Back in London
Apr. 8th, 2001 04:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lillibetIt was nice to be back in London after our trip. Trish & Steve made it back
on Friday afternoon. Jason and I went to the Barbican to see the first of
the eight Shakespearean histories. This one, _Richard II_, was performed in
their studio space, The Pit. No surprise that the Royal Shakespeare Company
really knows how to do Shakespeare and this was an excellent show. Done on
a very bare stage, in modern dress, it really focused on the language. The
king was played by Samuel West (familiar to Jane Austen fans as Mr. Ellis,
Anne's cousin, in the most recent version of _Persuasion_). He was quite
amazing and stunningly regal. We also much enjoyed Bolingbroke and Harry
Percy, and will see both actors again in Henry IV, i-ii, on Wednesday.
After the show we went upstairs to Searcy's and had a lovely dinner. Jason
had their smoked haddock welsh rarebit--fish with cheese melted over it on a
bed of salad--that really impressed him. I started with the bacon salad,
which was quite tasty, too. We both went for the breast of chicken on a bed
of salad with a mashed potato cake on the side. We were sorry not to have
time for dessert (choices included ginger parfait, raspberry millefeuille
and vanilla creme brulee), but we hope to get back there again during the
week, so we'll have another chance.
On Saturday I made scrambled eggs with Lincolnshire sausage for breakfast
and then sent the others off to the Tower of London while I worked on chores
around the house and made dinner. I made a very tasty spinach salad with a
warm bacon and goat cheese vinaigrette followed by chicken and pasta in a
marsala cream sauce with sundried tomatoes and mushrooms.
Today we went on the Ancient London ("Knights, Nuns and Notoriety") London
Walk. It was a beautiful day and a treat to wander around the City of
London and hear tales of bad behavior. I left the rest of them at Liverpool
Street to get some lunch and go to the Design Museum, while I came home and
fed another couple of loads through the laundry process and read a bit of
_Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire_, which I am enjoying.
I met up with the Merrills again at seven and we embarked on the Soho Pub
Walk. In the morning I had commented to Steve that I must be getting
English, since my reaction to such a beautiful day was that it must be going
to rain. Sure enough, it started in the late afternoon and still hasn't let
up. This isn't usual...generally rain here stops and starts, but this
evening it just poured. But it isn't terribly cold and we all had our
umbrellas. Most of the territory we covered was familiar, but it was good
to hear the guide's stories and have her point out good restaurants and
venues to check out at a later date.
One highpoint for me was seeing the pump that marks the founding of the
science of epidemiology by John Snow, who plotted the 1854 cholera
epidemic's victims on a map and realized that somehow the water was
contaminated. No one would believe him, so he just went along and took the
handle off the offending pump, ending the spread of the disease. It was
later found that a sewer pipe had cracked and was leaking into the well.
The CDC's field service, the EIS, has an annual award for the best piece of
epidemiological detective work that's named in honor of Dr. Snow and I have
enjoyed reading some of the winners' exploits.
Another enjoyable part of the walk was that the group included a couple from
Seville and I got to sit and talk to them in Spanish at one of our pub
stops.
The walk ended a couple of blocks from Yo!Sushi, so we went and grabbed
fish off the conveyor belt for our dinner. They had saba (mackerel) this
evening, unlike our last visit, and we enjoyed that.
Our tube station is closed this weekend for escalator repairs (the second
time since we've been here and we'll hope it's the last), so rather than
change tube lines and still have to catch a bus home from the next stop
away, we just walked to Charing Cross Road and caught the bus that would
take us straight here. I talked to Beckie for a while (she's been sick this
week) and now I think it's time for bed.
on Friday afternoon. Jason and I went to the Barbican to see the first of
the eight Shakespearean histories. This one, _Richard II_, was performed in
their studio space, The Pit. No surprise that the Royal Shakespeare Company
really knows how to do Shakespeare and this was an excellent show. Done on
a very bare stage, in modern dress, it really focused on the language. The
king was played by Samuel West (familiar to Jane Austen fans as Mr. Ellis,
Anne's cousin, in the most recent version of _Persuasion_). He was quite
amazing and stunningly regal. We also much enjoyed Bolingbroke and Harry
Percy, and will see both actors again in Henry IV, i-ii, on Wednesday.
After the show we went upstairs to Searcy's and had a lovely dinner. Jason
had their smoked haddock welsh rarebit--fish with cheese melted over it on a
bed of salad--that really impressed him. I started with the bacon salad,
which was quite tasty, too. We both went for the breast of chicken on a bed
of salad with a mashed potato cake on the side. We were sorry not to have
time for dessert (choices included ginger parfait, raspberry millefeuille
and vanilla creme brulee), but we hope to get back there again during the
week, so we'll have another chance.
On Saturday I made scrambled eggs with Lincolnshire sausage for breakfast
and then sent the others off to the Tower of London while I worked on chores
around the house and made dinner. I made a very tasty spinach salad with a
warm bacon and goat cheese vinaigrette followed by chicken and pasta in a
marsala cream sauce with sundried tomatoes and mushrooms.
Today we went on the Ancient London ("Knights, Nuns and Notoriety") London
Walk. It was a beautiful day and a treat to wander around the City of
London and hear tales of bad behavior. I left the rest of them at Liverpool
Street to get some lunch and go to the Design Museum, while I came home and
fed another couple of loads through the laundry process and read a bit of
_Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire_, which I am enjoying.
I met up with the Merrills again at seven and we embarked on the Soho Pub
Walk. In the morning I had commented to Steve that I must be getting
English, since my reaction to such a beautiful day was that it must be going
to rain. Sure enough, it started in the late afternoon and still hasn't let
up. This isn't usual...generally rain here stops and starts, but this
evening it just poured. But it isn't terribly cold and we all had our
umbrellas. Most of the territory we covered was familiar, but it was good
to hear the guide's stories and have her point out good restaurants and
venues to check out at a later date.
One highpoint for me was seeing the pump that marks the founding of the
science of epidemiology by John Snow, who plotted the 1854 cholera
epidemic's victims on a map and realized that somehow the water was
contaminated. No one would believe him, so he just went along and took the
handle off the offending pump, ending the spread of the disease. It was
later found that a sewer pipe had cracked and was leaking into the well.
The CDC's field service, the EIS, has an annual award for the best piece of
epidemiological detective work that's named in honor of Dr. Snow and I have
enjoyed reading some of the winners' exploits.
Another enjoyable part of the walk was that the group included a couple from
Seville and I got to sit and talk to them in Spanish at one of our pub
stops.
The walk ended a couple of blocks from Yo!Sushi, so we went and grabbed
fish off the conveyor belt for our dinner. They had saba (mackerel) this
evening, unlike our last visit, and we enjoyed that.
Our tube station is closed this weekend for escalator repairs (the second
time since we've been here and we'll hope it's the last), so rather than
change tube lines and still have to catch a bus home from the next stop
away, we just walked to Charing Cross Road and caught the bus that would
take us straight here. I talked to Beckie for a while (she's been sick this
week) and now I think it's time for bed.
