Foggy london town? Nope.
Hot, crowded, expensive, and lots of fun.
August. Not my favorite month. Crowds, heat, and administrative tasks marked the beginning of the month for us. I had lots of tasks, mostly un-fun ones, to accomplish: starting the renewal of our residence permits (and making more than my share of mistakes!), trying (so far unsuccessfully) to get someone to repair/replace our almost-new wine fridge, trying (again, so far unsuccessfully) to get the recall issue on our car fixed, getting an injection and physical therapy for my knee, etc. See? Our life in France is wonderful, but it’s still real life.
An unrelated photo of flowers in the Cotswolds
By the first weekend of August, I was ready for some fun, so I handed Phil a tourist map and asked him to choose a day trip. It was too late for his first choice (a cave with prehistoric paintings), so off we went to Agde, a lovely little town about an hour away. After a stroll and a quick sandwich near the train station, we headed to our destination, the Chateau Laurens. Built as a party palace rather than a home, and now owned by the city, this chateau is an amazing example of Belle Epoch architecture, reflecting the idiosyncrasies of Emmanuel Laurens, a world traveler who used his massive inheritance to create this strange and beautiful mansion.
Just one of the Chateau Laurens rooms; check the link for much better photos!
But August’s main event was our week-long trip to London. We had a British Airways credit from a cancelled trip, which was fortunate, since London is the most expensive city we’ve visited! I had splurged (or at least it seemed like a splurge) on a room at the Royal Horseguards Hotel in Westminster, a wonderful location for a lovely old hotel with lots of art. Our room was nice–until, several days into our stay, sewage backed up into the bathtub. We were moved to another room with a view of the Thames but a leaky shower. That was quickly repaired, but the problems caused our hotel stay to seem not quite so special.
Afternoon tea at our hotel upon arrival
We arrived in London, checked into the hotel, and proceeded to: enjoy afternoon tea with a glass of Champagne; visit the National Gallery; walk to the Savoy Hotel for cocktails; and enjoy (well, Phil enjoyed his; me not so much) our first pub meal.
Klimt portrait at the National Gallery
By the way, one of our favorite things to do in large cities is have a cocktail at places we could never afford to stay or shop at. On this trip we lifted a glass at the Savoy, Raffles at the OWO, the Baccarat Bar at Harrod’s, and the Ritz. Try it!
Near our hotel
The next morning after coffee, we boarded a double decker hop-on-hop-off tour bus. The recorded patter was silly, but we got a good overview of the city, which we hadn’t really visited in over 20 years. We hopped off near the Tower of London to board a boat for a cruise back up the Thames. Soon I heard a familiar refrain from Phil: “Let’s go have a cocktail!” We headed to Raffles at the OWO, just across from our hotel, where we enjoyed a cocktail, great atmosphere, and delightful conversation with our server.
Inspiring resale shop spied on one of our many walks
Then it was time for dinner. We couldn’t visit London without having Indian food, so I searched online and found Maharaja of India, a lovely but hot and crowded restaurant where we enjoyed our first Indian restaurant meal since moving to France.
I marveled at the beautiful napkin rings at the restaurant.
We were excited about the next day, when at our daughter Amelia’s recommendation we had booked a walking gourmet tour of the Camden Town markets.
Pick up your order here! Camden Market
Our guide, Tom King, was fun and knowledgeable, and the other guests were good company. We sampled birria tacos, Yorkshire burritos, an apple crumble to die for, and artisinal gin, among other things. The tour was excellent, highly recommended!
Happy food tour guests
Camden Town owners paint their row houses in pastels; apparently it increases their value!
Camden Town has a well-earned reputation for its music scene, and we were shown many venues where now-world-famous performers got their start. Chief among them was Amy Winehouse. There is a lot of street art dedicated to her, and while tagging is also common, Tom told us the local rule: “You don’t tag Amy!!!”
My favorite Amy Winehouse street art
We walked off our feast, visiting the Victoria and Albert Museum, which has among its many wonders an astonishing, huge ceramics collection. Then we strolled down the street to Harrod’s, where we fought the crowds to buy a few food gifts. Exhausted, hot, tired, and sick of crowds, we stumbled upon the Baccarat Bar, in Harrods’ basement. A quiet, soothing oasis, this bar serves each beverage in a stunning Baccarat crystal glass. We toasted our success in finding a wonderful bar while judging the two couples at the next table, where one woman was bragging about “only paying 4500 pounds for TWO purses and a pair of shoes!”
A gorgeous Cassigneul painting at the Stern Pissaro Gallery in St. James’s
After our cocktail, en route to the Tube, we stumbled upon a lovely Italian restaurant where we dined alfresco. Our two entrees and four glasses of wine set us back almost $200, although Giovanni’s is billed as modestly priced.
Big breakfasts are not really a thing in France, so we had to make sure we enjoyed them in London. We had a delicious breakfast at The Breakfast Club, where I indulged in the chicken & waffles–with bacon!!! Later in the week, Phil had a traditional full English breakfast, complete with beans.
Phil’s full English
We were super hot and tired, so we had a bit of a rest in the hotel before heading to the theatre to see “Kathy & Stella Solve a Murder,” the most riotous, happy, moving, delightful musical I’ve ever seen. Here’s a link to the trailer. Seriously, if you ever get a chance to see it, don’t miss it!
It’s a small theatre, so there’s not a bad seat in the house–but our seats were great!
After laughing ourselves silly (and shedding a tiny tear), we headed out to the Ritz for a cocktail. The doorman told Phil he might not be admitted wearing trainers, but we were lucky and scored seats at the bar, where we could watch the amazing bartenders create cocktails that were works of art (They even brand their giant ice cubes with the logo!). At our bartender’s recommendation, we then enjoyed a fabulous tasting menu dinner (with wine pairings, of course) at the Sexy Fish, a beautiful restaurant where even the staff uniforms are gorgeous.
We averaged 15-20,000 steps each day of our London trip, so the next morning we were eager to have a break: a driving tour to Oxford and the Cotswolds. This full-day tour for 16 guests (in an air-conditioned mini-bus!) involved a lot of driving, with lovely scenery. We visited two Cotswold villages, both quaint and beautiful, but also hot and full of tourists.
Beautiful Cotswolds village home
Our tour guide told us that residents had complained about non-English speaking tourists who would walk into their homes and sit down, thinking they were in a restaurant, not someone’s private home!
Then we headed back toward Oxford, also crowded and hot, but fascinating. We shared a burger at Turf Tavern, which dates from 1381 and was a favorite of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, among many other stars.
Radcliffe Square in Oxford
We wandered the streets, marveling at the architecture and thinking about our three favorite British detective series, “Inspector Morse,” “Lewis,” and “Endeavor.” We didn’t witness any murders but were not disappointed by Oxford. When we returned to Victoria Station, we wandered through Belgravia before ducking into Ganymede, a pretty little restaurant serving Sunday roast, which is a must-do in London. We both opted for the rolled & stuffed pork belly, which seemed like a good idea at the time but was really, really rich.
The next day, our last full day in London, we had tickets to tour Westminster Abbey. I deliberately chose a date and time with lots of availability, thinking it wouldn’t be as crowded as the day we tried unsuccessfully to buy tickets at the gate. I was wrong. The crowds were horrible–and it was still super hot! I got my toe stepped on, my glasses bumped by an elbow, and my head tapped by someone’s phone. We made our way quickly through and hope to return sometime–off-season!
I couldn’t even get a photo of Chaucher’s tomb without some random guy’s hand photobombing it!
After cooling off back in the room, we showered and got ready for the big event: Cabaret! I had splurged on a table in the second row, with a “gourmet” dinner and a bottle of Champagne included. Standing in line to enter the Kit Kat Club (which was just around the corner from our hotel), we heard someone call out to us. It was Tom, our Camden tour guide! I guess it’s a small world, even in London.
The Emcee
The immersive experience was astonishing (although, again, super crowded). Our table had a phone on it, just like we see in old movies, Imagine our surprise when it rang! One of the dancers called us to chat before the show began. And the show was wonderful (although the gourmet dinner turned out to be a bento box). The whole experience was poignant, memorable, and very entertaining.
The next day, after checking out of the hotel, we headed to the Parlour, at the Great Scotland Yard Hotel just around the corner from our hotel. I’d been curious about their afternoon tea, and it turned out to be a highlight of the trip. We opted for the unlimited Champage tea, and because it was so hot, we asked for our tea to be served iced. It was wonderful! Three courses, all delicious, and bottomless Veuve Cliquot, our favorite Champagne.
As we left The Parlour, we spotted this rhinoceros chair, so I made Phil pose in it.
And then we headed to the Courtyard at Gatwick for a quick sleep before our 7am flight home. It was a wonderful trip that we won’t forget. The only down side, other than heat and crowds, was that we didn’t get to see our friends Jane and Bernie in Chichester because they both got Covid. They’re fine now, back home in the U.S.
We are so fortunate to be able to travel, and while this trip was a budget buster, it was worth it! Well, maybe not the hotel/bathtub sewage. Now we’re wrapping up August, back in our French lessons, and looking forward to our road trip to Switzerland next month. Stay tuned!
One last painting, a Renoir at the National Gallery