Mind the Gap

Please, mind the gap.  Why are phrases in British English just so much cuter than our American versions?  We spent a fabulous weekend in London catching up with old friends and sightseeing the heck out of the city.  I had been to London previously back in college, and I liked the city then, but this time around I really loved it.  There is so much to do and see and experience.

We got in quite late to our friends' flat (so much cooler than apartment) on Thursday night.  Dave and Melissa were kind enough to wait up for us and even stay up chatting for a bit before we went to bed.  They live up in a neighborhood of London called Hampstead, which was a lovely spot that served as a great hub for us.  

Heading out for the day.

Our first morning, we headed to breakfast at a place called the Modern Pantry.

The breakfast was amazingly delicious and the place was very charming.

Our hosts!

Todd's.

Mine.

After breakfast, Dave and Melissa took us on a walking tour of the city to check out the big sites, even though they've lived in London for 3 years and have been by these places a million times.

Buckingham Palace. 

Trafalgar Square, with Big Ben peeking over our heads.

Westminster Abbey.

Before continuing our walk, and to escape the infamous London rain for a bit, we popped into this pub:

Then we continued on our way to Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament...

Todd wanted this one included to show my umbrella management.

Gorgeous!

We ended our walking tour at Borough Market.  Here we walked around and sampled lots of delicious cheese, bread, olives, curries...you name it.

After perusing the stands for a bit and grabbing cheese and olives for later, we each chose our meals.  Todd went with a meat pie....

Venison sausage sandwich.

Seafood curry.

I'm getting hungry thinking about that food again.  Sadly, after another trip to a nearby pub, Dave and Melissa needed to leave us.  They were hopping on a plane to Spain for the remainder of the weekend. It was really great to see them, and we are very appreciative that they let us stay in their place!  Thanks guys!

At this point in the day, we were getting a little tired, but we wanted to squeeze in another activity before going to dinner.  We went to the National Gallery to see lots of famous works of art from Vermeer to Rembrandt to Monet and a whole lot in between.  After the museum, we headed back up to Hampstead to enjoy our goodies purchased from the market and to rest up a bit.

Yummy comte and sun-dried tomato stuffed olives.

After resting up, we headed to Dave and Melissa's recommended English pub in their neighborhood.

Dinner was, you guessed it, more meat pie!  And a starter of scotch eggs that were delicious.

Our very cozy nook.

Despite the face, he actually did enjoy that.

We ended the evening exploring Hampstead and wishing we had saved room for a crepe from the corner street vendor.

You know I couldn't resist.

The next morning, we hit the road pretty early to get discount theater tickets.  London's west end is known for the fabulous theater, the Broadway of London basically.  We scored a deal on tickets to Rock of Ages in the Garrick Theater, I was pretty excited.

We then commenced a Rick Steve's guided walking tour through The City.  Did you know that the City of London is a district within Greater London?  It is the section of the city that was settled by the Romans (called Londinium) back in the day, and there are still existing parts of the wall that used to surround it.  This area of the city is now the financial district, but it is also steeped in history.  This portion of the greater city was pretty much burned to the ground during the Great Fire of 1666.

Listening to the podcast.

The tour began at the church of St. Clement Danes.

The Royal Courts of Justice. 

Twinings Tea original location.

Entrance to "The City".

Temple Church, hidden in a courtyard.

Famous pub where lots of literary figures like Mark Twain and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would hang out.

St. Paul's Cathedral, where Princess Diana and Prince Charles were married.

The tour was a great way to see some historic sights along and near the famous Fleet Street.  After our tour, we were feeling ready for food. And this time, we said to heck with culture and went to Chipotle!  This is our culture, baby!  I cannot tell you how delicious our burritos were.

Very happy boy.

Oh how I missed you.

Digging in.

Happy to have made our pilgrimage.

Following that incredibly satisfying meal, we headed over to the Tower of London and then Tower Bridge:

The Tower has been a royal residence as well as a prison over the years.  Lots of history here.

The White Tower.

Old and new.

The Crown Jewels are in here. The line was wayyy too long, so we didn't go in.

Lots of history in that place, it was very cool to see.  Next up, we admired the Tower Bridge while sitting along the side of the river.

Finally, with our dogs barking a bit, we headed to the British Museum.  This place is chock-full of artifacts from Ancient Greece, Assyria, Rome, and Egypt.  Very cool stuff; including the Rosetta Stone and pieces from the pediment and friezes of the Parthenon in Greece.

Rosetta Stone.

At this point in the day, we were ready to just sit and enjoy dinner.  And I still needed to get my fish and chips fix.  We found a spot located right by the Garrick Theater.

A proper English pint.  We definitely prefer Belgian beer, but this stuff was a nice change of pace for a weekend.

Ohhhh yeaaahhh.

Our final activity for the day was seeing the musical Rock of Ages. We chose this show as a compromise since Todd didn't think he was going to be a huge fan of a musical, and this one has a live band on stage.  

The set.

The show was incredible.  The music was awesome (all 80's rock) and the actors were great.  I love me a good musical, so I of course was in heaven.  But Todd also had a great time, and I just might get him to come to more musicals with me in the future.

London was a total blast, I am so glad we hopped over the pond (the small one) to spend time in this amazing city!