Rita and I didn’t plan this trip at Thanksgiving very far in advance but far enough to get seven-day advance tickets on the Eurostar high-speed train to London. Gretchen was instrumental in getting us a discounted room at a Marriott-owned hotel in the heart of London near the West End theatres. So on Thursday morning, November 22 (Thanksgiving Day), we walked to the central train station near our house pulling our two carry-on sized suitcases behind us. We made a short connection to Gare Midi, which is the south train station and the one where the high-speed trains leave, both Eurostar to London and Thalys to Amsterdam and Paris. Our train to London left at 9:00 am and went under the Channel Tunnel, better known as the Chunnel. As soon as the train gets to the England side of the tunnel it slows down considerably.
We arrived at Waterloo train station in London, which also has a stop for the London subway system known as the Underground. We took the subway, or tube as they call it, to the Holborn station using the Northern and Piccadilly lines. Our hotel, the Renaissance Chancery Court, was just around the corner from the Holborn station. The hotel was great, having recently opened in a renovated building built in the late 1800s and formerly the offices of the Pearl Insurance Company. Our room was on the top floor and was modern and spacious with a king size bed.
After checking in we walked the short distance to Covent Gardens and looked up a restaurant we used to go to with the girls on visits to London when we lived in Saudi Arabia. It is called Porters and bills itself as serving ‘British’ food. As with many things, it wasn’t as good as we remembered and seemed smaller, too. But we did have a decent beer with our lunch. I had steak and mushroom pie, which was good, and came with a large helping of chips (French fries to Americans).
Then we did a lot of walking. We walked to Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus to Trafalgar Square. Then along the Strand, Charing Cross Road, through Chinatown to Berwick Street Market where Rita looked at fabric shops. Then up to Oxford Street where we walked through the John Lewis department store already packed with Christmas shoppers. We walked back along Oxford Street to our hotel where we had a short rest before changing into better clothes before going to our play.
Since we had a large, late lunch and our play started at 7:30 pm, we didn’t feel like eating a big meal and yet knew we would be hungry if we waited until after the play to eat. So we stopped at one of the chain sandwich shops called Prêt a Mange, which translated from French means “ready to eat”. We had very nice sandwiches, which are freshly made daily. It was just enough to satisfy us for the evening.
We went to the Theatre Royal Haymarket to see “The Royal Family,” a play written and set in the 1920s. It was written by George Kaufman and Edna Ferber and is a three-act comedy about a famous acting dynasty called the Cavendish family. The Cavendish family in reality was the Barrymores. I believe the Barrymore family was not pleased with the play when it came out as it made fun of the entire family. The stars were Judi Dench who plays Fanny Cavendish, who was really Ethel Barrymore, and Peter Bowles, who plays her brother-in-law. The set was great and we enjoyed the play. We walked back to our hotel and discovered that we had walked eleven miles for the day according to Rita’s pedometer. We fell asleep exhausted.
Friday morning was cold and crisp but dry. We walked to Haymarket Street and had a substantial breakfast at restaurant Flo, which is associated with the restaurant in Paris with the same name. Then we walked and took a few photographs. We walked to Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross Pier on the Thames, along the Victoria Embankment to Westminster Bridge where we saw Big Ben, Parliament House and the spires of Westminster Abbey (we didn’t go in). Then back up Whitehall Street to Leicester Square where we bought tickets at a half price shop for tonight’s play. We had previously bought tickets for the movie, Harry Potter, and so we attended our 1:00 pm viewing of the movie, which we enjoyed a lot. There were several older couples like Rita and me at the movie without kids. We had popcorn and Cokes for our lunch.
After the movie we walked back to the hotel and changed clothes again. We had an early dinner at a restaurant we had eyed earlier, called Le Deuxieme, which turned out great. Rita had a nice starter called tomato tartar, which was a nicely presented dish of chopped, herbed tomatoes on Julianne asparagus. I started out with shrimp tempura with a spicy Thai sauce. For main courses Rita had a delicious vegetable risotto and I had veal with roasted peppers on potatoes rosti. For dessert Rita had lemon tart and I had a dish of banana cream surrounding rich chocolate ice cream. The meal was delicious. The service was great and they understood that we had early theatre tickets so they got us out on time.
Tonight’s play was “The Graduate” with Linda Gray, of “Dallas” fame, playing Mrs. Robinson. Our seats were not as good as the other play but they were last-minute half-price tickets, so what can you expect. I guess the highlight of the play is when Mrs. Robinson appears naked on stage trying to seduce young Benjamin. As I complained earlier, our seats weren’t all that good. The play was identical to the movie except for the ending. I thought it was okay but not great. The actors did not seem to click and the dialogue seemed to have big pauses, appearing that the actors forgot their lines. But it was entertaining. We walked back to the hotel to discover we had walked over eight miles for the day.
Saturday morning we slept in a little and then walked to a nearby Starbucks for coffee and muffins. I should mention here that in walking around the center of London we must have come across 20 or more Starbucks. We don’t have them in Brussels yet so it was a surprise to us. Also, when we lived in England in 1976-77, the British still drank mostly tea and there were no McDonalds in country. Today there are numerous McDonalds and Burger Kings all across England and, apparently, many Starbucks too. The English have gone mad on coffee. Not only are there Starbucks but scores of other, local coffee houses that are identical to Starbucks. I never saw so many coffee bars and wonder how they can all stay in business. We also saw a few Tex-Mex restaurants, which was unheard of in 1977. We saw one called the Texas Embassy but we didn’t try it out. Also, when we lived in England we could only get corned beef or bagels at the Widow Applebaum’s. The Widow Applebaum’s is still in business but now there are scores of delis and shops selling not only bagels but doughnuts, too. Unheard of! London looks like New York City.
After breakfast we took the underground to Knightsbridge and visited the famous Harrods Department store. Harrods is always fun to visit, especially the food courts. But it was so crowded that we didn’t really feel like shopping. We would walk along one floor at a time, go up an escalator and then walk back the opposite direction on the next floor. Lucky for me we happened to walk through the lingerie department just as they had beautiful models in scanty outfits in the aisles. Rita enjoyed the kitchen shop but it was just too crowded and we left without purchasing anything.
We took the underground to Green Park station and walked down Jermyn Street, an exclusive shopping area with lots of men’s clothes shops. We walked through Fortum and Mason, a posh food store that was, again, so crowded we didn’t feel like really shopping. Not that we needed to. We stopped at Biagio Italian restaurant next door and had a nice lunch. Rita had a salad while I had a small pizza. From here we walked down Saville Row, another street known for its men’s tailors. We walked to Grosvenor Square where the US Embassy is located and down Brook Street, where we walked through the lovely lobby of the famous Claridge Hotel. We walked to Oxford Street again and into the Selfridges department store this time, crowded with Christmas shoppers. From here we caught the underground back to our hotel and took a short nap.
In the evening we walked to Great Queen Street and had a nice Indian meal at the Bhatti restaurant. I had a mixed sampler meal that included tandoori, naan, rice, vegetables, chicken and lamb in various regional dishes. Rita had a shrimp curry dish with vegetables over rice. We liked the meal – London probably has some of the best Indian restaurants outside of India.
After the big feast we had to walk some more so we strolled down to sample the nightlife around Covent Gardens, New Row, Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus. Despite what we’ve heard about tourism being off in England, there were crowds of people every night in London and we heard many American voices. If this were down, we wouldn’t want to visit when it is really crowded. We walked back to the hotel again and calculated that we had walked another eight plus miles. In three days we had walked over 27 miles! No wonder our feet hurt.
Sunday morning we rested and read the Sunday Times of London in bed. We leisurely cleaned up and dressed before going downstairs for the hotel’s big breakfast brunch. It was nice and bountiful but not worth the high price in our opinion. We checked out of the hotel a little past noon and made our way back to Waterloo train station using the underground. Our train left London late and we arrived back in Brussels, in heavy rain, about 6:45 pm, about 45 minutes late. After the short walk to our apartment we unpacked, ate a little dinner and rubbed our sore, aching feet.
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