London 2009 -- Day Three

Sunday started late with breakfast at Prêt a Manger. I had hoped to visit an outdoor art market that I had read about, so we headed down Bayswater Road along Hyde Park until we found the artists peddling their wares. Having seen a small handful of street artists in Florence, I was unprepared for the number of artists that we were out in full force on that beautiful Sunday morning. There were photographers, painters, watercolorists, clockmakers, and every sort of artist in between stretching from Hyde Park to Kensington Gardens. I loved walking along seeing their pieces, longing to take the largest and most beautiful home with me, but knowing how impractical it was. Given that I had difficulty finding an ATM, I didn’t bring anything home with me. :-\ Sad.

From there, we headed up to Oxford Street for some window shopping which morphed into Tottenham Court road (another HP reference for some of you!) before heading to the National Portrait Gallery to meet Todd. We didn’t end up finding him, so we ventured into the museum on our own. It’s one of the free gems in London, though on that Sunday afternoon, someone was a little overzealous with the heater. It was quite uncomfortable. We did manage to visit a few old friends in the museum though.

After the museum, Mary Beth and I headed to the Texas Embassy just off Trafalgar Square for chips and salsa before she had to head back to Leeds. The Texas Embassy, though not the best Tex-Mex food, holds a special place in my heart when I get homesick while abroad. It’s a big restaurant with all sorts of Texas memorabilia scattered throughout. A little piece of Texas in London. A little bit of trivia for you – the Texas Embassy restaurant actually exists in the same place that the Texas Embassy actually existed when Texas was its own entity. Previous occupants of the building also included White Star Shipping Line, infamous for the ill-fated Titanic.

Mary Beth headed to the train station around 4, leaving me to wait for Todd to determine how to spend our last night in London. We headed out in search of a pub and ended up at Ye Grapes in Mayfair where we watched soccer and had a few drinks. From there, I convinced Todd that we had to go visit the sites at night, as he hadn’t truly experienced the beauty of Big Ben yet. We tried to take the Underground, but the lines we needed were shut down, so we hopped in a cab.

We ended up having a late dinner at Locale, an Italian restaurant in Westminster, not far from where we had lunch on Friday. I ordered the basil pizza, and it was very much like the pizzas I had ordered in Italy. Thin crust, light cheese, light toppings, very flavorful. I really enjoyed it. Todd also seemed to really enjoy his pasta, as there was none left by the end of the meal. (Lots of Italian food this weekend, I know.)

We grabbed the subway up to Tower Hill, so I could photograph Tower Bridge at night. It was a little eerie to wander around the Tower of London at night, but the bridge was absolutely beautiful. I really enjoyed seeing it all lit up in the evening. We stayed up there for awhile, but decided to head back to Grosvenor House before the Underground stopped running.

Overall, it was a very laid back trip without too much excitement. The highlights for me were definitely seeing The Sound of Music, the long leisurely dinner with two good friends, and photographing London at night. London is such a beautiful city, I’m not sure I’ll ever get tired of it.

More pictures can be found on my photoblog, or I can send you the whole collection on Kodak. :)

Happy Heart Day -- London 2009 -- Day Two

Saturday morning, Todd and I once again set out for brekkie. Since we planned on visiting St. Paul’s that morning, we headed over there and found a small café serving breakfast, Café Rouge. We both ordered the traditional English breakfast, and although my eggs were a little runny, everything was good, especially their fresh orange juice. Service was a little spotty, but it was in the European tradition of letting you truly enjoy your table and your meal without being, as opposed to the hurry up and leave technique often practiced by American establishments. I can definitely say I prefer the former. At any rate, we finished up our breakfast and headed to St. Paul’s for some sightseeing. I love St. Paul’s, but it is darn near impossible to get a good picture of that structure! Like Notre Dame, it’s just too big for a good picture.

After St. Paul’s, we headed to King’s Cross to find Platform 9 and ¾s. If you aren’t a Harry Potter reader, you won’t understand. The whole experience was pretty underwhelming, but it was a fun photo op. It was funny, because as we were wandering around looking for it, Todd and I both stated that if we didn’t find it, there was no way we were going to ask where it was. Todd happened to see a flash, and thus we stumbled upon Platform 9 and ¾s…

From there, we headed to Leicester Square so Todd could get tickets for a West End performance. He ended up getting decently priced tickets to see Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard, so he would be entertained while Mary Beth and I saw The Sound of Music. He wanted to go check into his hotel afterward, and I needed to meet Mary Beth, so we headed back to Grosvenor House.

Mary Beth arrived shortly after 3, and we headed to Prêt a Manger near the Marble Arch tube station for a light lunch. I had fresh fruit and orange juice, and she had a salad. We managed to secure a table upstairs, and we spent time just visiting and catching up. It was absolutely wonderful. We finally headed back to the hotel for more visiting and to get ready for that evening’s events.

Todd was supposed to stay at the Hilton Park Lane, but they were completely booked, so they walked him to the Hilton Green Park a few blocks away. It wasn’t nearly as grand, but it did the job for one night. The staff was very pleasant when we popped over to pick him up on our way to the West End.

We walked from the Hilton Green Park to Piccadilly Circus and ended up having wine and appetizers in the bar of Tiger Tiger. It was the only place we could get into, and we watched a bit of a soccer game while visiting. Eventually, we all scampered off to our respective theaters with the promise to meet up afterwards for a proper dinner.

The Sound of Music was at the Palladium Theater off Oxford Street which is actually quite a large venue, especially for London. We had right orchestra seats that were pretty good. I was really disappointed though – the will call line was RIDICULOUS and they started the show with a will call line about a block long. We missed the opening number. However, other than that, the show was absolutely flawless. It was spectacular. The cast was extremely talented and spot on, the staging was beautiful, and the music was just as beautiful as the original. Captain Von Trapp was a little smarmy, and Mary Beth and I privately shared a good laugh when he thrust his daughter in front of him when asking Rolf not to shoot, but otherwise, it was an absolutely flawless production. I’m so glad we chose to see that before it closed the following weekend.

We met up with Todd after the show, each comparing notes on the show we had just seen and started looking for a restaurant. We found an Italian place, Bella Italia, near Leicester Square, and they seated us at a warm table in the back room of the restaurant. For the next two hours, we dined on fantastic Italian food (I had the linguine rustica – so tasty!), sipped wine, split dessert, and had great conversations. It was one of the most wonderful nights of my entire life, and I wish I could hold on to it forever, especially when I am lonely. Cliché and corny, I know, but it was such a beautiful night.

Together, we walked back to Todd’s hotel, getting a little turned around along the way. We laughed at the silly girls without their coats, the differences between American and European fashion, and those who were already so very drunk early in the night. It was quite cold out, but I never even noticed. It was truly the most perfect Valentine’s Day date I could have ever imagined.

London 2009 -- Day One

I know, I know. I’m really behind in updated the travel blog, since returning from London. I promise, it’s been non-stop since I returned, and it seems like so long ago. It was such an amazing trip though, I can’t even tell you!

I left Wednesday night for an overnight in Chicago, and while the weather looked fine here, it was apparently bad in Chicago. I managed to get standby on an earlier flight, which resulted in me getting to ORD around the same time I would have on the original flight. The original flight didn’t get in until after 11:00 that night. However, I was stuck WAY in the back of the plane, perhaps further back than I’ve sat in YEARS, and it convinced me that I needed to see about an upgrade for the IAD-LHR leg. By 11:00, I was settling into my hotel room after my 2.25 mile run in the fitness center.

While at the airport, I asked about the possibility of an upgrade to business for the Washington-London leg of my flight. The gate agent was able to take care of it for me, so I didn’t have to worry about getting there extra early on Thursday. He was so friendly and helpful – United needs more CSRs like him.

I spent my night in Chicago at the Springhill Suites, and it was perfectly adequate. They had a free shuttle to/from the airport with the nicest shuttle driver! He was so entertaining. My room was fairly large with a separate sitting area. The bathroom was TINY, but what can you expect? The workout room had two treadmills and a couple of weight machines. They had a business center with free internet which was nice, since I don’t like to take my laptop on international trips unless I have to. The staff at this hotel was wonderful though – I cannot say enough good things about them.

Thursday morning, I went for another run in the hotel fitness center and had breakfast at the hotel. It was standard continental fare, but it was good all the same. I had a muffin and orange juice before heading upstairs to shower and get ready for the long day that laid before me.

My flight from Chicago to Washington-Dulles left at 1:10pm, and I was seated in the first row of economy plus. I had more than enough leg room and the seat was fairly comfortable, as far as airline seats go. There was a nice blanket and the standard airline pillow, though I didn’t need either one of them. We were on a 777 that would obviously go on to an international destination later that night. Very comfortable plane. We ended up getting stuck in a holding pattern because of the winds in DC, and it was a fairly turbulent ride, but we touched down only a little bit later than we should have. Good enough.

I had enough time to grab Subway for dinner before boarding the plane to London. I am not crazy about Washington-Dulles as an airport. They still have smoking rooms, so the whole airport has that musty, smoky smell. There also aren’t many dining options in the terminal that I was departing from, so Subway was the best I could do. Seating is very limited around gates, so it can be a bit chaotic. I gladly boarded the plane as soon as they opened up business class and accepted a glass of champagne.

I will say that United’s “old” business product does not even begin to compare with American’s business product. Doesn’t even come close. The menu was extremely limited, the amenity kit was lacking, the seat comfort was terrible (I spent the whole night with the metal lumbar support digging into my back), the blanket and pillow were the same offered in Economy Plus, and the flight attendants attitudes were TERRIBLE. It was not a pleasant experience, and not worth the money, miles, or any combination of the two. Economy Plus would be just as good, if not better. Unlike when I flew American, I was not able to sleep much of the way. They also had very limited entertainment options, especially compared with American’s video on demand service, which was quite extensive and allowed you to watch whatever you chose. United only offered the same couple movies on replay – there was no starting it when you felt inclined. Overall, I was very, very disappointed in United’s business class product.

We ended up in yet another holding pattern outside of London but ended up landing relatively on-time. I cleared customs with only a few questions as to what I was doing in London, and I immediately headed to terminal 4 to meet Todd’s flight.

They were delayed by about an hour, so by the time he got his bags and cleared customs, it was probably after 8:00. I grabbed him and we headed to the Heathrow Express – the best way to get into London, in my opinion. It’s so easy. Buy a ticket, get on the train, and within 20 minutes, you are in the heart of London.

Todd and I each changed $20 at Paddington Station, and I ran outside to grab us a cab to the hotel. We stayed at Marriott’s Grosvenor House again – my favorite hotel in London. They offered us a better room, but it was a smoking room, so I politely declined and we decided to wait until a non-smoking room was available. We checked our luggage and headed out to explore the city.

We ended up walking through Chelsea and Kensingon, originally headed to the Muffin Man, but getting a little turned around along the way. We grabbed some Starbucks to clear our heads and hopped on a double decker bus to Victoria where we wandered around for awhile, and then we headed out towards Westminster on foot. London is such a wonderful walkable city. It’s marked so well, you can get anywhere if you follow the signs.

We spent some time around Westminster Cathedral, Parliament, and Big Ben before deciding that lunch was imperative. We asked a street vendor, and he pointed us down a street behind the Marriott County Hall that had an Italian place, a few fast food places, and Yo Sushi! My friends, the Norvilles, had recommended Yo Sushi on my last visit, and since Todd really seemed to want sushi, I decided to oblige. I had a few of their chicken dishes, and they were decent. They have the sushi rotating around the restaurant, and you pick things off a conveyor belt. They total it up based on the color and number of containers you consume. It’s really a very interesting concept.

After lunch, we decided to head back to the hotel and see if they had a room prepared for us yet. We were both exhausted and in need of a nap. Luckily, a room on the second floor was ready, and after checking our email and letting everyone at home know we were safe, we succumbed to the bed monster and took a much needed nap.

I had tickets to see Avenue Q at 5:30, so I got up around 4 and started getting ready. Todd tried to figure out how to text internationally, so he could meet up with his friends that evening. I really enjoyed Avenue Q, though I definitely recommend seeing it in New York (or anywhere in the US for that matter). They changed a bit of the script to make it relevant in London which I can appreciate. After the show, I walked down to Trafalgar Square for a bit a poetic moment.

When I was in London in December 2004, I had hazy memories of turning a corner and coming upon these beautifully lit fountains. I had made it my mission to find them again, and there they were in Trafalgar Square, just as beautiful as I remembered. I headed back to the hotel to make sure Todd found his friends and to change into my comfortable clothes. From there, I headed back to Westminster to photograph my favorite monuments at night. It was absolutely beautiful. Magical, even.

I headed back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep, though Todd got home around 1:30, waking me to tell me all about his evening. Definitely a good interruption. We planned to sleep until we got up and around on Saturday morning.

The Grosvenor House bed monster wins again.