RAIN, RAIN...GO AWAY!
Today it rained all day.
The BBC morning weatherman said that today would be the worst weather while we are in London so we decided to save the hop-on/hop-off bus ride and the Thames River Cruise for Tomorrow and Tuesday and to spend today inside as much as possible.
We started out with a pre-rain walk to the Chelsea area and on the way we passed this cool Telephone booth.
Our morning walk also gave us the opportunity to stash our first message-bottle near a Taxi stand on Marloes Street.
We arrived in the Chelsea area just as the rain started to fall so we took advantage of an available Swinging 60's music tour.
Our tour was on a cool old Double-decker bus (built in 1965) that rattled its way through the narrow London streets while playing awesome 60's music (i.e. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin, The Dave Clark Five, Jimi Hendrix...), The tour was also narrated by a very funny Irish man named Adam.
Some of the places we saw on the tour included:
The Chelsea Potter Pub which in the swinging sixties was a favorite watering hole for Jimi Hendrix, Mick Jagger and The Rolling Stones.
The Troubadour - which was host to Bob Dylan and Paul Simon in the 60s and 70s and is still going strong with music nearly every night (including some of today's top artists like Adele and Ed Sheeran).
There were plenty of other places (that unfortunately were nearly impossible to photograph through rainy windows ) including Ringo Starr's London Penthouse apartment and Mick Jagger's (cold water only) flat where he lived before he became a star.
There was also a quick walk in the rain up the steps of the famous Albert Hall. Evidently the People at the Hall didn't appreciate the Beatles as much as the rest of us did...
Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall
After the 60s bus tour we ducked into the Victoria and Albert Museum for a look at the various statues and artifacts.
This Ancient ice chest caught my eye. It is much nicer than the ones in my garage.
After the museum we did a quick Google search for restaurants in the area and headed for "Cafe Venice.'' With a name like that we expected classic Italian but it was a a weird mash-up of (Italian/Middle Eastern). The menu included a few stereotypical Italian foods (Spaghetti, Lasagna, Pizza...) and also things like Falafels and Sfeeha.
The lasagna was not a thick mass of noodles, sauce and cheese like the version you see on the Stauffer's box (or in their menu) ... it was only about an inch tall and the noodles were very thin... it looked like Italian baklava. LOL It tasted fine but was nothing special.
They also had a dessert menu that was just as varied including: fruit tarts, various cakes, a variety of desserts whose main ingredient was Nutella, Oreo Cookie Cheese cake, and two classic Lebanese desserts Kounafeh and Maamoul.
I decided to try the Kounafeh (cheese cake served warm with syrup)... Unlike the Oreo Cookie Cheese Cake the Kounafeh was not the standard "cheese cake" we think of in America. It was a Riccotta filled cake (that was sort of "gritty" in a good way like corn bread), which was topped with chopped pistachios and a warm sweet syrup - not maple flavored. ;) It was amazing!
After lunch we took a cab back to the hotel for a nap followed by a late dinner of traditional pub grub and an evening walk in the cool misty air to hide the second message-bottle in the phone booth on Wright's Lane...before returning to our room to watch British comedy on the Television.
[Note to self: Apparently they have no Ranch Dressing here for your fries and onion rings... so bring a supply of Wendy's Ranch dressing packets next time you come.]
The BBC morning weatherman said that today would be the worst weather while we are in London so we decided to save the hop-on/hop-off bus ride and the Thames River Cruise for Tomorrow and Tuesday and to spend today inside as much as possible.
We started out with a pre-rain walk to the Chelsea area and on the way we passed this cool Telephone booth.
[Side Note: They have added notes on the busy roads for those of us that are used to looking left when we cross the street... Bless their little hearts]
Our morning walk also gave us the opportunity to stash our first message-bottle near a Taxi stand on Marloes Street.
We arrived in the Chelsea area just as the rain started to fall so we took advantage of an available Swinging 60's music tour.
Our tour was on a cool old Double-decker bus (built in 1965) that rattled its way through the narrow London streets while playing awesome 60's music (i.e. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin, The Dave Clark Five, Jimi Hendrix...), The tour was also narrated by a very funny Irish man named Adam.
Some of the places we saw on the tour included:
The Chelsea Potter Pub which in the swinging sixties was a favorite watering hole for Jimi Hendrix, Mick Jagger and The Rolling Stones.
There was also a quick walk in the rain up the steps of the famous Albert Hall. Evidently the People at the Hall didn't appreciate the Beatles as much as the rest of us did...
Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall
After the 60s bus tour we ducked into the Victoria and Albert Museum for a look at the various statues and artifacts.
After the museum we did a quick Google search for restaurants in the area and headed for "Cafe Venice.'' With a name like that we expected classic Italian but it was a a weird mash-up of (Italian/Middle Eastern). The menu included a few stereotypical Italian foods (Spaghetti, Lasagna, Pizza...) and also things like Falafels and Sfeeha.
The lasagna was not a thick mass of noodles, sauce and cheese like the version you see on the Stauffer's box (or in their menu) ... it was only about an inch tall and the noodles were very thin... it looked like Italian baklava. LOL It tasted fine but was nothing special.
They also had a dessert menu that was just as varied including: fruit tarts, various cakes, a variety of desserts whose main ingredient was Nutella, Oreo Cookie Cheese cake, and two classic Lebanese desserts Kounafeh and Maamoul.
I decided to try the Kounafeh (cheese cake served warm with syrup)... Unlike the Oreo Cookie Cheese Cake the Kounafeh was not the standard "cheese cake" we think of in America. It was a Riccotta filled cake (that was sort of "gritty" in a good way like corn bread), which was topped with chopped pistachios and a warm sweet syrup - not maple flavored. ;) It was amazing!
After lunch we took a cab back to the hotel for a nap followed by a late dinner of traditional pub grub and an evening walk in the cool misty air to hide the second message-bottle in the phone booth on Wright's Lane...before returning to our room to watch British comedy on the Television.
You would be lousy hiding Easter Eggs. ;-)
ReplyDeleteWent to breakfast with Todd. He said he had shown Dan how to relight your water heater, but thinks it will have to be replaced if it continues to go out. But maybe it's just the pilot light gizmo that needs to be replaced.
Too bad about the rain. Hope it clears up by tomorrow. I'm very familiar with telling tourists how sorry I am that it's raining.
Cloudy and cool. :) it has been perfect ever since.
ReplyDelete