A day and a half in London

The Ecuador embassy in London… where Julian Assange is staying… reason why there is always a police truck at all times, for the second when he leaves…

An abbandoned mansion right in front of Hyde Park, which has been there, exactly the same for years

Hyde Park on a Sunday

Regent Street has all the mayor shopping, and on Sundays its closed for cars and peole just walk about. From street performers, to runway shows, there is a lot to see

Very busy Regent Street

A man I kept watching in The Audley Pub. Definately one of the best and most sophisticated pubs in London. This man, and his way of beeing represent that

London through the streets

London has been awesome! The reason why I havnt written daily, is because what I wanted to do was to get familiarized with the city. I wanted to walk until my knees were sore, I wanted to look until my eyes were dried out. Here is my review and tips of this wonderful city. First one is: this is a magnificent city to walk, every corner has something worth of interest, in everu corner you will fins hostory and a story, and everywhere pedesterians are respected as they should be.

Restaurtants:

Goodmans- a steak house located near Carnaby Street. Wow. The ambiance is delicious, the selection of wines is great and the food..  is the reason you go. The burger comes with a truffles macarroni and cheese. Absoutely worth it!

Patara- a thai restaurant located a few blocks away from the backside of Harrods. Its delicious how in a western translation of thai food, you can have such authenticity. By westerm translation, I mean that they curries arent 70% vegetables, but pure meat. The lamb shank with thick red curry, the duck curry, and the phad thai are definite recomendations.

The Audley Pub- located in the poshest of places in London, surrpundes by the highest of classes, its the only pub in that area, but it has such a wonderful vibe. From people coming out of work, to the elderly couple. Simply wonderful.

Tip: not all pubs are good. Nowhere in the world you will find pubs like you do in England, no matter how much you try to replicate them. However, it doesnt mean they are all great.

Museums:

Tate Modern- enough said. An old warehouse, located right on the Thames and home to some of the absolute greatest modern artists that ever walked.

Picasso’s Weaping Woman in the Tate Modern

War Remenants Museum- closed until the 29th of July… absolutely worth it though!!

War Remenants Museum

Streets-

Cecil Court- a very small street close to Picadilly Circus. Its filled with antique shops, second hand book stores, and is great for special gifts and very cool finds.

Borough Market- walk along the Thames from the Tate Modern towards London Bridge. The walkway is amazing, and from Friday to Sunday the Burough Market. Great, cheap gourmet food. Wonderful market.

Pictures

Indian food, before going to India…

Today was a very calm day, and just as yesterday today was cold and gray.

We decided to walk. Walking is the very best way to get to know a city. Any city. London, is a perfect city to walk in. The weather is cool, the roads are perfect, and the pedestrians always have the walkway.

We walked all along Earl’s Court Road. Its a lovely road, and once we found a nice pub, we sat, talked and drank. I don’t know what it is about english pubs, but most are similar, and yet they can’t replicate it quite enough anywhere else in the world.

We kept walking and found a very small steet, with an asian influence. There were two indian restaurants, two chinese, and one thai. We decided to go into Tandoori restaurant (one day before going to India for a week). The food was very good, although the service was less than okay. The vindaloo was spicy enough to make you cry but delicious, and the chicken korhma gave the plate a vey nice sweet taste.  It is a recomendation.

Headed to Mumbai tomorrow morning. I have to say I’m so much more than excited. I’ll let you know everything!

Foggy Day in London Town

I got to London yesterday night, and exhausted after a 6 hour flight where I watched three movies in a row, I went right to sleep.

This morning, the day was horribly cold, humid, rainy and gray. With some jetlag still in my body, and my unwillingness to get cold, we stayed in until around 2 in the afternoon.

Finally we got ready, and went out to walk around. We decided we wanted to go to West hampstead. We got the “tube” and started going in the opposite direction and realized three stations later. However, after getting on the right track, it was no longer raining, and West Hampstead was lovely. Its a very resudential part of town. One of those places who has everything you need, very small, very cozy. We walked around for a long while, and and sat at a pub to get a col beer.

We got on a bus headed towards central London, and it was trully beautiful. You get to see everything, the people, the architecture all from a two story bus, which gives it an added value. London is a spectacular city!

We got off near Pucadilly Circus, and started walking. Evenually we got to Carnaby Street. This is a place filled witj pubs, shops and the arts. You see people with crazy hair, awesome costumes, and an overall special spirit. We stopped at a pub calles “Shakespear’s Head”.

Although its a cool place, its a bit too expensive, and doesnt really have anything too special in order to charge extra for it. It doea however have the best location, which is the reason why we had to drink standing up for about 15 minutes.

For dinner, we wanted steak! So we walked over to a place called Goodman. Very confortable place, Tom, one of the managers made us feel very welcome. I had the burger with macaroni and cheese with truffle oil. Something so basic, and with the right ingredients, can be made into something gourmet.

Very nice welcome to London. Hopefully the sun will greet us tomorrow!

Here are some of the other pictures I took today.