It must be noted that London/British related songs and movie quotes encompassed my mind for the entirety of our trip. The far most prevalent were “The Worst Pies In London” from Sweeney Todd, “Feed the Birds” from Mary Poppins, and the entire script of Love Actually.
London is in a different time zone than Sicily; we gained one hour in travel. Though our cell phones picked up service from a British carrier, I chose to keep mine in airplane mode to avoid roaming charges. Dinosaur turned his on sporadically for map/internet uses. Our first night, I used my cell phone as the alarm clock that roused us early for a full day of sight-seeing. At 7:00am, my cell phone chimed us awake and we went about our morning routines. About a half an hour later, while making myself a cup of tea, I clicked Dinosaur’s cell phone to check the time. It was 6:37am. A full day of sight-seeing, indeed.
The London Underground (“The Tube”) is awesome. SO easy to get around to exactly where you want to go.
Our first Tube stop was Big Ben and Parliament. Big Ben was my favorite sight in London. It’s just so idealic. And it was fun to look at Parliament from the nearby bridge over the Thames and picture Sherlock Holmes diving out of a Parliament window (aw, there’s another movie that occupied my brain while in London). After snapping some pictures and simply gazing around, Dinosaur and I wondered if it was time to line up for Westminster Abbey. We both automatically pulled out our cell phones to check the time. While standing under Big Ben. Which is a big clock.
Westminster Abbey is impressive. Both Dinosaur and I were expecting a big church, a la St. Paul’s cathedral. In actuality, it struck us as less of a church and more of a giant tomb, teaming with dead kings, queens, poets, and other notable historical figures. I enjoyed seeing the graves of Geoffrey Chaucer and Charles Darwin.
The changing of the guard was perhaps slightly overrated, but iconic nonetheless. Seeing the Beefeaters ride in was worth the crowd.
The pub fare of London was most definitely NOT overrated! I could not wait to enjoy a pie and a pint, and I was not disappointed. Dinosaur munched on fish and chips while I feasted on a venison pie. We sampled four pints between us – a house Porter, ESB, Golden Pride, and Bengal Lancer IPA. YUM!!
After our pub lunch, Dinosaur and I wandered through the Burough Market, which is a foodie’s dream come true. I chased down my pie and pints with a cup of goats milk ice cream – raisin rum. Surprisingly scrumptious!
The London Bridge is grand, though perhaps a bit garishly painted in white with bright blue trim. Then I had “London Bridge is Falling Down” in my head.
For dinner, we ate at a cute sit-down restaurant, and it became abundantly clear to me that I am better able to communicate with Italian servers in Italian than I can with British servers speaking English. The Queen’s English and American English might as well be foreign languages. Thank goodness we’re not stationed in Britain; I’d starve.
Our restaurant was close to Fleet Street, and I had just recently watched Johnny Depp’s Sweeney Todd, so despite the cold and blustery wind, Dinosaur and I took an after dinner stroll. There was a barber shop, but it was down a side alley, so it was not called The Fleet Street Barber or anything similar. Adding to my disappointment, there was no pie shop to be found. But in reality, I suppose a pie shop modeled after one in a movie that served unknowing customers cannibalistic meat pies might not be the wisest business model.
I’ll tell you next week all about seeing an American football game in Britain.
I was really hoping for your gastronomic review of clotted cream! Is it as horrible as everyone says?
ReplyDeleteAh, I apologize for my misleading title. I had trouble thinking of a witty title that immediately said, "British." I did not have the direct opportunity to try clotted cream, and I certainly did not seek one out. It's my belief that anything with "clotted" in the name is not suitable for human consumption!
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