skulking about in londontown - part one.

Name this movie dialogue… So... Maybe we could just skulk around here for a bit and then go back down. That's a thought. I don't usually skulk, but I suppose I could skulk if skulking were required. Do you skulk regularly? No. No, I don't normally think of myself as a skulker but... . Well, why don't you come in and skulk for a while and we'll see? Give up? Ok – one of my favorite movies – Four Weddings and a Funeral skulk (sk lk) intr.v. skulked, skulk•ing, skulks 1. To lie in hiding, as out of cowardice or bad conscience; lurk. 2. To move about stealthily. 3. To evade work or obligation; shirk. In our case – definition #3 pretty much sums up how we spent our time while in London. We woke up when we wanted to. Most of our “breakfasts” were after 12:00 noon and included a pint or several pints at a local pub. We walked ... and walked and walked…. Without much plans about our destination, as long as there was a pub along the way – and well, being in London… there always was! I gained about 5 lbs – and thank goodness we walked so much, or it would have been more. The re-cap. Kurt was already in Switzerland for business, so we decided to just meet up in London. We arranged our flights to where we could just connect at the airport, then travel together to check into our hotel. The flight to London was perfect. When Kurt and I connected at the airport, we hopped on the tube to Paddington station and then took a cab ride to our hotel. From there, we freshened up (I had a bit of a Tylenol PM hangover from the flight) and headed out in search of an Indian restaurant called “Tamarind” (recommended to us by a good friend of mine who lived in London for years working in restaurants and baking pastries for the queen… seriously!). It was great (I think I will do an entire write up to review the restaurants we went to) On our walk back to the hotel, we wanted to see the Ritz Carlton (where a riot the day before had left the windows all boarded up!) and we wandered past some incredible chandaliers in a crazy art deco building that stopped me in my tracks... this ended up being The Wolesly restaurant (formerly the Wolesely car showroom) we ended up chatting w/ the door man for a long while – and subsequently ended up with a reservation for the following night. The next day (Monday) was a “shopping day” so – we skulked about some more as we ventured around our neighborhood (stopping at “The Roundhouse”) on the way to Piccadilly Circus to search for treasures. I was on a mission to procure some “royal wedding” kitsch for my friend MJ – this was a no-brainer.. in London, the royal wedding is a big deal, and Kate and Wills mugs were printed on EVERYTHING! Two notable stops: The Lamb and Flag (OLDEST pub in London) was awesome! We met some great locals (we kept running into lovely people who just loved to chat over a pint… or several!) Hope and Greenwood – the CUTEST confection shop you ever did see! I had to buy myself some tea towels and an apron for when I whip up bangers and mash – or some splendid confections at home. Dinner that night at the Wolseley was nothing short of spectacular – (again … restaurant review.. separate posting) After dinner we ended up at the Roundhouse again chatting up the best bartender in London (Dom) and found out that a reservation at the Wolseley is difficult to come by (lucky us). Aren't those chandaliers delicious??? Tuesday – “tourist” day. Kurt and I aren’t typical tourists. When we travel somewhere, we like to “blend in” (as much as possible with our giveaway American accents!) but, I really wanted to check out the London Eye, so he humored me and agreed to check it out. It was a typical London foggy day, but we were so glad we did this. It was a fun destination to walk across London Bridge, get to the waterfront to pick up tickets… quickly make our way AWAY from the waterfront in search of a … you guessed it – PUB. Which we found just three short blocks away. The Crown and Cushion was old and dusty and authentic and full of local blokes sipping pints mid day and chatting… and it served THAI food – Random (or so we thought) as it turns out… this is rather common. After a pint and some pad thai we headed to the London Eye. The line was just a short 15 or so minutes and the ride lasted about 35 minutes for one rotation. If you ever find yourself in London – don’t miss this attraction, the best views of all of London. I imagine you would see more and further on a clearer day, but something about the fog made it lovely. Tuesday night we had tickets to “Thriller” which was the only thing we had pre-booked before we left. We were running short on time, so instead of a big long dinner, we opted for some chips and a pint at the Coal Hole which was packed (after work crowd). We JUST made the show and got settled into our great seats just seconds before curtain call. This show was so much fun. They really got the crowd engaged - the music and dancing was spot on.

part two... to come.