London Adventures, Part 3

I'm almost caught up on sleep and back into my normal routine...I'll definitely be hitting the gym come Monday - maybe I ate a little too well on this vacation... ;-) Here are the last remaining pictures from my trip (great shots of London by day, and by night):

Lunch with the Simons at Polpo 

Me and Duff

Om nom nom - another tapas style meal where we got to share 8 or 9 amazing dishes (plus dessert!)

Sooooooooooo.....gooooooooooood....

Me in a Simon Sandwich

Next stop - drinks at Bar Americain

Art Deco

A "classic American bar" (as the website says)

Cocktail time :) 

Boys and their tech toys....

Next up - a quick stroll through Chinatown before....

....heading into Empire Cinemas to watch....

...my first ever 3D film (!) which was...

G.I. Joe! Can't say much for the movie, but it had some great action sequences and it was awesome seeing it in 3D...a very relaxing way to spend a Friday night :)

Next morning - trying my hand at Simon's infamous breakfast. First step, gather ingredients

Next step - boil eggs. THIS STEP IS CRUCIAL. Must use the tip of a knife to *carefully* poke a tiny hole in the fat end of the egg (to allow air to escape and not let the shell crack) and then place the eggs in already boiling water for 6 minutes and 36 seconds (precisely!)

Next up, get some good, chewy, seedy bread and toast it...

...add butter (always add butter)...

...add Marmite (I'm obsessed, so I put on a lot - this is not for the faint of heart...you may need to tone it down a bit)

Next up - add peeled soft-boiled eggs and shop up on the bread 

NOMS - a great start to any day!

I <3 Marmite

Like I said....slightly obsessed (crisps, crackers, cashews - all flavored with yeasty goodness!)

Saturday was the Grand National, so for fun we went to Paddy Power to place some friendly wagers

Took a couple tries, but finally figured out how to fill out the thingy

10 pounds on Imperial Commander, 10 pounds on Cappa Bleu

Then on to Coat and Badge for a nice pint (and to watch the race, of course) 

Pretty pub

Haha....they call them 'loos'

Bunch of chaps watching intently

Checking our odds

Oh my gosh - Emily won something!  

Cappa Bleu came in 2nd! Strangely enough, a horse with 66-1 odds, Aurora's Encore, won the whole thing (if I had bet 10 pounds on her, I could have had close to 700 pounds on my hands....alas, it wasn't meant to be). I didn't win anything major, but I did get my money back ;-)  

That night - dinner at Mark and Becky's. Becky made an *amazing* salmon tartare with quail egg as an appetizer

So pretty! (and delicious)

Time to make sushi...

...if we can pry the guys away from their technology...again...

Ready!

:)

We may have gone just a teensy bit overboard...but it was SO GOOD

Uh-oh...something's not quite right...

hot...HOT!

It's a dreaded *wasabi bomb* (don't worry, they recovered with extremely clear sinuses)

What's going on here? 

Simon why are you holding things to the light?

....oh....that's why...

Multi-tasking Becky

Rockband time! (I was on vocals)

A lovely dessert wine (highly recommend it)

Simon as Dr. Manhattan....I really need to see the rest of Watchmen

Sunday morning - last full day in London. Gotta start it off with a full English breakfast (made by Simon)

We actually fit a lot into our last day of site-seeing, including a stop at Waterloo station (this is where a scene from Bourne Ultimatum was filmed - watch the clip by clicking on this link) 

Another shot from the movie

Next up....a surprise (what could it be??)

An 'insider's spot' in London! This is the view from Paramount (the bar/viewing floor of Centre Point)

You can see the London Eye in the distance

Parliament 

Emily was here 

See the greenish building with the dome in the middle? That's the British Museum! 

Remember in Part 1 where I had the pictures of the glass panes on the inside? This is what it looks like from the outside :) 

The Simon Stance

The actual bar

Very pretty :)

Next stop - Neal's Yard

Unfortunately the cheese shop was closed, but we still got to walk around and see the pretty courtyard

Then another surprise...

....The Delaunay!

...for...

Afternoon Tea!

Petit fours

Finger sandwiches

Scones (mmmmmm) 

Accoutrements

I *finally* got to try clotted cream! This was the perfect combination of warm scones, cold clotted cream, and fresh strawberry jam

Interior

Twas quite lovely :)

Now a walk onto Trafalgar Square 

See Big Ben in the background?

I'm at the very center of London - this is a statue of King Charles I

I....can't remember what this was. It was bound to happen eventually... 

Being a tourist (just for a minute!)

I spy the London Eye

And Parliament

This is actually called the Elizabeth Tower (Big Ben is just the clock in the tower) 

Progression of nightfall...

I am SO EXCITED that I got to see London by night - it's something I've always wanted to do!

Inside the 'pod'

Great interactive video that showed what you were looking at as you went around

Next up - a series of photos as we went around the eye (took about 30 minutes to make the full rotation)

 

A pod and Parliament 

This is a shot Simon took earlier in the evening 

And to end the night (and the trip) - our last cocktails

At Skylon

Japanese Sour for Simon, Zeal Raspberries for me (great cocktail menu)

And finally...our last shot together. This really was the perfect way to spend the last day of my trip - I can't believe we were able to do as much as we did in just one afternoon! 

I really can't believe just how fitting this vacation was - it was just the right combination of relaxation, good food, seeing sites, and being with amazing people. I think the pictures do a good job of illustrating all that I got to see and do, but they're not able to fully capture all the experiences I had. London became one of my absolute favorite places in the world - I can't wait to go back!