PDA

View Full Version : GD & CP's UK adventure


Ghoulish Delight
10-01-2008, 03:00 PM
Alright, this may be a new record. Photos have been whittled down from over 100 to about 300. Uploaded and captioned (hey CP, I finished captioning).

2 1/2 Days in London (http://flickr.com/photos/66141390@N00/sets/72157607523661226/)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3181/2890648537_4d8d664687.jpg

A week in Scotland (http://flickr.com/photos/66141390@N00/sets/72157607545446341/)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3221/2893136695_8552c8784d_m.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3133/2893981516_b934cb088b_m.jpg


And here's my end-of-trip brain dump, crossposted from LJ:

In London I was surprised to discover just how poor my memory of my visit 12 years ago is. I have far clearer memories of Paris, part of the same trip. For whatever reason the week in London left less of an impression. Which was kind of nice, feeling more like discovering a new city rather than revisiting.

While London surely deserves more than 2 1/2 days to truly enjoy, our main goal was Edinburgh so the time in London was pure bonus. And we surely made the most of it. Not ones to let a little thing like jet lag or a 10 hour flight in a seat that failed to recline slow us down, we landed at 9AM local time and hit the ground running. Or at least strolling. For the whole afternoon we criss crossed Hyde Park. It's not hard to see where Central Park drew its inspiration. I know the chances are slim but I hold out hope that the Great Park in Irvine captures some fraction of the magic that those two great civic parks have. Foolish, I know.

That wore us out good, and killed enough time that the hotel, just up the street from the park, finally had our room made up. A short rest and off to find dinner. Vowing to not fall into our usual pattern travel pattern of failed food plans we selected a recommendation from Lonely Planet. We got a bit turned around looking for it, which afforded us an opportunity to explore Leicester Square and the surrounding area on a Saturday night. Lively as you'd expect. Another travel faux pas we avoided this time, we seem to always be on the move on weekends instead of witnessing the action. We finally got ourselves on the right track...only to discover that the restaurant we'd chosen is closed for refurb! Figures. But no bother, plenty of other options around and we had a nice Italian dinner. Then slept. Well.

Anyway, not going to continue a blow-by-blow of the rest. But we did our share. The V&A, the British Museum, the Tate Modern, the Tower of London, a walk down the Thames, a pass by Parliament, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey, and a futile attempt to mount a Trafalgar Square lion.

Big highlight was high tea (well, afternoon tea at high tea time) in the St. James tea room of Fortnum & Mason. Absolutely wonderful of course, particularly the premium teas. Goodness is that good tea, and of course I had to by a small bit to bring home. Oh yes, and I got to see the staff rolling their eyes and mocking the boorish woman who popped out of the lift, chewing gum, and marching up to a group of friends already seated. They stopped short of just booting her, but it definitely offended their standards.

So. Scotland. Where to even start. Our friends Josh and Jackie have an adorable flat right off the Royal Mile and make fabulous hosts. We arrived on Tuesday afternoon to gloom and drizzle, or as they call it in Edinburgh, "sunny weather." But that was the last bit of rain we felt. It rained late evening and overnight the next day, but that was it. Lots of threatening, but it never happened, and we even saw a fair share of ACTUAL sunshine. Our travel weather luck continues to be good.

So, the quick hit list of our adventures in Edinburgh: The Scottish Museum, Edinburgh Castle, pubs, walking around old town, Indian food, Garyfryar's cemetery, the public library, napping at the flat, Princes street, international food street fair, Dean modern art gallery, Leith waterway walk, pubs, the royal yacht Britania, attempted to golf (more on that later), pubs, a hike to gorgeous Arthur's Seat, cheese, haggis.

We also took a day trip out to Glasgow. That turned into a fantastic day. We started with a tour of the Glasgow School of Art and their main building, designed by Charles Rennie Makintosh. It's a gorgeous facility, an amazing example of art nouveau, and we were taken on the tour by a very knowledgeable and enthusiastic student from the school. Frank Lloyd Wright never actually met Makintosh, and supposedly his style developed independently, simply with similar influences of practicality, nature, and eastern design. But they are SO similar that I can't possibly believe that Wright was never exposed to Makintosh's work, or at the very least the larger movements in art nouveau that were informed by Makintosh.

From there we headed to the Kelvingrove Museum, a combined art and natural history museum. It's very informal, free, and somewhat aimed at children. But it was really quite enjoyable, probably the most enjoyable museum experience we had on the trip. They even had a respectable impressionists collection, though it was rather decimated while were there as several of the best pieces are on loan to a museum here in Edinburgh for an impressionists exhibit that we ran out of time to see ourselves.

And then we hit the Glasgow pubs. A couple nifty places with good atmosphere and good beer. Had a chat with a very friendly Glaswegian (yes, Glaswegian) bartender who proudly was able to name more Californian cities than we were able to name Scottish cities. Dinner consisted of a couple of orders of chips (fries) as we headed for a cheerful pub-fueled train ride back. Good fun.

Ugh. That's just the short version. Hah! One final note - museum cafes! We had invariably marvelous food at museum cafes. That is all.

Ghoulish Delight
10-01-2008, 03:00 PM
One of the big treats of our trip was our visit to the Scotch Malt Whiskey Society. We have Disneyland annual passes, our friends in Edinburgh have a membership here. A club of whiskey fans that buys casks directly from distilleries for tasting and selling. There is almost nowhere else in the world to enjoy these whiskeys in this way. Commercial whiskey, which has to be bottled for consistency, is almost universally a blend of whiskeys from different casks, with water added. What you get at the whiskey society is straight from the cask, full strength (generally over 100 proof), and unmixed. Served with a pitcher of water if you prefer it a little more watered down, often recommended just to see how the flavor can change drastically with even a small amount of water.

We went on "Red Ribbon Tuesday" where drams of the best whiskeys, indicated by gold ribbons on the bottles, are sold at the lower red-ribbon price. Part of the charm is the detailed and imaginative descriptions of the various samplings they provide. For example, the first one I tried was labeled "Complex and Delightful" with the following description:

A rare chance to sample the malt from this Inverness
distillery built in 1846 and demolished in 1986. The nose begins with furniture polish and ‘magic balloons’ turning to toffee and scorched wood. There is also something fresh and elusive – peeled cucumber or boiled pasta, perhaps? The unreduced palate is scrumptious, with toffee, vanilla pod, fig and cinnamon, and some dry woodiness. The reduced
nose is complex and delightful, displaying melon and kiwi, chocolate, leather and Danish pastries. The flavour is now wonderfully sweet (puff candy, cinnamon whirls) but with nice woody notes (‘chewing sappy sticks’). Rather special.

But for me, the real standout among the 7 or 8 we all shared was my second dram, "Pastrami on Rye":

Leaving Kirkwall on the road to South Ronaldsay, you pass a temple of drams with twin pagodas. This sample is very like a sandwich – it smells of smoked ham or pastrami on rye with mustard and gherkin, all wrapped in waxed paper – but where did the Golden syrup come from? It is undoubtedly complex; with water the waxed paper turns to oilskins and wellies in the sun, then later it softens down to egg custard. Various flavour elements combine nicely together – sweet toffee notes, drying smoke and honey mustard. Best enjoyed as a sipping whisky at natural strength.

And I swear to you, that is a dead on accurate description. I mean this in nothing but a good sense, after every sip it felt like I had just finished a bite of a perfect New York pastrami sandwich. That satisfying oily, rich flavor lingered. AND it can get me drunk? I can think of no more awesome thing in this world that can be served in a glass.

At £69 for a bottle (~$140) I just couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger. But oh I was close. I'm still sitting here wondering what at home I could Ebay for $140 to justify having my friend courier a bottle over when he travels this way in October. It was a remarkable drinking experience and well worth that expense.

Ghoulish Delight
10-01-2008, 03:00 PM
And as one final footnote, I posted this today:

Arriving back from the UK, I've had no problem driving on the right side of the road. I didn't drive at all while there and was only a passenger in street transport all of 4 times, relying almost entirely on the Underground, walking, and various other trains. So I never had to retrain that part of my brain.

Yesterday I got some work done on my car at lunch. So I dropped it off and walked to grab something to eat while I waited.

I don't walk much here. I walked a LOT in the UK. This was the first time I'd walked across a street since getting back, and holy crap I confused myself!

Interestingly, making things more difficult was the fact that I never really got completely used to the whole "traffic coming from the wrong direction" thing. Even by the end of the trip I had to consciously take a moment before stepping off a curb to be sure I'd looked in all the right ways. What I found when I stepped off the curb yesterday was that as far as my brain was concerned, that rule was still in effect. So I started looking one way. Then my brain said, "No, wait, are you sure that's the right way? Because you're back here now, and maybe your instinct is to look the wrong way first! Wait, no, my instinct is still right, I should look this way...wait, should I? If I look was looking right there when I'd look left here, and I look left here when I'd look right there, and I felt like right now I should look left, then I should look right...right? Aaaargh!!"

Bizarre to encounter that a full week after returning.


And a final P.S. I bought the whiskey and will be receiving it in a couple weeks when our host comes stateside for a conference/job interviews.

Kevy Baby
10-01-2008, 03:12 PM
Alright, this may be a new record. Photos have been whittled down from over 100 to about 300.That is an impressive feat: going DOWN from 100 TO 300.

Ghoulish Delight
10-01-2008, 03:13 PM
0

Kevy Baby
10-01-2008, 03:18 PM
0THAT'S were the missing zero went.

BDBopper
10-01-2008, 03:26 PM
Wow. thanks for sharing! I am glad you two had a fantastic time! :)

Tenigma
10-01-2008, 03:36 PM
Wow, that picture of you with the pint? Classic pron star shot! OK beer ad shot. It's got to be the mustache. lol

Gemini Cricket
10-01-2008, 03:37 PM
Love the pictures! I so want to go back to London. My favorite city ever.
:)

I like this picture:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3221/2893136695_8552c8784d_m.jpg

"Hello, friends. My namez Grog. I mean (hic) Greg. I likes the beer."

Stan4dSteph
10-01-2008, 03:46 PM
Fortnum and Mason is the best. Glad you got to have tea there.

Ghoulish Delight
10-01-2008, 03:55 PM
Fortnum and Mason is the best. Glad you got to have tea there.
I was raised on F&M tea, so it was a no brainer. I had one of their premium teas (Yunan Golden Needles). Fantastic, had to take some of it home.

Gemini Cricket
10-01-2008, 03:57 PM
Glenfidditch!
Good man!
My favorite.
:)

Oban is also good.

Did you get the silver label Glenfidditch? I couldn't quite tell.

Ghoulish Delight
10-01-2008, 04:00 PM
It's a 12 year reserve, I believe silver label but I don't recall for sure. I was a bit disappointed to see it on shelves here at home. My decision was based entirely on the description on the bottle.

I'm sure it will be good, but oooooh the Pastrami on Rye. That is just transcendent.

Gemini Cricket
10-01-2008, 04:02 PM
It's a 12 year reserve, I believe silver label but I don't recall for sure. I was a bit disappointed to see it on shelves here at home.
Silver Label here? Awesome. If you spot it again, let me know.
:)

Ghoulish Delight
10-01-2008, 04:05 PM
No, it probably wasn't silver label here.

Gemini Cricket
10-01-2008, 04:12 PM
No, it probably wasn't silver label here.
Sad cheese.

I loved looking at all y'alls pictures. It made me miss Edinburgh and London immensely. Such good memories from my last trip there. Yay.
There are some really great shots in there. I'm glad you guys had a blast.

The next time I go, I want to explore the Highlands, see Balmoral, go to Loch Ness (you know for the hell of it), Stonehenge and definitely go to the V&A Museum (we were museum-ed out and skipped that one).
:)

Ghoulish Delight
10-01-2008, 04:18 PM
The V&A was a blast. By the way, everyone should start writing in about the Cold War Design exhibit. I wrote and they said that currently there are only plans to tour Europe with it but they are always looking at options for coming to the states. We need to let them know that they'd sell tickets if they do!

BDBopper
10-01-2008, 05:02 PM
If I ever get the chance I do want to tour Europe. I want to experience high tea and want to also go to an authentic pub while a football (what we call Soccer) match is playing. I am sure that is jolly good fun! I also want to see and tour a real castle.

Stan4dSteph
10-01-2008, 07:14 PM
I was raised on F&M tea, so it was a no brainer. I had one of their premium teas (Yunan Golden Needles). Fantastic, had to take some of it home.Next time do the high tea. Their rarebit is great.

JWBear
10-01-2008, 09:45 PM
Great pictures! Thanks!

€uroMeinke
10-01-2008, 09:56 PM
The V&A was a blast. By the way, everyone should start writing in about the Cold War Design exhibit. I wrote and they said that currently there are only plans to tour Europe with it but they are always looking at options for coming to the states. We need to let them know that they'd sell tickets if they do!

The Real Tuesday Weld/Clerkenwell Kid (http://theclerkenwellkid.blogspot.com/2008/09/us-and-them.html) - is going to be putting together some radio shows in support of this exhibit, can't wait till they air

innerSpaceman
10-01-2008, 10:14 PM
That was fab!


Lawn Swans! Does Lisa know about this???



Love the swank from, what I presume is, the Cold War Modern exhibit.






ok, that was just London ... now, on to Scotland!

Ghoulish Delight
10-01-2008, 10:18 PM
Next time do the high tea. Their rarebit is great.
We did afternoon tea. Due to timing, high tea would have been too heavy a meal, as delicious as it sounded.

RStar
10-01-2008, 11:04 PM
How cool! Loved the pictures! :snap:

Now I need to get mine uploaded. :rolleyes:

We only missed bumping into each other by 5 days. That would have been too weird! :eek:

I had the high tea at Harrods, the tea was fantasic! I had no idea tea could be that good! I should have tried to get some to bring home. Can we get good tea here in the states, or does all the good stuff go to Europe first and we get the sloppy seconds?

Oh, and the clotted cream! Sounds like an infected sore, but tastes devine!

cirquelover
10-02-2008, 09:25 AM
I'm jealous but thrilled that you two had such a great time! I haven't made it through all the pics but thanks for posting them.

Bornieo: Fully Loaded
10-02-2008, 09:56 AM
wow - travel awesomeness. :snap:

dlrp_bopazot
10-04-2008, 12:31 AM
wow thanks for sharing your thoughs about London .

i love London . I wish i were able to hop on the Eurostar and have a lunch and tea time in london before to head back to Paris with you .

i have my best friend now in london so i might go to visit him soon .

lashbear
10-04-2008, 01:00 AM
Loved it all !!

...But where's the picture of the Queen ?

innerSpaceman
10-04-2008, 07:59 AM
Pfft, where's the pictures of Greg in a kilt??? :evil:

RStar
10-04-2008, 10:13 AM
Pfft, where's the pictures of Greg in a kilt??? :evil:

Yeah!?

I mean I've seen Jen in the shower, why not Greag in a kilt? :D