London

Cheers, mates!  Welcome to the first installment of the Hollywood and Princess Tour of Europe.  Put on your best British accent as you begin our journey...

We arrived into London on a brisk and stormy Saturday morning, held up in the skies for 30 minutes by the flash of thunderstorms.  Princess was a wreck, having only slept for six hours of the nine hour flight.  I managed to cram in a full 90 minutes of shut-eye and walked through the terminals with my eyes taped open.  (I beg your pardon!  We did get lucky enough to enjoy business class.  Hollywood was not sleeping but he was enjoying the complimentary bubbles, wine, and screwdrivers!) Customs was a breeze, mostly because we walked to the wrong terminal first and by the time we'd returned everyone had gone through.  Once we figured out where our heads and toes were, we marched off to the Tube and moved through London.  Our Couchsurfing hosts gave us the most inexpensive route, as all the signs pointed to pay £20 for the quick line downtown.  The ride was about two hours total, but we made it to Highams Park on the outskirts of London by 1500.  We met Andy and Jill at their row house, met l'il Charlotte and sat down to get to know the family. Andy is a stay-at-home journalist, taking care of Chardy most days, and Jill is a sciences teacher at a secondary school nearby.  Chardy is the most wonderful nickname, stemming from Charlotte, but her name was going to be Chardonnay.  Fancy that!

Our first day was quite short.  We headed off to the pub for a pint of Guinness at 1630 and by 1900 we were fast asleep.  We both napped on and off till midnight, and then I was wide awake for hours, mostly reading crude bar-room jokes.  At five am, I put my head down and a little while later Jill woke us up with a knock on the door.  Funny thing though...it was one in the afternoon!  I'm glad to have knocked out the jet lag in one day, but 18 hours in bed?  Yikes.

That afternoon we took a train down to Greenwich to check out the Meridian line.  We walked through the park, under the Thames and found the laser (above Princess' head) lighting up the sky.  We investigated the Astronomy part of the museum but were kicked out before being able to stand on the line.  We walked ourselves in a loop round Greenwich, stopped into a Biscuit for some tea and Wi-Fi and a call home via Skype.  And then it was a ride back home for Spaghetti Bolognese, Triple Chocolate ice cream and three or four rounds of international digestives.  (Doesn't Hollywood know this stuff kills me?!)

At just before noon on Monday we zoomed down to Waterloo and checked out the waterfront (hangover in tow...)   The London Eye was right outside the station with a nice juicy line and a fee of £35 for the both of us.  We skipped it, of course, and then walked across the Thames towards Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament.  The street between the Abbey and Parliament was blocked off for unknown reasons and so we skipped admission as well.  I was slightly famished, so we stopped at Westminster Arms for a pint and Chicken Curry (Such a cute little pub, with tiny private rooms for dining and...um- pinting?).  We continued walking uptown, along St James Park and arriving at Buckingham Palace.  The flag was up and the Queen on premise, but we figured she was a little busy and decided against asking for a photo.  Princess snapped some pics and off we went, through St James park (where we met a couple cheeky pelicans!), to Trafalgar Square and into the National Gallery.  The museum was free, so we toured round for an hour, looking at Monet, Van Gogh, Picasso, and Degas.

Later that night we met our first friend of a friend, Cam, for delicious steaks and red wine at Hawksmoor.  The restaurant had a Monday night special of £5 corkage, so we started with a bottle of 2001 Medoc while we chatted Cam up.  He just moved to London after spending time in Paris, and before that St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands.  He is working in a wine shop (dream job!) while in London on a five-year visa.  Lucky chap!  Princess and I shared a rib-eye and the table shared Prawn Cocktail and sides of broccoli, roasted parsnips and baked mushrooms.  The mushrooms wouldn't stick to my fork and so I was unable to eat any.  The second bottle of red came during dinner, a 2006 Gigondas.  Somehow, most of that wine congregated on my fork and I ate a bunch!

For our final day in London we did a ton of walking, checking out Brick Lane and the Pakistani neighborhood.  We lunched in the park and then headed off to the British Museum, also free.  I think I was expecting something else, as this one was full of worldwide historical pieces.  I was really hoping for the Hope Diamond...where is that?  We grabbed a late lunch of hummus & flatbread and a sausage platter with a couple pints: Princess had a Guinness and I a Kroneburg 1664.  I called home on the mobile as we walked round the financial center, but I talked as if I had loads of time.  Apparently I misunderstood the international rates, and a five minute phone call took away more than £7, stopping my phone call without warning.  We checked in at Cam's shop to check out some 1982 Latour, but it was a little low for our standards at £1725, so we moved on.  We walked round to Moorgate and then tubed across the river to kill time.  The walk back showed us Tower Bridge, but only from afar.  Cam popped out at 1900 and then we all bussed up Kingsland Road for some Vietnamese at Song Que.  This night was much more inexpensive than the previous, but just as memorable.  We shared a half-duck, a bowl of noodles, a bowl of soupy noodles and some spring rolls.  Cam told us more about his travels and goals, and we returned the favor.  We also decided to head to St Thomas for our next adventure, but not till this one is complete.

Departure came early the next day, with hugs and wonderful smiles from Chardy!  Morning rush hour on the trains was mostly over, so we made it to the airport with time to spare! Next stop: Palma de Mallorca!