Charles and I had a great time in London. It was definitely something that we needed; a fun filled mini vacation. We bravely took the Eurostar from Brussels to the city center. I thought going under the English channel would be scary, but it was surprisingly quick and painless. Our hotel was near the train station so we didn't have to spend too much time walking around dragging our suitcases. Also, these London streets are not cobble-stoned so we didn't have the click click click tourist announcement of our suitcase wheels. The weather was ok. It was a bit cold, gray, and drizzly but not too bad. We spent Friday at the Tower of London, saw the London Bridge, (the bloody tower was disappointing), a pub for lunch, and then in the afternoon we went to see the Parliament and another pub. The main railways were out so we had to squeeze on a bus - that was kinda of fun in a weird way. We were all sausages crammed on this poor double decker bus, most of us tourist.
Saturday was spent at the British History museum. Now, I have to admit this, on Friday night Charles and I were so exhausted we were in bed sleeping by 7ish with no dinner. So Saturday we woke up at 6:30, had breakfast,and were one of the first ones at the museum. When did we do that??? I'm glad we did though because the Museum was amazing and by the time we left there were lots of tourist there. and I hate crowds, especially rude ones. In Europe I have noticed that personal space does not exist and when walking in crowds its every man for himself - screw politeness. I'm going to seem so mean when I return back to the states. Anyway, not being museum goers, Charles and I really enjoyed the museum. I was a bit weirded out by the Egyptian mummies and the dried body but it was pretty cool.
After the museum we had some lunch at another pub (do you see a theme starting) and Charles watched the first half of a soccer match. Then, Charles did the manly thing, and took me to Harod's! It wasn't really what I was expecting. Harod's reminded me of Bloomingdale's. Charles called it a walmart with expensive brands. We stayed long enough to use their facilities and then left. On the side street, we stopped in the Echo store and bought some shoes I've been eyeing online for a while now. They are cute walking shoes - i've since graduated from the heels.
After shopping we headed back to the hotel and got ready to go see Les Miserables. We were ready by 5:00 and had plenty of time to grab something to eat before the show. I had researched the area and found a highly recommended tapas place so we decided to go there. Our guide book did tell us to beware the queues (apparently that's lines and or traffic) but we had plenty of time so decided to try it. We passed the place up the first time we walked down the street as it's a very small unobtrusive place. It has a space for people to wait in line with a little bar table about a foot long and then 25 bar stools around a nice sized bar. You could watch the chefs prepare your meal in front of you. So we ordered glasses of wine and waited behind four other couples. About 30 minutes had gone by and we finally moved up one couple. We haven't hit panic mode quite yet, but were getting a bit antsy. We ordered another glass of wine and some nibbles the second time around. About 15 minutes later we moved up one more couple. By this time, it was about 6:30 and our show started at 7:30. NO one was moving! Finally, we were now the next in line and had about 20 minutes before we had to leave the restaurant. Charles told our nibble waiter that we needed to leave and could we just pay for the drinks and nibbles. As we were having this conversation two seats opened up and the waiter told us to sit. He then told us that even though the line is a long wait the food comes fast and that he could get us out of there in time. We believed him and sat down. I have never eaten such good food that fast in my life. Usually you would like to savor good food, but we were in a hurry. We ate like our Isabella, barely tasting the food. We had lamp chops, grilled shrimp, frites, and a shrimp filled chesse torilla. Yummy! True to his promise, our waiter lit a fire under the servers and let us "skip" our meal orders ahead of others. We were able to eat, have a couple glasses and water, and pay in the 20 minutes we were allotted. It was stressful and fun at the same time. If you are in London, I would definitely recommend this place, but beware the wait. We were there by 5:45 and waited and hour! It is called Barafina's on Frith Street in Soho. After dinner we headed to Her Majesty's theater and found our seats easily. It was an amazing show, especially the first half. Even Charles enjoyed himself and has been singing some of the songs. Sorry Charles - i outed you.
The one thing that Charles really wanted to do was watch the NCAA basketball game; Butler vs. Michigan State. He asked a few pub folks, but got no response. So he gave up on watching the game and we stopped by a lounge for a drink and called it a night. We were both pretty tired from the long day as we had been up since 6:30 and started our day with the museum's early bird special. It was raining a bit as usual as we headed home. We were standing waiting for the pedestrian sign to change about four blocks down from the hotel when Charles' eagle eyes spotted a TV in the pubs. This pub was across a busy four laned street including a good size medium, and it was dark and raining. How he saw it I don't know. He asked me "Is that Obama?" "Huh" I replied and looked at the TV in the pub. The TV was on the furthest wall from the street and I could vaguely make out two figures playing what looked like Horse basketball. So, we crossed the street going the opposite direction from the hotel to the pub. Charles asked the bouncers at the door if they were playing the NCAA basketball game and received a blank stare. Finally, one of the men said "there isn't anything playing right now," so we left. However, Charles could not resist a peep inside the windows one finally time and was awarded a site of the big desk with NCAA on the title. It really was Obama we saw across the street playing basketball. So, we went into the pub and saw Butler beat Michigan in the nailing biting second half of the game. We even met some Americans on Holiday from Waco Texas. They were a typical cute frat/sorority like Southern couple.
Sadly and happily, we packed up to leave on Sunday morning after a nice English breakfast of eggs, sausage, bacon, baked beans, and toast. It was a great trip.
