Gunternation

I don’t understand the seemingly common practice of pouring hot water over a tea bag, waiting until the water turns brown, then dumping the tea bag. The water turns brown in about five seconds. The end result is a cup of brown water, not a proper cuppa. Similar to my use of chili powder, my brewing time is 36 times that of the typical brewing time in my office.

We’ve been looking forward to this all week: a day rambling in and around St. Stephen’s Green. After a lazy rashers-and-eggs morning we set out around one. We decided to be fully European and not drive to our usual parking lot by the DART station but walk instead. We walked the path from Pearse station that Sharon normally takes to work and stopped at her regular Spar for Cornettos. We’d never had one before and they are very moreish. We decided, sadly, that they are even better than a Drumstick. Really, you have to try one.

We walked through the Green on our way to the next destination, Camden Street. Sharon wanted to explore this street and its shops and restaurants more closely (it’s near her office). We shopped in a cool international market and stopped for bread and hummus in a Persian restaurant. We then wandered down to a couple Indian markets Sharon frequents and also explored a neat paper shop.

In need of a rest and pastoral environs we walked back to the Green, found a sunny spot and lay in the grass. This is what every good Dubliner does on sunny days. We also munched on some cheese, crackers and strawberries we had picked up on Camden St. We spent about an hour there and left only because we wanted to get to Avoca before the closed to buy some scones. Honestly, we didn’t want to leave it was so relaxing. We were glad we did, though, because the scones from Avoca are our favorite and the ones we bought are particularly good. We split one on the way to a bookstore on Dawson St. Sharon wanted to introduce me to. Unfortunately it closes earlier on Saturdays and we didn’t make it in time. We did explore another bookstore a bit and looked at the tequila selection in the Celtic Whiskey Shop.

For dinner we went to Wagamama for very tasty gyoza, edamame and noodles. On our way back to Pearse station we stopped again at the Cornetto shop (Spar). Yes, it was a two Cornetto day, and a two Cornetto day is a really, really good day.

As we were flying to London last weekend I said we should consider our trip a scouting mission for the additional trips to London we will take in the future. We had made no specific plans, just figured we’d figure out what to do once we got there, which in a city like London turned out to be a bit daunting. And although London is full of famous locations, there was no one place that quintessentially represented the city for me. I was interested in it all, and had only 36 hours in which to see it.

We arrived at our hotel around 2:30, after an hour flight to Stansted, a 45-minute train ride into Liverpool Street station, and a hop in the Circle Line to Victoria station. Our hotel was near Buckingham Palace. After our third sandwich of the day–we split one for elevensies, split another at Liverpool station, and thrice so dined when the place where we stopped for waffles was out of omelettes–we decided to stroll through Henry VIII’s hunting ground, Hyde Park. For those keeping records, a stroll through Hyde Park, with time allowed for lake gazing and squirrel whispering, takes three hours. We exited the park at the corner in Kensington. While exploring the area, we were gleefully surprised to stumble across a Whole Foods! While I may prefer Central Market a teeny bit to Whole Foods when given a choice, Whole Foods is a terrific store. The London store opened last summer, and I think Whole Foods successfully maintained its personality while taking on some European ways. The bread was stacked in uncomfortably exposed piles, as we see in Dublin, and the unrefrigerated egg section offered a mix-and-match option (quail and duck eggs available). We noticed some Whole Foods brands of euro-snacks, such as flapjacks. We were hoping the store might have a Texas section to celebrate its roots, but alas, no. It may have had more tortilla chips than average. I did buy some FAGE yogurt with honey and some oatmeal cookies from the bakery. We ate the yogurt on the sidewalk as soon as we stepped outside. It was dinnertime, so we looked for a place to eat. We were in a predominately retail area, but I spied an awning down a side street. We had a lovely, leisurely dinner at Med Kitchen (a local chain actually) of calamari/chicken with couscous and harissa/pear and goat cheese salad/lamb burger with apricot tabbouleh and cumin yogurt. A short underground trip back to our hotel, and thus ended day one.

On Saturday we headed out around 11:00 and bought tickets for the bus tour. It was almost time for the Changing of the Guard, so we moseyed to the Palace to meet up with several thousand people who had also heard about this royal ritual. After bumping around in the crowd for a while, we spotted a fuzzy hat or two, and a horse. We felt that was enough. The guards were changed in our hearts, and we proceeded to the first stop on the bus tour. Saturday was a rather drizzly day, so our inaugural parade through these famous streets was spent ignobly enrobed in plastic ponchos. Oh my, we saw many famous buildings! After about 90 minutes we hopped off at the Tower Bridge and walked back toward London Bridge along the Thames. (Yes, a previous London Bridge really is in Arizona.) We were looking for the one place we definitely wanted to visit in London–a food market where we hoped to find some Mexican chilies and masa. The Borough Market was bustling and indeed we did find our ingredients. We also ate lunch. I had very nice fish and chips while Bill had a lamb burger, followed after a respectable time period with a chorizo and piquillo pepper sandwich. Around 4:30 we got back on the bus and came around to the last stop on Buckingham Palace Road.

Friday night we had noticed our hotel was close to the theatre for Wicked, so we decided to book tickets online for Saturday night. We loved it. It’s funny and clever and the two leads were great. I have to confess that I had actual goosebumps during the mid-point climax, and fought back tears at the finale. We ate ice cream during intermission. And the Apollo Victoria is a beautiful theatre. So, a great night.

Sunday we again set out around 11:00, checking out and storing our bags at the hotel, and took off toward the Imperial War Museum. By 3:00 we had seen only a portion of the museum, including a special exhibit about Ian Fleming and James Bond. The sections on life during the Blitz were particularly interesting. We wanted to go back to Whole Foods, but on our way there we realized we were out of time, so we picked up our bags at the hotel and started our journey back home.

We’ve decided to plan some return trips to London that are unified with a theme, say, Shakespeare, Sherlock Homes, Royal History, or Rock-n-Roll. We’ll definitely be back.

The squirrels in Hyde Park are ridiculously tame. We called several and they would come jump on the fence. We felt like Lords of the Squirrels.

Is that a cozy reading alcove in our hotel room? Oh, no. It’s just the disabled-access shower.

NYT article about looking for the real Ireland.

We made it to London yesterday, and here’s the proof.