New Year's Day, Etc.
Jan. 5th, 2001 04:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lillibetWe ended up having a pretty big day on New Year's. I went out to Heathrow
on the tube with Anne & George. It was pouring rain as we walked to the
station, but it cleared up while we were on our way there. I got them to
the check-in line and then got back on the tube and fell asleep. I vaguely
noticed at some point that the train was stopped and there was some banging
going on, but was sound asleep when a kind fellow-passenger woke me to tell
me that we had to get out. I found myself on the South Kensington platform
looking at a train with a door that wouldn't close. They got the train out
of the way and there was another right behind it, so I got back to Manor
House about 11:30am. I picked up lamb doner (like gyros) at the corner and
brought them home to share with Jason. We napped on the couch briefly and
then headed out to meet Linda Marie at the Tower Hill tube station.
Together we joined a huge horde of people talking the London Walk focusing
on Dickens and traditional English Christmas customs. That was fun and we
wrapped up near St. Paul's around five. We popped back to Barbara's flat,
had tea, and ordered Chinese food, which I went to pick up. So I got my
king prawn fried noodle fix (tho' they weren't as good as usual and they
were out of green beans :() and then Linda gave me a lovely perfume and
Jason his gift from steve: chocolate covered candied orange peel. All the
women tried on my perfume and then we moved Barbara's living room furniture
around, causing Linda to remark that we were certainly the best smelling
movers she'd ever encountered. We went up the road to see _Crouching Tiger,
Hidden Dragon_, the new Ang Lee movie starring Chow Yun Fat and Michelle
Yeoh. I said afterwards that it's just like a Hong Kong kung fu movie, only
really good. Beautiful cinematography, interesting characters and
outstanding acting, particularly from Yeoh who had the challenge of showing
the audience that she is silently hiding her emotions from the other
characters.
On Tuesday I hung around the house most of the day, got a few things
accomplished and went to the grocery store. Linda came over around six and
Barbara arrived around eight and we had pan-seared duck breasts, sugar snap
peas, and pearl barley with mushrooms and leeks. It was the first time I
had made barley and it turned out pretty well. For dessert we did the crepe
thing again, trying to use up the various fillings. Then we played a
rousing game of Trivial Pursuit. Barbara gave Linda her bag, officially
completing the guest transfer.
On Wednesday, Linda and I tried to go on the Old Hampstead walk, but missed
the tour by a few minutes. So we wandered around the area ourselves and
then popped into The Horse & Groom pub for a pint and the loo. We strolled
a bit more through the quaint streets filled with lovely houses and little
shops. Hampstead is a lovely area, but a bit what the English would call
"twee," kind of just-too-cute in an "Olde Englande" way. We did notice an
Argentinian steak place that looked good and quite reasonably priced.
We managed to catch the National Gallery walk at 5:00pm. We had to leave
the tour at 6:30pm, in order to meet Jason on time, and at that point
Helena, our guide, had shown us four paintings, all in the new Sainsbury
Wing, which houses works from 1260 - 1500. Those works were an alterpiece
painted by Margarito of Arezzo in 1262, the Wilton Diptych showing Richard
II's coronation, Jan Van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait, Carlo Crivelli's _The
Annunciation with Saint Emidius_ of 1486 and Leonardo Da Vinci's _The Virgin
of the Rocks_. Helena gave a lot of detailed information and stories about
each work, but it might have been nice to move a bit more quickly.
At 7:00pm we joined Jason at the Holborn station and went on the Bloomsbury
Literary Pub Walk. Led by Brian, we made our way through the squares of the
area hearing wonderful stories and seeing sites important to writers,
artists and statesmen such as Dickens, Thakeray, Virginia Woolf, Lytton
Straiche, Charles Fox, and Benjamin Disraeli. We visited three pubs, the
Princess Louise, the Queen's Larder and the Museum Pub, across from the
British Museum. We hopped on the tube and went back to La Spezia, near
London Bridge, where we'd had such a good meal last month. Unfortunately,
they'd changed their menu substantially, so no more carpaccio or lasagne.
Jason was pretty unhappy with his rocket salad, which contained more dirt
and less parmesan than he would have liked. He did have a nice entrie of
salmon in a creamy dill sauce. Linda had their vegetable soup and a plate
of pasta that she said was entirely acceptable. I started with a lovely
antipasto plate of several kinds of salami, a sardine, some delicious tuna,
and prosciutto, followed by a respectable veal and mushrooms in a cream
sauce. Everything except the salad was tasty, but not nearly as special as
our first experience there and we agreed we'd not get on the tube to go
there specially again. Linda was into the idea of walking across London
Bridge, so we did that and looked at the monument to the Great Fire of 1666
on the other side before getting back on the tube and heading home, where I
dismantled the Christmas tree.
On Thursday we all slept late and had a lazy day, since it was raining.
Linda and I went to Sainsbury's in the afternoon, so she could see the odd
things on offer and get a few souvenirs to nibble. I got nail polish
remover and finally removed the "something blue" from my toes. In the
evening we took the tube over to Hampstead again and met Barbara for dinner
at The Gaucho Grill. I had a caipirinha (a very tart Brazilian drink) to
start. My appetizer was listed as carpaccio, but was actually bresaola
(cured beef, rather than raw). The first couple of times that happened, I
was nonplussed, but now that I know what it is, I can set my tastebuds
accordingly and enjoyed this quite a bit. Jason started with grilled
mussels that were nice, but nothing special. Barbara had the daily soup
(vegetable) and Linda the warm swordfish salad, which she said was
delicious, although she found the bed of roasted vegetables rather bland.
We all had steaks for dinner. Barbara and Linda went with the sirloin,
Jason picked the rib-eye, I had the fillet and we were all very well
pleased. Jason got the creamy garlic sauce, which lived up to its name and
was tasty, but too strong for the delicate flavor of the fillet. Sides
(ordered separately and shared around) included roasted vegetables and
mushroom & onion skewers, as well as various potatoes. We couldn't resist
the desserts: Jason had a flan he enjoyed, Linda went for the banana
butterscotch ice cream and I had the vanilla dulce pancake, which was
essentially a crepe filled with vanilla ice cream. I believe that Barbara
virtuously stuck with coffee.
This morning Linda and I went back to the National Gallery for a last blast
of London. We started at the 1900 end of the collection this time and saw
the Picasso, the Van Goghs, Cezannes, etc. and then cut around to the
Rembrandts. There was a guide explaining Seurat's _Bathers at Asnieres with
much humor, so we enjoyed that for a while. Upon leaving the gallery, we
stopped for a quick lunch at a little cafe in Leicester Square, where I had
an underwhelming cheeseburger and Linda a spinach pie. We came home and she
packed up and left and then I got motivated and called the most convenient
doctor on the list that arrived this morning from the Health Authority.
They were happy to have Jason and I come down to fill out the necessary form
and make appointments to see our new doctor the week after next, when we
return from Egypt.
I should wrap this up. I absolutely have to "Hoover," as they say here,
since there are pine needles everywhere and a good chance that the workmen
may be in to do some repairs while we're gone. I'm planning to make a
stir-fry for dinner in order to use up the fresh veggies in the rotter.
Then I suppose I'd better pack.
We leave tomorrow for Cairo, where we'll spend two nights before flying
downriver and taking a four-day cruise back up, with stops along the way.
We'll have two more nights in Cairo and will arrive back in London on the
14th.
on the tube with Anne & George. It was pouring rain as we walked to the
station, but it cleared up while we were on our way there. I got them to
the check-in line and then got back on the tube and fell asleep. I vaguely
noticed at some point that the train was stopped and there was some banging
going on, but was sound asleep when a kind fellow-passenger woke me to tell
me that we had to get out. I found myself on the South Kensington platform
looking at a train with a door that wouldn't close. They got the train out
of the way and there was another right behind it, so I got back to Manor
House about 11:30am. I picked up lamb doner (like gyros) at the corner and
brought them home to share with Jason. We napped on the couch briefly and
then headed out to meet Linda Marie at the Tower Hill tube station.
Together we joined a huge horde of people talking the London Walk focusing
on Dickens and traditional English Christmas customs. That was fun and we
wrapped up near St. Paul's around five. We popped back to Barbara's flat,
had tea, and ordered Chinese food, which I went to pick up. So I got my
king prawn fried noodle fix (tho' they weren't as good as usual and they
were out of green beans :() and then Linda gave me a lovely perfume and
Jason his gift from steve: chocolate covered candied orange peel. All the
women tried on my perfume and then we moved Barbara's living room furniture
around, causing Linda to remark that we were certainly the best smelling
movers she'd ever encountered. We went up the road to see _Crouching Tiger,
Hidden Dragon_, the new Ang Lee movie starring Chow Yun Fat and Michelle
Yeoh. I said afterwards that it's just like a Hong Kong kung fu movie, only
really good. Beautiful cinematography, interesting characters and
outstanding acting, particularly from Yeoh who had the challenge of showing
the audience that she is silently hiding her emotions from the other
characters.
On Tuesday I hung around the house most of the day, got a few things
accomplished and went to the grocery store. Linda came over around six and
Barbara arrived around eight and we had pan-seared duck breasts, sugar snap
peas, and pearl barley with mushrooms and leeks. It was the first time I
had made barley and it turned out pretty well. For dessert we did the crepe
thing again, trying to use up the various fillings. Then we played a
rousing game of Trivial Pursuit. Barbara gave Linda her bag, officially
completing the guest transfer.
On Wednesday, Linda and I tried to go on the Old Hampstead walk, but missed
the tour by a few minutes. So we wandered around the area ourselves and
then popped into The Horse & Groom pub for a pint and the loo. We strolled
a bit more through the quaint streets filled with lovely houses and little
shops. Hampstead is a lovely area, but a bit what the English would call
"twee," kind of just-too-cute in an "Olde Englande" way. We did notice an
Argentinian steak place that looked good and quite reasonably priced.
We managed to catch the National Gallery walk at 5:00pm. We had to leave
the tour at 6:30pm, in order to meet Jason on time, and at that point
Helena, our guide, had shown us four paintings, all in the new Sainsbury
Wing, which houses works from 1260 - 1500. Those works were an alterpiece
painted by Margarito of Arezzo in 1262, the Wilton Diptych showing Richard
II's coronation, Jan Van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait, Carlo Crivelli's _The
Annunciation with Saint Emidius_ of 1486 and Leonardo Da Vinci's _The Virgin
of the Rocks_. Helena gave a lot of detailed information and stories about
each work, but it might have been nice to move a bit more quickly.
At 7:00pm we joined Jason at the Holborn station and went on the Bloomsbury
Literary Pub Walk. Led by Brian, we made our way through the squares of the
area hearing wonderful stories and seeing sites important to writers,
artists and statesmen such as Dickens, Thakeray, Virginia Woolf, Lytton
Straiche, Charles Fox, and Benjamin Disraeli. We visited three pubs, the
Princess Louise, the Queen's Larder and the Museum Pub, across from the
British Museum. We hopped on the tube and went back to La Spezia, near
London Bridge, where we'd had such a good meal last month. Unfortunately,
they'd changed their menu substantially, so no more carpaccio or lasagne.
Jason was pretty unhappy with his rocket salad, which contained more dirt
and less parmesan than he would have liked. He did have a nice entrie of
salmon in a creamy dill sauce. Linda had their vegetable soup and a plate
of pasta that she said was entirely acceptable. I started with a lovely
antipasto plate of several kinds of salami, a sardine, some delicious tuna,
and prosciutto, followed by a respectable veal and mushrooms in a cream
sauce. Everything except the salad was tasty, but not nearly as special as
our first experience there and we agreed we'd not get on the tube to go
there specially again. Linda was into the idea of walking across London
Bridge, so we did that and looked at the monument to the Great Fire of 1666
on the other side before getting back on the tube and heading home, where I
dismantled the Christmas tree.
On Thursday we all slept late and had a lazy day, since it was raining.
Linda and I went to Sainsbury's in the afternoon, so she could see the odd
things on offer and get a few souvenirs to nibble. I got nail polish
remover and finally removed the "something blue" from my toes. In the
evening we took the tube over to Hampstead again and met Barbara for dinner
at The Gaucho Grill. I had a caipirinha (a very tart Brazilian drink) to
start. My appetizer was listed as carpaccio, but was actually bresaola
(cured beef, rather than raw). The first couple of times that happened, I
was nonplussed, but now that I know what it is, I can set my tastebuds
accordingly and enjoyed this quite a bit. Jason started with grilled
mussels that were nice, but nothing special. Barbara had the daily soup
(vegetable) and Linda the warm swordfish salad, which she said was
delicious, although she found the bed of roasted vegetables rather bland.
We all had steaks for dinner. Barbara and Linda went with the sirloin,
Jason picked the rib-eye, I had the fillet and we were all very well
pleased. Jason got the creamy garlic sauce, which lived up to its name and
was tasty, but too strong for the delicate flavor of the fillet. Sides
(ordered separately and shared around) included roasted vegetables and
mushroom & onion skewers, as well as various potatoes. We couldn't resist
the desserts: Jason had a flan he enjoyed, Linda went for the banana
butterscotch ice cream and I had the vanilla dulce pancake, which was
essentially a crepe filled with vanilla ice cream. I believe that Barbara
virtuously stuck with coffee.
This morning Linda and I went back to the National Gallery for a last blast
of London. We started at the 1900 end of the collection this time and saw
the Picasso, the Van Goghs, Cezannes, etc. and then cut around to the
Rembrandts. There was a guide explaining Seurat's _Bathers at Asnieres with
much humor, so we enjoyed that for a while. Upon leaving the gallery, we
stopped for a quick lunch at a little cafe in Leicester Square, where I had
an underwhelming cheeseburger and Linda a spinach pie. We came home and she
packed up and left and then I got motivated and called the most convenient
doctor on the list that arrived this morning from the Health Authority.
They were happy to have Jason and I come down to fill out the necessary form
and make appointments to see our new doctor the week after next, when we
return from Egypt.
I should wrap this up. I absolutely have to "Hoover," as they say here,
since there are pine needles everywhere and a good chance that the workmen
may be in to do some repairs while we're gone. I'm planning to make a
stir-fry for dinner in order to use up the fresh veggies in the rotter.
Then I suppose I'd better pack.
We leave tomorrow for Cairo, where we'll spend two nights before flying
downriver and taking a four-day cruise back up, with stops along the way.
We'll have two more nights in Cairo and will arrive back in London on the
14th.
