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Europe 2019

September - October 2019
Ian and Danielle are heading off for 6 glorious weeks - leaving Angus in charge (questionable) of Coco, the house and himself! Read more
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  • TravelerEurope 2019
    Day 6

    Lunching at Ottolenghi's

    September 9, 2019 in England ⋅ 🌧 13 °C

    We made our way to Spittlefields to have lunch at one of the many Ottolenghi restaurants in London, and were not disappointed. We started with a selection of breads with olive oil - delicious.

    Ian chose the lamb dish with the basmati rice, wild rice, fennel, pickled apricot and crispy shallots, and the green beans, grilled courgette, cherry tomatoes and basil dressing salad. I chose the sweet potato, roasted shallots and goats cheese tart, which I combined with two salads - aubergine, tahini, spicy chickpeas, pomegranate molasses and mint, and the other char-grilled broccoli, chilli and garlic. We were very full at the conclusion of the meal, so couldn’t squeeze in desert. Luckily, we were able to arrange to take away some cakes from the deli to have for afternoon tea later in the day.Read more

  • TravelerEurope 2019
    Day 6

    Wandering around Spitalfields

    September 9, 2019 in England ⋅ 🌧 14 °C

    After lunch, we decided to wander around Spitalfields, which is a lovely part of London. We walked through the art market and the old market - lots of lovely stores and wonderful buildings. A very different area to Camden Town - restrained and refined, as opposed to crowded, grungy and noisey.Read more

  • TravelerEurope 2019
    Day 6

    Hamilton

    September 9, 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    Saw the West End production of the American musical Hamilton tonight, and we were not disappointed - the show was as good, if not better, than the first time we saw it New York. We had fabulous seats in the stalls - seven rows from the front, and centre stage. Jamael Westman was wonderful as Alexander Hamilton. I also loved Jason Pennycooke, who played Lafayette and Jefferson, and Jon Robyn as King George was fantastic - his comedic timing was spot on.Read more

  • TravelerEurope 2019
    Day 7

    Harry Potter Studio Tour

    September 10, 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    We are off to the HP studios today, as we had booked bus tickets to get to the Warner Bros Studio in Leavesden, about an hours drive from central London. This is the studio where all the Harry Potter films were made over a 10-year period, and which still contains many of the sets, props and costumes. We were on a self-guided tour around the studio, which was great, because you get to move through the two studios at your own pace. My favourite displays were Gringotts, the Great Hall and Diagon Alley. Seeing how they turned Robbie Coltrane into the giant Hagrid was also interesting.

    I also enjoyed learning about the behind the scenes work that went in to each movie - the talented artists and craftsmen that built all the sets, costumes, props and accessories, and who created the special effects, did a phenomenal job. The work that went into building the sets, the engineering and mechatronics used to build the beasts, and the work that went into creating the goblin masks was amazing.

    They built a model of 1/25 scale model of Hogwarts that is huge - it took about 7 months for the model to be built. This was used in a lot of the external shots in the movies.

    On the way back to London we passed by the Abbey Road Music Studio and the pedestrian crossing made famous by the lads. There were so many tourists there trying to get “that shot” risking life and limb which must annoy the drivers (like our bus driver) using the road to get somewhere.    Read more

  • TravelerEurope 2019
    Day 8

    Covent Gardens - the place to be

    September 11, 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    We have loved having our base here in Covent Gardens. I am sure there are lots of other wonderful areas of London to stay in but we have thoroughly enjoyed our week here. There is so much to see and do and we have barely scratched the surface. It is lively but not too touristy and I love walking past all the theatres and checking out what is playing. We also have the Covent Garden Markets and the options for eating and drinking is huge and diverse.Read more

  • TravelerEurope 2019
    Day 8

    Breakfast at Cafe Balthazar

    September 11, 2019 in England ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    This morning as we had run out of breakfast supplies we had breakfast at this iconic restaurant. They have a sister restaurant in NYC that we have been to. When you walk in you are taken to a bistro in Paris. The food is great and the service top notch. Ian had quinoa bowl with spinach, avocado, crispy bacon, tomato and a poached egg. I decided on a basket of bread and pastries which was lovely but I couldn’t get through it all as it was very generous. Following breakfast we headed off for Paddington Station where we were meeting our guide Fabian for the Hidden London tour. We have become very adept at navigating the Underground this week.Read more

  • TravelerEurope 2019
    Day 8

    Hidden London Tour with Fabian

    September 11, 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    We met the tour group, eight of us in total, at Paddington Station in front of the statue of Brunel, the engineer who built Paddington Station, and also constructed the first tunnel under the Thames. We are an interesting group, but get along well. There are Jean and Edward, who are American but live in Brazil - they are missionaries, then Scarlett and Carmen, who are work friends from Seattle, Jonathan from Austin Texas, Mikhal from Israel, and Ian and I. Fabian, our guide, is originally from Berlin but has lived in London for 8 years. He came to do a one year course in urban planning, and hasn’t left, because he fell in love with the city - in his view, the greatest city on the planet.

    We headed out of Paddington Station, and walked a couple of blocks to a beautiful row of town houses in downtown Paddington. But, more interestingly, he then took us to the rear of the town houses to the “mews”, to show us some wonderful housing which used to be where the horses and carriages were kept. These have now been turned into fashionable and very expensive dwellings with great character and street appeal. Also, this mews has the only fully working stables! People hire horses and go riding in Hyde Park, which is just round the corner.    Read more

  • TravelerEurope 2019
    Day 8

    Brompton Cemetery

    September 11, 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Fabian did not take us to Hyde Park, his reasoning being that most Londoner’s don’t use the space, as it is crowded predominantly with tourists. So instead, we had a short tube ride to East Brompton, where Fabian took us to the Brompton Cemetery, one of the so-called “magnificent seven” that ring central London.

    Fabian said that there are seven privately owned cemetery’s around London, six of which are utilised by Londoners as public parks (you have to pay to go into Highgate) - people are encouraged to use the space, and we saw office workers going for a run, people sitting on benches reading, and others (like us) wandering around taking photos. There is even a cafe. It is a working cemetery, and we actually saw people arrive for a burial, although there isn’t much space left. Many of the plots and tombstones are in disrepair, and away from the main paths they are letting nature take over. That is due to families not being around anymore, or not knowing they have relatives buried there.

    There is also crypt on site, that has coffins all stacked up on top of each other - again many are crumbling and deteriorating but no one seems to mind. There is also a chapel that is operational. The layout of the buildings was based St Pauls Cathedral in Rome, a cunning marketing plan in its day. The land is kept up by the Parks department, but they really just cut the grass and dismantle crumbling headstones so they don’t fall on anyone (they just leave the stonework on the plot).

    While we were wandering around we saw a chap being detained by some coppers - one guy on the ground handcuffed being stood over by four cops - not sure what was going on, but the coppers yelled at one of our group who was trying to get a better look with her binoculars - she thinks they thought she was filming them! I actually took a photo unnoticed.

    As we left the cemetery we headed into Chelsea, a very posh neighbourhood. We next caught the bus to Waterloo station to go and look at some graffiti.    Read more

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