London 2015

Five years of living in Germany and we'd never been here, can you believe it? I guess we always treated London like we did the beach in San Diego when we lived there--it's so close, we can always go when we want to, so why not explore other faraway places and get back to this one later. Now I realize my London experience is akin to when I tried bread pudding for the first time in my twenties--why did I not get into this earlier??!

We had the luck and pleasure of being able to stay near Lambeth Bridge right off of Horseferry Road, so were able to walk to most everything; as you've probably heard me say before, there's no better way to get to know a city than to pound the pavement, and London is no exception. Fresh from Florence, we had to adjust a bit to the slightly less warm and more humid air of London the first day, not to mention the fact that we were back in a country reputed to be quite the opposite in personality to that of Italy. Would we like it as much as the sun-drenched freewheeling vibe we just left behind? From a run past Buckingham Palace through Hyde Park, to walking from the Globe back to our apartment across from Burberry's offices, we covered a lot of ground in the short five days we were there--but we wanted more. 

Turns out, London was less like bread pudding than a multi-layered English teacake; every layer we ate away at revealed another more exquisite and surprising than the one before it, and we were loath to have to put our forks down after only a few bites. At once steeped in tradition as evidenced by its ritualistic tea culture and famous tailors of Savile Row, it seemed that if you dug deeper past the gilded frosting, you'd get a taste of the--dare I say it--more progressive side of the city. From the comparably unorthodox dining taking place at markets like the Borough Market to the pop-up restaurants, the stiff confines of tradition have made way for a new generation of free-thinkers reconceptualizing age old conventions. Case in point: Alexander McQueen has a store sandwiched between bespoke suit shops on Savile Row. His store stuck out like a raven among pigeons, with the front windows showcasing his reimagining of classical tailoring surrounded by his signature skulls and black angel wings. The juxtaposition is heady and rather than having the effect of overshadowing tradition, the new highlights the old as touchstones for the reimagining--relics still relevant in their own right. 

Mario has now declared London his favorite city in Europe. It's a city that will surely endure, enthrall, and evolve on its own well past political trends, terrorist acts, come what May.

This scene at dusk. 😍

A walk along the Thames.

A pop-up restaurant along the Thames.

Good night, London, until tomorrow morning. We have a full schedule ahead of us.

We start the next day off right with a run to Hyde Park to pass Buckingham Palace and just map out the city. 

Stretching for the Queen

The Serpentine lake at Hyde Park

The Princess Diana Memorial Fountain in Hyde Park

One side of this fountain that forms an oval has an even footbed while the other side is relatively rough and tumble to symbolize the duality of Diana's life.

The waters of this fountain collect and pool from both sides of the oval from this top end situated at a higher grassy slope where Mario is sitting, into calm waters at the bottom of the O. A poetic addition to the park for sure.

After a shower back at the apartment, we all head out again. "Hey look kids! There's Big Ben!"

On our way to check out the Tower of London. The Shard, the tallest building in the UK, already dominating the skyline.

Looks like a posh setting for an outdoor cocktail party at the Tower.

With its more famous bloody reputation as the choice place of execution for King Henry the VIII, you would never know the Tower also used to house a menagerie of animals, which is why there is a pride of lions hanging around near the front.

We decide to skip it this time, however, since it would take up half the day; we have other plans...

If you do go, however, tickets for the Tower can be reserved online--highly recommended since we did it in 2016--or purchased on location at the building with the red flags you see which is located opposite the Tower.

Loving the old architecture mixed with the new.

The more exciting looking Tower Bridge on the Thames.

Of course our main plan involves food! We finally arrive at the famous Borough Market.

Deciding what to eat is tough at one of the oldest and most popular food markets in London.

A mix of brick and mortar artisanal businesses like this and food stands in a turn of the century setting with Southwark Cathedral in the backdrop makes the Borough Market a standout. With its less touristy vibe, unlike the sometimes aggressive onslaught of hawkers and t-shirt peddlers you might encounter at the Union Jack merchandise-heavy Camden Market, Borough Market is the more low key one to go to if you want to support start-up businesses and eat well thought out dishes by locals who actually know good food.

Built in increments before the turn of the century with a new entrance added in the 30's, the Borough Market still has a definitive art deco style about it. 

Seared scallops with bacon, two of my favorite things in one.

The best pies in town, even better than the cold hockey pucks at Harrods. Pieminister is a purveyor of such avant-garde pie flavors as Deer Stalker--a venison, smoked bacon, and red wine pie--as well as Heidi--goat's cheese, sweet potato, and spinach.

Real Pad Thai and fried quail eggs with a hit of fish sauce were both authentic and delicious.

Take 1

Take 2

Sweet treats beckon

Southwark Cathedral with food stalls

Digesting along the Thames with the Millennium Bridge in the background.

We sure lucked out on the weather! It was only mildly drizzly when we headed out this morning, but it soon cleared up to be a beautiful balmy day.

Millennium Bridge with St. Paul's Cathedral in the distance.

Roaming around the law offices in the Middle Temple area.

Accessible by Middle Temple Lane, a gated entryway on Fleet Street, this area is where the Knights Templar used to have their headquarters but now houses offices and libraries accessible only to law students and practicing barristers, or lawyers of common law. The area is connected to the Temple Church and contains buildings of historic significance in varying architectural styles.

Marylouise in her element.

Fountain Court, in the heart of Middle Temple.

The gardens beautifully manicured.

Where barristers might take their lunch or do a little light legal reading.

After we stroll home for a little breather, we head back out in the evening to have a look at Westminster Abbey on our way to the West End.

The site of many a royal wedding, including William and Kate's.

Guess what we're seeing??!! Les Miserables at the Queen's Theater in the West End is hands down the best production of the musical I have ever seen and I've seen it twice in the States already. If you like musicals or Les Mis, you have to make a pilgrimage out to see it here since it is the longest running musical in the West End--since 1985!!! It's the reason why the costumes, sets, singing, and acting are all top of its class; they've had time to perfect everything.

Color changing chandelier in the Queen's Theater.

After the show and a teary standing ovation, we couldn't stop humming the songs. "I dreamed a dream in time gone by..."

Getting peckish, we head to China Town to explore our late night nibble options.

Great idea, Nancy! Beef fried noodles and dim sum was just what we needed.

Harrods for a tour through their food wonderland. The family splits up to do their own shopping in the various departments and have plans to meet up in the afternoon for tea.

The ubiquitous pie--had to try one of course. Everything was sold cold here, so you can either have them warm it up for you, or you can take the food back home or to the office and warm it up there.

My first Scotch egg. Harrods doesn't let you eat inside their food halls--perish the middle-class thought!--so I had to take this baby out to the sidewalk. I bought a pie too, but decided to save it for a midnight snack. :)

It's essentially a par-boiled egg covered in spiced ground meat, dipped in bread crumbs, and fried. Delicious! Scotch eggs and pies were traditional fare for the working class of Britain but have since become a staple in British cuisine and are sold everywhere.

A diamond studded tiara on display. We accidentally stumbled into the rare and exotic gifts section where we found they sold a golden hawk on a crystal base for about £25,000. Any takers?

Mario and I stock up on tea. Since we're shamelessly susceptible to buying things just for their attractive packaging, Harrods is a treasure trove of luxurious gold wrapped confections of every shape and size that made us gaga with delight. Their chocolate counters also sold perfect pralines from almost every brand you can imagine. It took all of our willpower not to max out our credit cards on bags of daintily wrapped sweets.

The family gathers for afternoon tea at Harrods in the Georgian restaurant to celebrate Marylouise's birthday, which happened to be that day.

Their crab salad for lunch was a work of art.

Tea cakes, scones, and sandwiches weren't too shabby either.

The Georgian is just one of the many restaurants at Harrods, each with its own personality and cuisine.
You can check them all out here.

View from the rooftop terrace at the Georgian.

Mario and I separate from the family to walk around afterward for a few hours exploring by ourselves. (Actually, we were secretly hunting for a permanent marker all over town to sign a souvenir apron of Michaelangelo's naked body we bought Marylouise from Florence. It was supposed to be a gag gift for her birthday since we were celebrating it on this day. We must have looked in every department store, including while we were at Harrod's, and there was no permanent marker to be found. I finally had the hair-brained idea to ask the front desk of a hotel we happened to pass by and they let us have one for free!)

Must be 5 o'clock.

We meet up with the family again late afternoon since Marylouise wanted to see some Shakespeare on her big day and got us all tickets to King John at the Globe.

So excited for the show!

The Globe in all its restored fabulousness.

King John on stage. As you may remember, the original Globe theater suffered through a notorious fire after a performance of Henry VIII that burned it to the ground in 1613. It was rebuilt but destroyed yet again, this time by the Puritans in 1642. The current Globe was finished in 1997 as an approximation of the original from its old plans and every care has been taken to preserve the general look and feel of the original with some liberties taken to glamorize it for the audiences of today.

Theater at its best, every production here is just mesmerizing, with the surroundings contributing to the experience immensely.

We walk back home after the play to take in nighttime scenes like this.

Big Ben by night

There's that midnight snack from Harrods I was talking about! Not as good as Pieminister, but a traditional steak and kidney pie it is and still tasty after a flash in the microwave.

The next day is Nancy's turn to celebrate her birthday! Here she is starting her day conversing with a guard at Parliament about the general sentiment toward Theresa May and May's not yet realized agenda for the conservative party. 😛

The birthday girl's wish was to have lunch at Spring, a new restaurant at the Somerset House. Once the site of a Tudor Palace, this area has since been designed and redesigned with this final layout you see here becoming the perfect setting for a magical outdoor ice skating rink every winter.

The Somerset House is now home to such dry companies and organizations as the Representative of Anguilla, but the courtyard is used for said ice rink as well as concerts periodically.

Located in the New Wing, Spring is a beautifully curated restaurant with design eye-candy at every turn.

Painterly qualities.

The dining room with a decidedly feminine vibe and ceramic "petals" decorating the walls.

One happy birthday girl!

Mario quickly addresses his oyster drought with a trio of them to start.

I ordered a starter with cod roe and creme fraiche and foraged herbs for £14 thinking I would be getting more of a salad with some cod roe on it, but it was actually cod roe as more of a dip to be spread on grilled bread. A little like taramasalata, this really tasty fishy Greek cod roe dip.

Grilled trout with a zesty vinaigrette and more creme fraiche. 

A rose sorbet over vanilla panne cotta was the highlight of the meal. The panne cotta was millimeters thin on the plate, but once spooned up with a bit of the rose sorbet was a hit of perfumed sweetness. I would come back just for this.

After lunch, we head to our first museum experience in London, the Victoria and Albert museum, otherwise known as the V&A. We head straight to the jewelry section of the museum for a look at some royal jewels from medieval to modern-day. Some of the items the Queen had to give up to the state due to tax purposes. This particular piece was a luxurious, if only a bit too quirky, bracelet of a line of hounds bracing themselves for penalty kicks. I certainly got a kick out of this one!

Some favorites of what I saw. Orchid hair ornament.

Sputnik earrings set from 1958

Little known fact about me, I am an enthusiastic collector and ogler of little containers and boxes--especially beautiful ones like these.

Testing the archive of designer furniture in the historic furnishings section of the museum.

The John Madejski garden at the V&A

The pool in the John Madejski garden can be drained for public events and exhibitions.

Inside the refreshment hall at the V&A for a coffee.

A Chihuly lighting fixture at the V&A.

The Hummingbird Bakery after the V&A

Salted caramel cupcake, so necessary. Love the tabletops that look like frosting with sprinkles!

Sugar rush accomplished

After cupcakes, we split up and Mario and I head to the Chelsea neighborhood. 

The sign says, "Beatrix Potter lived in a house on this site from 1866 - 1913." It's now the site of a school.

We walk through Brompton Cemetery because Mario swore there was a way to get to Stamford Bridge from the back--the whole reason why we were in Chelsea of course.

Turns out there isn't a way to get to the stadium, but it was a nice afternoon walk among the gravestones anyway!

Entering from the front like a normal person, we thought the newness of the stadium's facade reminded us of football and baseball stadiums in the US.

Just one of the team! I had to push a little kid out of the way to get this shot.

We head over to Notting Hill afterward.

Lots of white!

We hike around at a park in the neighborhood and try to crash a garden party with live music in an enclosed park with little success.

As of this trip there was no place to go in Hannover for a good burrito so we were craving Chipotle pretty badly. This was dinner after Notting Hill.

Last day in London and it's just we and Mamacita since the others flew home already. We decide to take a hop-on hop-off bus tour around the city, something we had always said we'd be against doing. It ended up being the best experience ever and the commentators on the buses were hilarious as well as informative. A pleasant surprise.

Hyde Park Corner

A sculpture of the Duke of Wellington, who defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo, at Hyde Park Corner.

Awesome hanging garden on the corner of the Athenaeum Hotel. 

"Still Waters" by Nic Fiddian-Green

Passing Mayfair, one of the most expensive neighborhoods to live in the world.

Named after an actual May Fair that took place each year from 1686 to 1764, now it's the area for the upper crust of London.

Back in Piccadilly

We hop off for a pit stop at the Hotel Cafe Royal for a coffee.

This hotel and restaurant boasts a bar that is now named after Oscar Wilde since he was a longtime patron and fell in love with Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas here. David Bowie also retired his Ziggy Stardust persona with a big celebrity studded bash on location.

We, however, were only here for a pick-me-up, and the coffee was indeed as good as the reputation of this establishment. Nicest barista ever taught us what it takes to make a good espresso and even made us a second round of fresh espressos when a few of us had to use the ladies room right after we ordered and the first round of coffees had stood for a while.

Piccadilly Circus is the Times Square of London with its theater district, endless shopping options, and restaurants galore.

Looks like Captain America had one too many pies.

My favorite, yes FAVORITE, sculpture of late. Gift Horse by Hans Haacke adorns the fourth plinth at Trafalgar Square. A skeletal horse with a live ticker bow of current stock prices, it has since already been replaced by a new work of art since the fourth plinth is meant to host a constantly updated roster of new sculptures every few years. This one has since stuck with me because of my love of surreal themes.

Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, just one of the many Georges born in Hannover, Germany, the city I currently live in. 

Horse Guard Parade, parade grounds where they have the Household Calvary Museum and the Trooping of the Color parade that commemorates the Queen's birthday.

10 Downing Street, the offices of the Prime Minister

The Temple Bar marker with its majestic dragon sculpture to mark where the traditional entrance to the city for trade once stood. This area is connected to the Middle Temple area we were walking around the other day.

St. Dunstan-in-the-West Church. The clock, though, is what is unusual since it is the first clock in London to have a minute hand in 1671 and was mentioned in such literary gold as David Copperfield by Dickens.

St. Paul's Cathedral facing the churchyard. Here's where the pigeon lady in Mary Poppins would be feeding the birds on the steps, tuppence a bag.

St Lawrence and Mary Magdalene Drinking Fountain

Happiness is a scene of communal eating in a beautiful setting like this. We're back at Borough Market!

Lunch today from Pieminister is the Wild Shroom--wild mushroom, asparagus, white wine and cream--and the Moo & Blue--beef steak and Long Clawson Stilton blue cheese. 

We get a side of minty peas for good measure. Everything is really fresh and tasty. I get one more to-go for the airport as well. 👏

Gorgeous fungus among us.

Mario gets his last fish and chips fix at Fish! Best fish and chips in town, in our opinion.

Can't believe we have to leave already in a few short hours. We'll miss this market most of all.

Back on the bus, we get a few more London scenes in.

This part alone is worth the bus tour: the crossing of the Tower Bridge.

With the bus tour you get a double decker view of the iconic London skyline from the bridge as well as a grand view of the bridge from smack in the center.

Last view of the Eye as we head back to Westminster where we debark to go back to the apartment and grab our things before saying good-bye to Mario's mom and head back to the tube for London Heathrow.