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.