’re not in the city at all. I was supposed to post this right after we got back from dinner, but I fell asleep with the laptop on my lap. Looks like so far we are adjusting to the time difference beautifully. We awoke this morning at 6:00 a.m. ready to see London. Au revior for now, Chelsie and Andrew

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