Arrival of Llew in London, Bus Ride to See the Sights, Walk in Chelsea and Fulham, Restful Afternoon and Evening with Sports and Music on the Telly
London
Saturday, May 14, 2022
Ah! The day finally dawned when I would see Llew again after five and a half months!! It was also the day I would be checking out of this hotel, the Premier Inn, where I was incredibly comfortable, and moving on to Paddington to the home of our friend Bande. I awoke at 5.00 am and spent a while blogging before I decided to get going. I had a shower, packed up most of my belongings and went down to breakfast for my last humongous buffet feast. From now on, it will be muesli with yogurt and decaff coffee--the kind of breakfast I eat at home daily. I made the most of my large offerings and started with a croissant with butter and orange marmalade, then moved on to my last full English breakfast and ended with fruit and yogurt--all washed down with a decaff coffee. Indeed, I had eaten well and have probably piled on the pounds. But with all the miles of walking I have done all day, I have no regrets.
Back in my room, I threw in the last bits of my belongings into my case, asked for a hotel receipt and went down to the lobby. There I called for an Uber to get me to Paddington where Llew, who had texted me upon landing, let me know that he was on the Heathrow Express headed for Paddington. My Uber driver arrived just 8 minutes later and I was off and away in no time.
Much against my expectations, Llew arrived at our friend's flat in Paddington about ten minutes before I did. It was a lovely reunion with him in the company of our friend Bande and some of his friends who happened to be at his flat too. All of them would be leaving and going out very shortly and we would be left to our own devices. He showed us how the house keys worked, gave us a quick look around the kitchen so that we could help ourselves to anything we needed, we had another little tour of his flat and he was off. Llew assured me that he was neither sleepy nor tired and that we should, in fact, get out immediately and enjoy the beautiful day. In fact, it was such a glorious day that I could not help thinking how lucky Llew was.
Getting Oyster Cards Topped Up:
With no real plans on our agenda today (I had wanted to give Llew a chance to ease into his new time zone in London and get over jetlag with a good long rest), we simply decided to walk down to Paddington Station and top up our Oyster cards. My unlimited week-long Travelcard had expired and Llew had no money on his card. We did a top up and discovered, to our horror, that the day pass cost 14.50 pounds! My Word! I remembered a time when I had paid 3.50 for it! But, of course, that was donkey's years ago...
We took the Bakerloo Line and got off at Charing Cross. From there, we took Bus 11 to do the See London route just so that Llew could orient himself to London and we could gradually get into our London time together. All went well until we arrived towards the middle of the King's Road at Chelsea where we were so badly affected by roadworks and did not move even a few meters in half an hour. Frustrated, we hopped off near The Blue Bird and crossed to get over toward Fulham. Once there, because it was such a great day, we simply walked along the Fulham Road all the way to Bibendum at the Michelin Headquarters. I love that building with its lavish ceramic decor in the Art Deco style. Its lovely pastel green is also a treat for the eye. Just a few feet ahead of us, we began walking along Brompton Road. I expected to pass the main gate to Brompton Cemetery but instead, just ahead of us was Brompton Oratory and I knew at once that we were next door to the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Lunch at the V&A:
Llew had started to feel peckish by this time and I suggested we get to our favorite set of cafes in the V&A Museum--the Poynter, Gamble and Morris Rooms. Llew thought it was a great idea and, in a few minutes, we were at the counter. We chose a Middle Eastern Mezze wrap which was served with two salads--a Cucumber and Tomato Salad and a wonderful coleslaw. This was more than enough for the two of us and we enjoyed it thoroughly as it was just delicious.
Looking at a Few More Highlights at the V&A:
As I did not have the time to show Amy a few of my highlights, the other day, I told Llew that I really did want to go and see some of my favorite items. And so, we did actually find The Age of Innocence by Alfred Drury which is a depiction of his friend's daughter, Gracie Doncaster. I also took him to the South Asian section to look at the finger ring and the wine cup in carved jade that belonged to Moghul Emperor Shah Jehan and the most famous item in the entire museum, Tipu's Tiger. This item which is almost a life-size replica of a tiger mauling a British soldier is actually a music box. When wound up, the tiger roars and the soldier screams in agony. This drama was said to be of great amusement to Tipu Sultan who had ordered the item to be especially made for him. Because he was also known as the Tiger of Mysore, this item was doubly significant to him. How it came into the possession of the V&A is probably a result of his defeat at the Battle of Seringapatnam. Stripped of his stature and his belongings, he probably did not even know his Tiger had reached British shores.
Next, Llew and I went in search of the incredible Ceramic Staircase that never fails to take my breath away as I am a huge fan of Ceramics. When we did find it, just behind the Buddhist Sculpture section, I simply could not stop taking pictures. Every bit of this staircase that winds to the top floor is made of ceramics. The project also includes a memorial to Henry Cole, the first Director of the Museum, who died in 1882. He had hoped to see such lavish decoration all over the museum--but, sadly, financial support ran out and this masterpiece is restricted to just one section of the museum. The entire project was executed by the Minton Pottery Company in Stoke-on-Trent. The vignettes represent Science, the Arts and a number of other disciplines. It is certainly, to my mind, a part of the museum that no one should miss and I was sorry we did not cover it when Amy took my highlights' tour.
As we walked back, we stopped at the Cast Court to examine Michelangelo's and Donatello's Davids at closer quarters. Of course, Llew recognized the genius of Dale Chihuly immediately in the central chandelier in the lobby as we are both fans of Chihuly (as is Chriselle).
Getting Back Home for a Rest:
It was a sheer coincidence that Llew arrived in London on the day of the FA Finals when Chelsea Football Club (his team) were playing against Liverpool at Wembley at 4.45 pm. He had already warmed me that he hoped to get a nap before the match began because he just did not want to miss it.
So we walked back to Gloucester Road Tube station, past the Museum of Natural History and the number of people thronging the streets and took the Circle Line back to Paddington. Back at our friends' place, we got our stuff organized in his spare room and as Llew went off for a nap, I communicated with a few friends and blogged. Both Llew and I took naps and felt deeply refreshed.
Watching the FA Cup Finals and Eurovision:
Of course, at 4.45 pm on schedule, we sat down to watch the FA Cup Finals. I made us a cup of ginger and honey tea each which we ate with chocolate eclairs from Marks and their lovely Belgian Chocolate and Hazelnut Cookies and it felt great to finally have tea-time again! Somewhat disappointingly, the match went into the Penalty shoot out and with a huge number of very tense moments, Liverpool won! Poor Llew! Not too long after, I switched to the Eurovision contest that was being televised from Turin in Italy. I was excited that after having heard about it for decades, this was the first time ever that I would actually be in England and could catch it as the rest of the country did. Sam Rider, Britain;s contestant, did well for a long time when it came to the scoring; but, as my friend Barbara rightly predicted, Ukraine did win it--in a massive show of public support.
Dinner In Paddington:
Llew's lack of sleep on the red eye flight meant that he spent a good part of the afternoon catching up on some shut-eye. I was delighted to find Gavin and Stacey, one of my favorite British sitcoms on the Gold Channel--and I did dip into it quite excitedly! But by 8.45 pm, I woke Llew up so that we could both go out and get a bite to eat.
Fountains Abbey Pub was just a block from our building and I looked forward to a Guinness and he a glass of Cab! But it was not to be as we discovered, to our disappointment, that they pub has not begun serving food yet. There went the thoughts of our pub grub!
Not daunted, we walked a few meters ahead and found a very modest, very nondescript eatery called La Tazza Restaurant. A brief glance at the menu outside told us we'd find something sustaining inside. Llew found his glass of Cab, but since the stout was not on tap, I preferred to avoid a canned drink. We ended up eating a Big Greek Salad (a la Elaine in Seinfeld) with mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and olives and a really marvelously creamy and super scrumps Penne a la Pesto with gigantic mushrooms. Best of all was the long, non-stop chatter between us as we had so much to say to each other, so much news to convey, so many plans to make for the future. It is simply marvelous how good it is to be together again after almost 6 months.
And then, well sated with a superb meal, we walked the block back to our building. Our friend Bande had returned home and we spent some time gabbing with him as we enjoyed a bowl of vanilla ice-cream together. And then it was time to say Good night. We are looking forward to the days ahead of us as we have plans to spend a day at Crystal Palace Park with friends, take a sailboat to the Isle of Wight for lunch with a new friend, spend two days exploring Liverpool and then returning to move on to Oxford and the Cotswolds. What a great time we expect!
Until tomorrow, Cheerio!
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