Still Wandering Around London
Hello there - checking in again from London!
Friday was almost a total wash. Michael had to work almost all day, and in a fit of major PMS, I spent the day sulking in his office instead of doing anything interesting or productive. Oh well.
When he was finally able to stop working, we headed over to a fabulous cheese shop called La Fromagerie. Thanks to the wonderful Robert Phillips, we were able to meet Patricia Michelson, the owner of the shop. She treated us to a pot of tea and some fabulous maple pecan biscuits (and by some, I mean a lot - there were probably 15 cookies on the plate).
For dinner on Friday, we headed out to The Cow in Notting Hill. Sadly, Hugh Grant was nowhere to be found, but we enjoyed our dinner nonetheless. We shared two appetizers; some boiled prawns with mayo and some terrific chicken liver pate. For my main course, I had Londoner sausages and mash with onion gravy (very good!). Michael had the onglet (hanger) steak.
Yesterday was a better day than Friday! It started off with me sleeping until noon (!!!!) while Michael worked out. We then headed out to the Borough Market, which was fascinating. I was a little bit freaked out by the sheer number of people milling about, but we ended up enjoying ourselves. We had beer at a great pub, did a little shopping at Paul Smith and Neal's Yard Dairy (raw milk, organic Bleu cheese - what could be better?) and then had a very late brunch at Tapas Brindisa. The food was perfect. We had cheese and meat and squid and wine and sherry and more cheese. Michael had a cured fish platter that looked phenomenal. We highly recommend this place. It was definitely worth the hour and a half wait (just wander around the market to kill time).
After eating, we made our way over to the Tate Modern where we encountered about 50 people dressed up as zombies for Halloween. It was dark out by this time, so the effect was rather spooky. We loved the museum. We only checked out one exhibit, but we really liked the way the art was organized. For example, one of Monet's waterlilly paintings was exhibited directly across from a Jackson Pollack landscape of a similar size. This was art exhibited in a way to make you think - not just by era or by style. I think my favorite room, though, was the room dedicated to these giant Mark Rothko paintings (the Seagram murals) that were originally commissioned for The Four Seasons restaurant in NY.
After leaving the Tate, we walked across the Thames, circled around St. Paul's cathedral, and then took the underground back to Michael's apartment for a quick breather. We then continued our tour of London pubs, and spent a few hours playing Yahtzee and Rummy 500.
Michael is working out now, and I'm about to head over to Marks and Spencer for those tights.
