Merrie Olde England TR - Read but Don't Reply! About This Page:

[cindybelle]

The four of us dined at Carluccio's Cafe (Covent Garden) where Cheryl had made ressies. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sourc...HQ7jKw&cad=rja

It was lovely and the food tremendous. First we had a bit of the bubbly -- Cheryl, what white wine did we have? I really liked it.




Then I asked our server to get a shot of the four of us. (Cheryl, if yours looks better please post it.)



I was too busy gabbing with Cheryl (go figure ) to note what we ordered, but here are a few shots of the food. We were all quite pleased with our selections -- I would definitely recommend Carluccio's if you'll be in Covent Garden at mealtime.

[cindybelle]

Now, Cheryl has her priorities straight: she ordered two desserts! Cheryl, you are my kind of gal!

First, some gelati:




Which she is trying to hide in this photo, in which you can better see dessert #2: Tiramisu.




I had Panna Cotta:




Mark had the Cioccolato Fondente.




But I wish I'd ordered what Rick got, because it was my favorite dessert of the entire trip!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pasticcio Di Cioccolato -- chocolate bread and butter pudding served with a wonderful vanilla cream sauce. Ooohh, was that




But now forget all about the food. We had a 2-hour laugh fest! Mark is HILARIOUS -- I had tears rolling down my cheeks from laughing so hard.

Oh, how could I forget? Cheryl and I did a bit of "window shopping" prior to lunch, so the guys were making fun of our Disney buying habits. Rick certainly got a kick out of Mark's observations and agreed with them wholeheartedly. Cheryl and I took the "high road" -- well, except for retorting in a few absolutely brilliant ways. I can't quite remember that part, though -- Cheryl, I'm sure you and I prevailed, right?

We will dine with you ANYTIME, ANYWHERE! That was FUN.

[cindybelle]

Mark made fun of me throughout lunch after watching me quickly hand over 40 pounds (about $64) for some matted prints of classic Pooh.

Now, in my defense, may I say that throughout this entire vacation, I kept thinking "The first place I see either Beatrix Potter drawings or E.H. Shepard (Pooh) drawings, I'm going to buy whatever they're selling." I had hoped to find notecards, but no luck. I did find a couple of Potter characters as greeting cards, and I'd purchased those at the V&A.

But now, in a Covent Garden stall, here was a man selling classic Pooh prints. Well, I simply had to have them. I thought Mark and Rick were going to bust their guts, they were laughing so hard at me. Rick said, "They're not ORIGINALS, you know."

Well yes, I do know that. But having grown up reading Winnie the Pooh books and loving E.H. Shepard's drawings, I wanted to have some for my bedroom. And as soon as I got home, I framed these and hung them up where I can see them every night before I go to sleep. So THERE, you mean boys!

Would you like to see them now? I knew you would!
















After I handed over my money, Rick turned to the seller and said, "Maybe you'll get to go home early today." Then all three guys started but I didn't care! Some Pooh friends would be going home with me.

CHERYL and MARK, thank you so much for coming up to London to spend time with us. It's said that laughter is the best medicine -- well, all I can say is, we should all be healthy after that afternoon!

[cubfancolleen]

Cindy, no matter what those stupid boys say, your Pooh prints are terrific!!
And that meal looked DELISH!!

[DrDolphin]

What a wonderful day!! It looks like you really enjoyed your time with Cheryl and Mark - and your classic Pooh cards are wonderful!!

[chezp]

We had such fun with you that day. I'm just sad that we weren't able to spend more time with you (I was having a really bad time with my chronic fatigue so the plans we had to join them going on to the Cabinet War Rooms didn't pan out).

I'm ashamed to say that I haven't downloaded the photos Mark took with his camera. In our defence, it has been non-stop since then, trying to get the front room redecorating finished, before we parents arrived this last weekend. I don't even know where his camera is right now. I'll have to try and track it down.

I'm pretty sure the wine was Moscato, although as you can tell, I'm not fully awake yet this morning...

[Colexis Mom]

Glad you had a great time with Cheryl and Mark!

[scrappyjae]

Sounds like you guys all had a great time! Love the Pooh pictures, they really are quite lovely.

[Dlandmom2]

Everything continues to sound wonderful! I love it when sights and sounds and FOOD come together!

[cindybelle]

Originally Posted by chezp

We had such fun with you that day. I'm just sad that we weren't able to spend more time with you (I was having a really bad time with my chronic fatigue so the plans we had to join them going on to the Cabinet War Rooms didn't pan out).

I'm ashamed to say that I haven't downloaded the photos Mark took with his camera. In our defence, it has been non-stop since then, trying to get the front room redecorating finished, before we parents arrived this last weekend. I don't even know where his camera is right now. I'll have to try and track it down.

I'm pretty sure the wine was Moscato, although as you can tell, I'm not fully awake yet this morning...

Cheryl, you and Mark are always so insanely busy that I really held out little hope that we'd meet up with you. I am so THRILLED to have done that, so you are quite definitely off the hook for locating photos.

Moving right along with our story, after we bid adieu to Cheryl and Mark, Rick and I headed to the Charing Cross station to catch the Tube to the Westminster stop (our most frequently-visited Tube station of the trip, except for our home station of South Kensington), and we proceeded to walk toward the Churchill War Rooms. Churchill War Rooms Home

First though, here's a cool wall inside the Charing Cross subway stop:



Very fun to look at while waiting for your train to arrive.

Rick had never been to the Churchill War Rooms, and while he enjoyed them, he was a bit disappointed that they were simply in a fortified basement -- I guess he thought we'd be digging through layers of rock to the earth's core or something . But Churchill is definitely someone a WWII buff likes to study, and I would definitely recommend a visit. We were there an hour or slightly longer, and feel we saw everything we wanted to.

In keeping with my "photo of a photo," I proceeded to all the images of the great man that I could. Here's one of my favorites.




There were lots of examples of Churchill's writings and witticisms. I like this one: "We are all worms. But I do believe that I am a glow-worm."

The English major in me greatly enjoyed seeing all the drafts of speeches that Churchill wrote (or more often dictated). He clearly edited very well. Here's part of one of his greatest wartime speeches:




As U.S. citizens, we greatly enjoyed this editorial cartoon:




And of course our structural engineer had to take this photo illustrating how they reinforced this "basement."



They have all the radio rooms, stenographer rooms, bedrooms, kitchen, dining areas, etc. all preserved. Rick took photos of them, but they're pretty dark. You're just going to have to go and see for yourself.
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[cindybelle]

Look, it's still a gorgeous day, and it's only 4:10. We can still get to Harrod's Department Store!



And we still hadn't taken a double-decker bus yet, so we hopped on one and rode it to Harrod's. (No charge, since our Oyster cards worked for all public transportation.) Rick wanted me to see the upscale food stands and I must admit they are .







Good thing we'd had those great desserts at lunch. . . . .




But Rick found his own "dessert" counter: smoked salmon.




Rick purchased some tea and jam sets for a friend back home and for his next-door neighbor (who was watering his new tree and bringing in his mail). And then we headed back outside.

If you'd like to see more of the store, here's a pretty cool link (it just takes awhile to open each area you want to visit): http://www.harrods.com/experience

[cindybelle]

Oh, and here's my proof that we rode in a double-decker bus (and you'll have to trust that we sat on the upper deck ):




From which vantage point I proceeded to take this shot of Harrod's beautiful exterior:




And then I kept taking photos of random structures.




Hey Cheryl, can you identify this statue for me? I like it, whatever it is.




By the time we got back to the Aster House, all we wanted to do was fling open our window, get horizontal, and enjoy the breeze coming in. Another lovely day.



We were so full from that 2-hour lunch with Cheryl and Mark that I didn't get hungry again until around 9:00 p.m. We went back to the little Italian place where we'd lunched on Wednesday and had a light meal. We had the same server, who remembered us and where we'd sat. He recommended a nice wine which we enjoyed.

And then what do you suppose we did?

You guessed it:

: snore:

[cubfancolleen]

The food shop at Harrod's was amazing, wasn't it? But a bit pricey! Our original plan was having lunch there, but then we saw how much it would set us back. Instead, we crossed the street and ate at a British chain called Eat. We ended up eating there a couple more times during our stay. Good, fresh, food and all four of us always found something we liked.

[cindybelle]

During our lunch the day before, Cheryl had asked us what our very favorite sight had been. Rick and I looked at each other and couldn't come up with an absolute favorite -- every day had been enjoyable, and every day had been a series of great experiences.

Well Cheryl, we can answer your question now, because now we've been to WINDSOR CASTLE. Rick and I are in absolute agreement on this -- taking the train to Windsor and spending the entire day there was absolutely our favorite "sight" of the trip. Everybody, you MUST go to Windsor Castle. Trust us. Windsor Castle

Despite the fact that we were prohibited from taking photos inside any of the buildings, we still managed to a ton of exterior photos. And once we got home, of course I took "photos of photos" from a book I purchased there.

COSTS: The round-trip London-Windsor train cost 9 pounds apiece (less than $15 apiece). Admission was 16.5 pounds apiece ($26.40), which includes the audiotour. We had lunch just outside the gates and I bought some chocolates and other sundries. And that's it. For our very favorite experience of the trip.










But is this truly a "royal residence?" Just in case you're wondering, they remind you with little touches like these:




I can see why the Queen spends as many weekends here as possible.




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[chezp]

Glad you enjoyed Windsor Castle so much! The missing statue, I think, is on top of the arch at Hyde Park Corner - at least that's what it looks like to me....