Leaving London

Wednesday, April 27, Allie and LT woke before seven and made their usual breakfast of strong Twinnings Tea, Fruit Salad, and Scrambled Eggs with Smoked Salmon.  The "hob" behaved more or less, so they got the burners going with only a few profane insults as to the French design of the hob unit.

LT threw his clothes into his large suitcase, and Allie carefully packed her much smaller duffel bag.  As luck would have it, Holborn is on the Picadilly line, so they could both walk down to the tube station, take the escalator down, down, down, down to the start of the Picadilly line, and then LT gave Allie a hug and headed West, while Allie returned the hug and headed East.  LT had great luck in his tube journey to Heathrow.  He got a seat on the very next tube car, tucked his 32-pound suitcase next to him, and enjoyed the 1 hour ride out to the airport.  It cost only 5 British pounds.  There are rumors that Allie had not such good luck, and she will her describe her experience in due course.

Hamlet 2.

Not much has happened today. If LT were writing this blog entry, he would tell you about the historical and personal significance of each landmark that was seen today on his and Allie's walk from Citadines to the Globe Theater. But LT isn't writing this blog entry, Allie is. So you're going to have to deal with some occasionally annoying brevity until LT decides to edit this entry, because honestly? Allie doesn't know that much about London history.

Anyways, the morning started off as it usually did. Allie woke up at around 7 AM, and set about making tea, going online, and eating one of the fruit salads that she always makes at Sainsbury's for her and Dad. Once Dad woke up, Allie made scrambled eggs, and was finally able to get the hob to start working in less than five minutes, with a little help from LT. Breakfast was eaten, second cups of tea were drunk, plates were washed, and by ten, Allie and LT went on their walk from Holborn to the Globe. The streets were busier than they were in the past, but hey, it was ten o'clock and not eight thirty. Allie is sad to say that she doesn't have any pictures of the two of them today, but she does have some nice pictures of various landmarks and graffiti art, so the imaginary readers of this blog can look at those! Yay!

At the end of the walk to the Globe, the father-daughter duo found themselves a bit wiped out, and decided to head back to the hotel room. They went to St. Paul's tube stop, and bought two all day tickets, for they plan to use the Tube later to get to the Globe (no one should have to do that walk two times in one day, it's cruel and unusual punishment.) They stopped by Sainsbury's, got some stuff for lunch and breakfast tomorrow morning, and came back to Citadines. And then Dad told Allie that she couldn't have one of her veg pots until she wrote an entry on the blog, because she's been slacking off. Later, Allie and LT will head back to the Globe (on the Tube this time) to see another production of Hamlet. It should be exciting!

At 7:30PM that evening Allie and LT entered the Globe Playhouse, which is an exact replica of the one Shakespeare used,  in almost the exact spot on the Bankside of the Thames.  Since  it was a traditional Elizabethan performance, several actors began playing a song and before we knew it, rough gray boards  had been set on the stage, small wooden sawhorses were used for the castle turrets of Elisinore and the play was begun.  It was quite moving to think that 411 years ago (in 1599 or 1600--no on knows exactly when the first performance took place) Hamlet had been played in this very site--and some traditions hold that Shakespeare actually took the role of the "ghost" of Hamlet's father.

On Saturday evvening at the National Theatre (NT), we had seen an award-winning contemporary interpretation of Hamlet, which Allie has already described in excellent detail, so it was wonderful for us to be able to see a true "Elizabethan" performance on Tuesday night, with most of the actors doubling or even tripling their roles--the actress doing Ophelia also did Voltemand, the actor doing Horatio did lots of smaller roles, Polonius became the grave-digger, the evil uncle Claudius played both the ghost of Hamlet's father and the player King.  It was all very easy to follow.   At the NT, the Hamlet had been modern, introspective, subtle, conflicted--very complex.  In contrast, the Globe Hamlet was more extroverted--since he had to move from side to side of the large open air Elizabethan stage.  He was quite small in stature, but he made up for it in gusto and flair.  I really enjoyed his interpretation.  He was so diminutive that when he first greeted his friend Horatio ("What make you from Wittenburg, Horatio"), he jumped into his arms, and the larger more portly Horatio was actually able to lift him off the ground.

Since the London weather had changed in the past two days--becoming much colder--I had worn every stitch of wool clothing I had--T-shirt, long sleeved shirt, cashmere vest, Harris Tweed sports coat--and still I shivered a bit when the wind creeped through the theatre.  To quote the play, "The air bites shrewdly.  It was an eager and a nipping air.  When the performance was over and the cast had taken several bows, Allie and LT walked back over the Millineum Bridge to the St. Paul tube station.  It was so cold, and the wind howled so "eagerly" over the Thames, that Allie tucked into LT's shoulder and he tried to share the warmth of his Harris Tweed with her.  Eventually they reached the warmth of the tube station and journied the two tube stops--St. Pauls, Chancerey Lane, Holborn back to Citidines.

They experienced travelers had wisely stocked up on extra soup and chocolate for after theatre snacks and they talked over the play, warmed up with soup--Broccoli -Stilton for LT, while Allie had another of her Veg Pots--and to top it off a Rocky Road chocolate, marshmallow pudding, which was just the right combination to send them both off into dreamland.  

Easter Monday

They got up early and since they'd run out of eggs and smoked salmon, had promised themselves that they'd walk to Covent Garden and have breakfast the "Le Pain Quotidien."  They took their newly discovered route, turning right down Greet Queen Street until it turned into Long Acre, then reaching the Covent Garden tube stop and turning left again, walking right straight through the covered galleries until they reached the bakery.  It was still sunny, but lots cooler, so they sat inside and had luscious creamy scrambled eggs--with big sliced Portabella mushrooms for Allie, and smoked salmon for LT.  Allie also had a croissant and LT a large fruit salad, which he shared with Allie.  They both remarked how much sliced mango they got.  It was wonderful.

Mathew Fox, from the hit TV series "Lost" is starring in a play at the Vaudeville Theatre on the Strand, quite close to Covent Garden, so they veered down in that direction, only to discover that the play "In a Forest Dark and Deep" was not playing on Easter Monday.  It was a disappointment.

Allie in front of Harrods

Since it was so cool, after breakfast, they returned to Citadenes, and Allie got an extra layer.  Allie saw from the weather forecast, that it was going to reach 74 degrees later in the day, but right then at 10:00, it was still quite cool.  Allie wanted to see Harrod's department store in Kensington, so they set out west on Holborn, took a slight left on Shaftsbury Avenue and walked right by the LSE (London School of Economics) where Allie had stayed when she had her first orientation to British university life back in September.  She even showed her father "Le Pain Quotidien" where she had spent 3 hours with her newly made London student friends before they could actually check into the LSE dorm.  They continued on Shaftsbury, past Leicester Square--where they tried to find a good play at a reasonable price, but they couldn't. 


They continued on Shaftsbury until they reached Picadilly Circus, then stayed on Picadilly past Fortnum and Mason's (where LT saw those fancy chocolates from everwhere in the world that are sometimes sold at Trader Joes) and kept on trudging until they reached Green Park.  Taking advantage of the lush lawns and laage trees of the park, they paralleled Picadilly until they reached Hyde Park, then did a bit of experimenting until they found Knightsbridge,which they followed until they reached the Brompton Road.  A few blocks down the Brompton Road, they at last entered Harrod's.  It was very crowded, and Allie and LT both marvelled at the numerous well-groomed and well dressed "staff" that stood at attention every couple of yards in order to offer assistance to potential shoppers.   Allie took LT up 4 escalators to the "Pet Shop" where she examined the various small dogs that were being cosseted and taken care of in a very indulgent fashion-- and being offered for sale.  They really take care of their animals at Harrods.

Eaton Square--home of "Upstairs, Downstairs."

LT insisted on walking a bit further to Sloan Square, in the hopes of locating "65 Eaton Square" site of all those "Upstairs, Downstairs" TV shows in the 70's and 80's.  It took a bit of work, and by now the sun was very hot, but after a few false stops and "divigations" they found Eaton Square--not to be confused with the nearby Eaton Gate, Eaton Terrace, or Eaton Street.  Pictures were duly taken.

Exhausted from so much walking, they walked back to the Sloan Square tube station, took the Circle line to Embankment, then took the Northern line to Leicester Square, then the Picadilly line to Holborn.  When they reached their apartment, LT microwaved some Ministrone soup and Allie had one of her Veg Pots, and then LT went horizontal for a nap and Allie began working on the computer.
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At about 5:00PM, they got up and walked north to revisit Russel Square.  LT then showed Allie where the Jenkins Hotel and Cartwright Gardens (home of the Mentone Hotel) are.  LT pointed out the pub near Cartwright gardens where uncle Ron held LT's bachelor night out-- not a very wild affair since it was attended by both Aunt Sheila and fiance Elizabeth.  Father explained how the neighborhood had changed to a dutiful but not very fascinated daughter and the pair finally turned back, walking behind the Russel Hotel, following Southampton Row, tucking into Cosmo Place, Boswell street (site of the Laudravista that was so helpful last Wednesday) and tack to Citadenes.

Easter Sunday

LT in front of Samuel Johnson's house

The travelling duo got up a bit later than usual, since they had had a late night at the theatre.  In fact, when they got back from Hamlet, they both succumbed to hunger and micro-waved up their favorite soups before retiring.  So, later on Sunday morning, they took an easy walk in an eastern direction this time towards the Inns of Court and Chancery Lane--site of John Mortimer's "Rumpole of the Bailey" series and many very sad, pathetic scenes in Charles Dickens' novels--where inheritance is tied up in court for decades before the rightful heirs can claim the money.  They walked down Chancery Lane, visited the quad of Kings College--where Allie had actually investigated spending her junior year instead of the University of Kent--and finally reached Fleet Street.  They walked a few blocks and tucked down a tiny street next to "The Cheshire Cheese"--Samuel Johnson's famous coffee house in the mid 1700's and found themselves in Gough Square, site of Samuel Johnson's actual house.  It was closed, but LT described the interior to Allie and how James Boswell recorded nearly every word Johnson spoke and preserved in in "Boswell's Life of Johnson."  They admired a small bronze statue of "Hodge" Samuel Johnson's famous cat--"a very fine cat indeed" was how he describe Hodge.

Easter Lunch with Prosecco from Italo
and lamb chops alla Allie

Next, the pair headed down Temple Lane and Temple Avenue until they reached the Embankment and the River Thames.  They continued along the Thames until they reached the Waterloo Bridge, climbed the 1000 or so steps -- it seemed -- took a half circle on the Alwych, regained Kingsway and walked back to Holborn and their apartment.  Once inside, they began preparing an Easter feast.  Allie was in charge of all cooking, and after a serious technology problem with the French touch-controls on the "hob" (as they call the stove top here), she finally got it to work and began frying six lamb chops and boiling some brocolli, cauliflower, and carrots.   The pair were enjoying their chops and sipping the Prosecco that Italo had given them the day before, when Eli's Skype call came through, so they caught her up on all the London gossip while sipping their wine.

LT in front of The Globe where we saw our
second Hamlet

Later on towards six, Allie and LT walked back to the Waterloo Bridge and down along the bankside of the river to the Old Globe Playhouse--site of Shakespeare's re-constructed Globe from the late 1500's--where they are going to see another Hamlet on Tuesday evening, the night before LT must return to Los Angeles.  It was a 45 minute walk, but very pretty.  The skies were blue, the sunny a bright yellow and there was a cool breeze, so the walking was very fine.  Once they reached the Old Globe, they visited the gift shop, and then re-traced their steps back home.  They wanted to see exactly how long it would take them to walk back from Hamlet on Tuesday evening--assuming the play ends at around 10:40PM--just like the Hamlet they enjoyed at the much closer National Theatre on Saturday night.  They had a nice walk, which they have made so many times that they can recall each shop and anticipate each street.

"As I Was Walking Down Grosvenor Square" and Hamlet!

Statue of Gen. Eisenhower in Grosvenor Sq.

On Saturday morning, they got up early and LT planned a walking trip on the maps while Allie prepared tea, scrambled eggs and smoked salmon for breakfast.  At 8:30AM they left Citadenes and headed west on Holborn.  Since it was early there was hardly any foot or vehicle traffic and they enjoyed the cool morning air and the relative quiet.  They kept walking straight on Holborn until it turned into New Oxford Street and then just plain old ordinary regular Oxford Street, all of which is the "shopping" district of London.  They walked past all of the big department stores with their display windows--Debenhams, Selfridges, Marks and Spencer.  Oxford street is open only to buses and taxis.  LT's plan was to continue on Oxford street until it hit Hyde Park--maybe a mile and a half--then saunter down Hyde Park until they reached Grosvenor Square.  Grateful Dead fans will know what's coming.  LT wanted to actually visit the site that influenced one of the Dead's greatest songs, "Scarlet Begonias" where the lyric, which, of course is just the beginning of a extravagant Dead instrumental exploration of the melody, goes "As I was walking down Grosvenor Square, Not a chill to the winter but a nip to the air, From the other direction, she was catching my eye, It could be an illusion, but I might as well try, She had rings on her fingers and bells on her shoes, And I knew without asking she was into the blues, She wore Scarlet Begonias tucked into her curls, I knew right away she was not like other girls...."  The Dead's song is totally relaxed, romantic and groovy, however, one thing it doesn't tell you is that one entire side of the "square" is dominated by the American Embassy, a great 'modern' 4-story hulk that is now surrounded with security walls and check points and would not look out of place in a James Bond movie.  It must have looked imposing and hulking in the 70's when the Dead wrote the song, (and when the security check points and blockades had not been added) but it even looked more out of place now.  Nevertheless, LT was happy to be on home turf for a Grateful Dead song.

LT in Grosvenor Sq.

Anyway, Grosvenor Square itself was green and verdant and LT and Allie really did walk all round the square, admiring the trees and flowers--the special statue of General Dwight Eisenhower, and the beautiful September 11 garden with black and white tulips and herbs--rosemary for remembrance, ivy for loyality, etc.  Unfortunately, they did not see anyone with "rings on her fingers and bells on her shoes...and scarlet begonias tucked into her curls." Leaving Grosvenor Square, they walked a few more blocks south and glimpsed the quiet entrance to the Grosvenor   House--site of LT and Eli's wedding night.  LT explained some, but not all, of the details of their room--including heated towel racks and coffee with real English cream for breakfast.  The multi story houses in this area are really posh and the few pups we saw were incredibly clean and bright.  For most of the shops, you had to "ring" a bell, before they would let you in.

Leaving the Grosvenor House, Allie and LT scampered across St James and Green Park walking downhill on Constitution Hill, admiring the greenery.  Allie kept saying "Why are there two different types of barbed wire on those high brick walls?" and LT explained that they were walking past the "grounds" of Buckingham Palace.  Sure enough, in a little while Buckingham Palace emerged on their right, with crowds of people and lots of big green "viewing" stands for the Royal Wedding which is less than a week away.  Allie and LT now walked east on Birdcage Walk where they saw some huge pelicans and even sat down to enjoy the long lake which stretches the entire length of this end of the park.  We soon intersected Storey Gate and found Westminster Abbey at the end.  The tall, impressive Gothic facade of the Abbey was totally white and clean--usually it is covered with scaffolding--probably for the Royal Wedding.  Long lines of tourists wound around the church, making it impossible to even walk on the sidewalks and definitely foolish to try to queue up for a visit inside.  So Allie and LT carefully manoeuvered through the pedestrian and vehicle traffic, walked up Parliament Street and Whitehall past all the government buildings and eventually reached Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery.

Allie in front of Buckingham Palace--we traced the route
of the Royal Wedding parade.

                                     
 Although the father-daughter duo did go to the National Gallery, they didn't actually re-visit any of the galleries. Instead, they went to the cafe on the bottom level, and Allie bought a blueberry muffin and two water bottles, and the two sat at one of the little tables in the cafe, and rested after their long walk from Holbourn to Westminister (the pastries there are to die for, by the way. Also, hi, this is Allie, finally chipping in.) After that, the two decided to pop into the National Portrait Gallery to find three portraits that they hadn't been able to find on their last visit: one of the three Brontë sisters, one of George Eliot, and another of Virginia Woolf. They were able to find the Brontë sisters easily enough but Eliot and Woolf proved a bit tricky, and they had to ask a museum employee for help. It turned out that the Eliot portrait was in the same room as the Brontës, right behind Allie and LT in a glass case. Seeing Ms. Woolf in person, according to the employee, was an impossibility, as she was "resting," or so Dad and the employee jokingly put it. The employee did tell us that we could look up a digital copy of her portrait on one of their computers, and so we were able to see Virginia Woolf's portrait. Allie also took this time at the computers to look up photographs of one of her favorite bands, The Clash.

Allie and LT with Italo in Trattoria San Francesco

By this point, it was time for lunch, and so Allie and LT went to Italo's a second time. They arrived right at 12 PM, the opening time for the trattoria, and were the first to be seated. Dad had a caprese salad and trout, while Allie had a papardella with eggplant (or aubergine as it's called here) and mushrooms. Italo made an appearance at the end of the meal (he always calls Allie "La Bellissima"), and not only took a photograph with the father and daughter, but also gave them a bottle of Prosecco/champagne!

With Italo's gift bottle of Prosecco in tow, Allie and LT went back to the hotel room, dropped the champagne off, and then went outside a second time to Sainsbury's (why didn't they just take the champagne with them into the store, you ask? Because it would have looked really weird, okay? Think about it.) They stocked up on their necessities: smoked salmon, roast chicken, fruit salads, etc., etc. Once purchased, the two returned to their hotel room, and rested up for their visit to the National  Theater to see Hamlet in the relatively small Lyttelton stage.  This is a special, award-winning production of Hamlet, brought back for only 12 performances, and this was one of the last.

Foyer of the National Theatre--just before
going in to see Hamlet

This narrator will not tell you what happened during the play, because you can very easily look up the plot on Sparknotes and Wikipedia, but she will say that Hamlet was awesome. Rory Kinnear did a great Hamlet, and Allie loved Claire Higgins as Gertrude. The director added these little details to the stage that were just fantastic: He had most of the events of the play take place in a White House/Downing Street environment, with hidden doors and extras dressed as security standing behind windows and near entrances, even when an actor was giving a soliloquy. It added further to the pre-existing tension of the play, and was great to watch.

The play ended at 10:45, and, seeing as it wasn't raining like the BBC weathermen predicted, Allie and LT decided to walk back to the hotel. The walk was quiet, the two weren't stopped by any weirdos (which is always a personal phobia of this narrator), and the air was surprisingly warm enough that Allie didn't have to put the raincoat she had folded up in her bookbag on. They made it back to the hotel safely, and after quick dinner of some soups from Sainsbury's, the two went to bed.

Rory Kinnear in Hamlet 2011 National Theatre 

"Sleepy London Town"....at least in the morning

Our shortcut to Covent Garden crossing Great Queen Street

Today, Friday, April 22, was probably the quietest day that Allie and LT experienced while traversing the streets of London. Hardly anyone was around when the two walked to Leicester Square, and although they initially reasoned that this was due to the fact that it was early morning, as the day progressed, Allie and LT continued to notice that number of people on the streets continued to remain small. Was it a bank holiday? An infectious disease? Who knows, but it certainly made the day feel a little bit like an episode of The Twilight Zone!

In a way, the empty streets were very special, and it was almost like being in their own private dream of London, as the two explorers left their hotel on High Holborn, walked two short blocks down Kingsway, then turned right on Great Queen Street and could--if it weren't for the tall Georgian brick buildings and the slight curve in the road-- almost see Leicester Square lurking half a mile away.  Queen Street turned into Long Acre and took them past Covent Garden.  Staying on Long Acre they indeed finally reached Leicester Square and St. Martin's Lane, where they veered off and did some window shopping on lower Charing Cross Road.  LT saw first editions of "To Kill a Mockingbird," "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and a few other choice titles.

Piccadilly Circus

Since the morning was so fine and there was plenty of cool shade on one side of the street, they hit Cambridge Circus--where LT pointed out the "Marquis of Granby Pub [title taken from Dicken's "Pickwick Papers"] where he used to eat lunch in the days before he discovered Italo's Trattoria San Francesco.  Still staying on the shady side of the road, they then took Shaftsbury Avenue until it reached Picadilly Circus, which is being extensively cleaned up for the 2012 Olympics.   They noted all the theatres, most of which were performing musicals and were therefore not very appealing to LT's classical taste.  From Piccadilly Circus, they sauntered down Regent Street, then cut over to  Haymarket and took a couple small streets until they re-arrived at the back of the National Gallery.

At 10:15AM when they entered the National Gallery, they realized that they reason the streets had seemed so empty was that everyone must have been in a long queue waiting to enter the picture galleries.  Every gallery was packed just fifteen minutes after opening time.  It's as if every student group in London had decided to visit the National Gallery and unfortunately, based on their behavior, many of these students will not turn out to be art majors.   LT quickmarched Allie through his favorite galleries, Titian's "Bacchus and Ariadne,"Tintoretto's "The Origin of the Milky Way," Botticelli's "Venus and Mars," Piero Della Francesca's "Nativity" and "Baptism" as well as the rooms full of Manets, Monets, Renoirs, Degas, Cezanne, and Van Gogh.

Allie and LT lunch at Italo's Trattoria San Francesco

At 11:30AM, we left the National Gallery and walked east past Covent Garden and reached Catherine Street, where Allie and LT turned right and peaked into # 19.  Italo was not there yet, but Silvano his assistant recognized LT, and told them he'd reserve they a table outside in the shade, right across the street for the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.  At 12:00 Noon they returned, and sat outside.  Allie had a Caprese Salad with mozzarella and tomatoes, while LT indulged in Spaghetti Alla Carbonara--which when it arrived seemed exactly the same and exactly as wonderful as it has been for the 34 years LT has been eating at the San Francesco.  Even though Silvano wisely suggested that LT have a smaller portion, the plate that arrived was quite filling.  For main courses, Allie had  rigatoni and LT had trout with small prawns, onion, peppers, accompanied with English potatoes and really fresh, crisp green beans--which were lovingly ladled onto his plate by Silvano.  The only 1/2 bottle of white on the menu was a Soave Classico, so LT washed down his food with the hay-colored white wine.  It was a bright sunny day, and as they sat enjoying their food, LT thought how wonderful it was to sit there with Allie and realize that LT had first discovered and become an obsessive fan of the Trattoria San Francesco in 1977 (returning almost every day he was in London each summer he visited England), and six years before he'd marry Eli and they would have their wedding dinner there.

Italo arrived just as they were finishing,  and, after embracing both LT and Allie, he ducked back into the restaurant and returned holding up a picture he still keeps on the wall of the restaurant showing both Italo and LT in their younger days.  LT joked to Silvano that Italo keeps the picture not just because he is fond of "Mister Thomas," but because he, Italo, is so thin and dark-haired in the photo.  Italo now looks like a successful restaurant owner who could be cast as an extra in the next re-make of the Godfather, and, after all, Italo is from Sicily.  LT promised to return for lunch Saturday, so that Italo could treat him to a special "digestivo" after the meal.

With full bellies and happy thoughts, Allie and LT took every short cut they knew back to High Holborn, stopping only to purchase extra paper towels and some fruit salad at Sainsbury's and also getting some Hall's cough drops, for the theatre and Hamlet tomorrow evening at the National Theatre's Lyttelton stage.

Back in London

Our room  for a London week in Citadenes

Greetings from London! Allie and LT returned to London yesterday afternoon, following another great breakfast at 139 B&B. The train ride (they caught the 10:13AM) from the Bath Spa station to Paddington went quickly, but it was insanely crowded! For a while, Allie and LT were sitting in different areas of the carriage. Despite the slightly overcrowded train ride into the city, they made it to London without any problems. Once at Paddington, father and daughter demonstrated mastery of the automated ticket machines and got tickets for the Underground, and they took the Circle line to Notting Hill. At Notting Hill, they switched to the Central line, and stayed on there until the train reached High Holborn. Although this sounds like a pretty easy trip, it wasn't, mostly because yesterday was probably the warmest it's been this month, and being in the stuffy Underground stations/trains only made it worse. The Central line train was definitely one of the hottest ever.  Luckily, no one passed out, and the father-daughter duo made it to Citadines and checked in.

LT in front of Laundavista

Just across the street and one block down from the Holborn Tube station, the hotel room is very nice and modern-looking, and, seeing as the subtitle for Citadines is "Apart'Hotel," there's a little kitchenette where you can make small meals and tea. Once Allie and Dad put their stuff down, they decided to do laundry. Originally, the plan was to use the laundry service that Citadines offers, but they quickly discovered that the washing machines were out of service, and that they would have to go outside of the hotel to get their laundry done. Dad found a self-service laundromat not too far away from the hotel, however, so it wasn't that much of a problem.  [The presence of a "Laundavista" on Boswell street, explains why LT looks so dapper in the picture on the right.]  Lunch/Dinner were bought at a Saintsbury's down the street, and Allie and LT snacked on some of the See's candy that Eli packed in Dad's suitcase (Thanks, Mom! Oh, and three guesses as to who's been writing this entry so far.)

Indeed, the "Laundavista" experience deserves an entire paragraph by itself.  After carefully portioning out his clothes so they would last just until the pair reached Citadines, LT was looking forward to popping his and his daughter's clothes into a convenient washing machine in the building and taking it easy for the rest of the day.  In fact one of the over-riding reasons for choosing the Citadenes was the availability of an in-house washing machine.  But when LT opened the door to the laundry room, he was greeted by two machines which had signs on them "..... sorry for the inconvenience, etc."  So he was flummoxed.  After a couple inquiries at the front desk, LT got directions to a place on Boswell street, only three blocks away.  Stuffing all the pair's dirty clothes into Allie's trendy pale blue duffel bag, he trekked down the streets, found the place in a small, quiet, neighborhood, and was overjoyed to see most of the machines empty and ready for use.  It costs 4 pounds each to use two washing machines, which LT quckly started running.  Sitting down on a bench in front of the dryers, he struck up a conversation with an American woman, who, it turns out, was also a refugee from the Citadines, and they passed a good 10 minutes in railing against the hotel that couldn't keep its own washing machines in order.  The Laundavista was calm, cool, and quiet, and the woman who ran it, Angela, was very helpfull.  After the 20 minute wash cycle, LT had to pump in 4 pounds (for one hour) to get all their clothes fully dried.  During that time, he strolled out onto the quiet, narrow street, observed pedestrians passing by as well as the patrons sitting at "La Porchetta" a small Italian restaurant across the street.  LT dearly wished he could forget about the laundry and gulp down a glass or two of chilled Pinot Grigio, but he had to remain sober and vigilant on account of the clothes in the dryer.  When the clothes were finally done, at about 3:00PM, LT reverently laid them in Allie's duffel bag and traipsed back the three quick blocks to Citadines.

LT and Allie had a fine time ransacking Sainsbury's for their favorite treats.  Allie is partial to smoothies, vegetarian salads and soups, fruit salads, bottled water and all things healthy.  LT succumbed to a 5 pound bottle of Saintsbury's choice Beaujolais--light and fruity for the hot English weather--a whole roasted chicken for 6 pounds, a bag of lettuce, some French dressing, a bag of Clementine oranges, and 300 grams of smoked salmon from a verified Scottish "loch."  With this abundance of food, Allie and LT walked the half block back to their place, settled in, and began eating.   They shared all this food, except for the wine, of course, most of which is still in the bottle in which it arrived. 

As luck would have it, the NPR internet site was running a special on British-American Marian McPartland, who has had a "Piano Jazz" show running for 30 years.  Elvis Costello was interviewing her and playing featured moments from the history of her show--her improvised duets with Bill Evans, Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Charles.  On her shows, the guest just begins playing and Marian McPartland waits for a few bars and then joins them.  Ray Charles, who, of course, always does his own piano playing, let her accompany him in "Am I Blue," and it was a revelation how easily she followed his soulful variations.  He began singing, and McPartland said, "That's the key you want?" and they were off and running together.  Ray Charles has a wildly eccentric and distinctive style with unexpected pauses and unique phrasing, so it was amazing to listen to McPartland play just the chords Ray Charles needed to make the song come alive.  So Allie and LT listened to the piano jazz, ate their food, have thanks for their safe arrival in a cozy London pad and prepared for the week's adventures which would begin on Thursday with a trip to the Olivier stage at the National Theatre across the Thames to see Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" at the 2:00PM matinee on Thursday.

British Museum

Thursday morning, the breakfasted in room #418  on hot tea, smoked salmon, and fruit salads that Allie had selected at Sainsbury the day before.  At 10AM they left and headed for the British Museum, heading north towards Boswell street, so LT could show Allie the scene of his laundry triumph.  The cut across Cosmo Place, drifted down Southampton to Great Russel and followed it until they reached the entrance.  Even at that early hour, it was quite crowded, but LT vigorously threaded through the crowds and led Allie into the Duveen Galleries which house the Elgin marble statues rescued from Greek civil wars in the early 19th  century.  LT though it would be good for Allie to get a glimpse of the friezes before the visit Athens at the end of May.  The room was wonderfully light and so big that it couldn't help but disperse the crowd.  They walked around the room following the procession as it wound around the wall.  After leaving the Elgin marbles, they wanted to see the Babylonian guards done in bright turquoise ceramics where Eli and Lloyd had their picture taken right after their marriage, but, in the crowds, they couldn't find the right room.

Allie goes for strawberries in Covent Garden

Leaving the British Museum, they headed for Covent Garden, and got a shaded table at Le Pain Quotidien, where Allie had quiche lorraine and LT had roasted vegetables, peppers, and chevre on thin toast and rocket (arugula) salad.  They also indulged in a rhubarb tarte--Allie's first, which she pronounced very fine.  Then they headed over the Waterloo Bridge to the National Theatre.  A major embarrassment occured here, because LT had ordered tickets for the May 21, not the April 21 matinee performance.  So, the tickets were no good since he'd be back in LA on May 21.  So, the courteous desk attendant exchanged the future tickets for the best on hand--an evening performance of Hamlet on Saturday at 7:00PM.  That means Allie and LT will see Hamlet Saturday--at the National Theatre-- evening and Tuesday evening--at the Globe.   When Allie didn't appear too eager for this double indulgence, LT explained that if both performances were good, they would be way ahead of the game, and if one were not good, they could tell the difference by comparing it with the other.  So it was a "win-win" situation.

They raced back across the Waterloo Bridge, to Leicester Square, hoping to snag some 1/2 price tickets to a matinee, but there was nothing they really wanted to see.  So they continued going west until they reached the National Portrait Gallery, where they toured the Tudor galleries--getting their fill of Richard III, Henry VIII, and several of his unfortunate wives.  They finally wound their way into the Romantic galleries where they saw the famous portraits of Byron, Shelley, Mary Shelley, and William Blake.  In the 20th century galleries they saw portraits of James Joyce and a drawing of T. S. Eliot.

On their way back from the National Portrait Gallery, in Trafalgar Square, they more or less retraced their steps from the morning, and when they arrived at the corner High Holborn and Kingsway, they detoured into Sainsbury to pick up some food--more smoked salmon, another roasted chicken, soups, tangines, more fruit salad for breakfast.

Then they walked back to their 4th floor room at Citadenes and while Allie worked on her various internet projects, LT took his traditional late afternoon "siesta."  Tomorrow's plans include a tentative trip to the Victoria and Albert Museum.