London 2019 Day Three

In keeping with our no-plan plan, we headed out after a relaxing morning for a trip on the Central Line of the Tube for a stop at Saint Paul's Cathedral, a walk across the Millennium Bridge, a visit to the Tate Modern, and some time at Borough Market. The new addition to the Tate has a splendid observation deck, and it is free. We also took SKT and AW to the Old Operating Theatre, and then home to unwind a bit before dinner. We finally got our fish-and-chips fix and topped it off with some fine gelato from a new shop on Notting Hill Gate.

 Temple Bar at Paternoster Square

 Saint Paul's Cathedral

 Choir School with St. Augustine and St. Faith tower and spire, and 

the City skyline looming in the distance

 Lots of London is broken, including the Millennium Bridge

 Into the Tate Modern

 The Turbine Hall is a staggering space

 The new tower at the Tate is officially known as

Blavatnik Building

 View from the top of the Blavatnik looking toward the Shard

and the Docklands

 Saint Paul's and the City

 View west up the river

 The east end of the City

 Annie caught this sign asking us to avert our eyes and not

look into the neighbors flats -- uh huh, for sure

 The sign said it and it was true, everything was all right: refreshments

on the observation level

 Creamy cheese and onion are basically funeral

potato crisps, and they are good

 Southwark Bridge and the new city skyline

 Borough Market

You want to eat everything!

 Street food with a view

 These guys made lunch for SKT and me

 Tasty and so British

 SKT liked his, too

 The Old Operating Theatre was discovered in the 

attic of Saint Thomas' Church

 The Fish House on Pembridge Road

Annie!

Still tasty

Enough mushy peas for a whole ward dinner

Headed home along Pembridge Road

Nice gelato

We will let you know what happens tomorrow, tomorrow. This is all for now.

OXO

D.

London 2019 Day Two

This was a laid-back kind of day. SKT and AW took a train south to visit their friends and spend the day, so we were out and about on our own. Kris wanted to finish of her list of things for the kids, so we took the bus to Oxford Street, Piccadilly Street, and Knightsbridge. Clearly, we love the busses. Lunch at GBK was as good as ever. We were back at the flat for a couple of hours relaxing before walking down Palace Gardens to Wagamama on Kensington High Street. My choice was tasty, but I should always get my favorite. New is good, but not as good as the chicken katsu curry. Home now, blogging and enjoying a bowl of sticky toffee pudding with custard.

 Cold, rainy, and blustery day

 Sheltered and waiting for #94

 Marks and Sparks on Oxford Street

 Piccadilly Street with Fortnum and Mason in the rear

 Kris has something to show me

 Caught another bus across from the Burlington Arcade

 The most posh butcher shop ever: Harrods

 That's us on the screen of the bus that took us to lunch

 No need to stop -- you can see it from the bus and I 

have a model of the door anyway

 Blue cheese burger with sweet chili relish and 

skinny fries: delicious

 My view from the corner of the sofa next to the heater

 The street from Diana Cafe, past the Champion Pub, to the domed

 green house on the corner of Palace Court

 Kensington Palace Gardens on our walk to dinner

 Wagamama with a view of Kensington High Street

 The place was hoppin'

 Gyoza

 Coconut-flavored curry for me

 And under that salad some tonkatsu is hiding from Kris

 Kensington Palace and gates (mostly for show and newish)

 I have always wanted to see the spring bulbs popping in 

Kensington Gardens, but this is the first time I have

been in London in the spring

Sticky toffee pudding with Madagascar vanilla custard

We have no plans, so we will see what happens tomorrow. That's all for now.

OXO

D.

London 2019 Day One

The London leg of our trip has only the very most minimal plans, and no itinerary (I know, right?). So today we went to the store for a few supplies, ate breakfast, hung out and eventually got out the door. We plan to relax and just enjoy whatever we choose to do. So we split up and there was some shopping, some park walking, and a disappointing lunch at Pret. I may be done with them.

Green door is home in Linden Gardens

Headed home from the shops with breakfast fixings 

on Bayswater Road

On the 52 bus headed to Ladbroke Grove

Picked up a few things at Sainsbury's

The alley of trees in Kensington Gardens that was destroyed by

hurricane about 1988 and replanted, has finally grown up -- almost

The Orangery at Kensington Palace is under restoration

So early in the season that it looks a bit bald

But the spring flowers are delightful -- the Sunken Garden

is always beautiful

Caramel shortbread square at Kensington Palace

Speaking of Kensington Palace

The Orangery at Kensington Palace

This little figure on the Elfin Oak in Kensington

Gardens brought my grandchildren who climb to mind

A walk down memory lane

#27 is still the best looking house on the street

Headed back to the flat past the Diana Cafe

When we were making plans for this trip we looked online for tickets to Hamilton. There were three available on a night that would work for us. They were expensive but we thought, what the heck, it's just money. When we tried to buy them, they wouldn't sell just two because there were three together and they wouldn't leave a single seat, so we bought all three and invited Annie to come as our guest. She wanted to treat us to dinner in return and made a reservation at an Italian restaurant they like. We headed out with plenty of time, but made a fatal error. We decided to take the Circle Line since street traffic at rush hour can be miserable on a bus. As we started our journey, the train stopped and sat in the tunnel for about 15 minutes while they waited for the train just ahead of us to clear off. By the time we got moving the platforms were all slammed, so they did not stop at Victoria for safety reasons! So we got off at St. James's and walked. Because time was now tight, we popped into Jamie Oliver's restaurant instead. Anyway, all came out right, but we had an adventure.

 Starting our journey on the Circle Line

 No stop at Victoria, so we joined the packed queue at St. James's

 Jamie Oliver's on Victoria Street

 Happy anticipation

 Very good carbonara

 Tagliatelle alla bolognese

Victoria Palace Theatre

 Victoria Palace

 The place has been completely spiffed up: at New York prices, it

better be nice -- the back row had tons of leg room and the AC worked

They enjoyed it

That's it for now.

OXO

D.