Carnival ride

Taken in London.

February 26, 2012.

Taken right after I saw Eddie Izzard running barefoot on a dirty London sidewalk.

Which still confuses me, to be honest.

London, a street view

Monochrome London, Part II

 

Well we are back in Málaga, and it has been an eventful week folks! We got completely buried in snow in Amman and had a few really warm sunny days in London, so go figure. 

It's late and I'm still tired from our long travel day yesterday so I'll just post a few black and whites from London:

Visit:

Monochrome London, Part I

Monochrome London

I've got a few more London photos to share.  This first one is a quirk about London that I love - since they drive on the opposite (i.e. left) side of the road there, visitors to the city are in almost constant danger of getting flattened by a double-decker bus while trying to cross the street.  So the ever-polite British have painted little cues on the street to advise confused pedestrians where to look.  

It's actually quite brilliant, and probably saved my life about three times.

The next couple are taken just across the street from Buckingham Palace. We had off-and-on rainy weather the whole time we were there, but on this afternoon the skies opened up and it absolutely poured.  

The good news is that being out in the chilly wet weather got us all in the mood for some good soup...enter pho.  Have you ever had Vietnamese food? I hadn't, and wow, I was missing out.  My friend Kristin found us this great little Vietnamese place that put its heart and soul into making the best steamy bowls of beef pho (Vietnamese for "soup") in London, or close enough anyway.  See the smile on her face? I bet pho put it there.

Londontown

Attention all UK residents: if there is a fish and chips shortage, it is because The Mister and I ate up the whole national supply. Over and out.

We had a great time in London this past weekend visiting my friend Kristin.

Do you like how I have about fifteen pictures of Big Ben in there? I realized it after I already put the pictures in the post, and now I'm too lazy to remove them.  So we're not really going with the "less is more" concept today here on Love & Paella.

Speaking of "more is more", let's talk about Chipotle.  Because there was a Chipotle in London. And we ate there. And then we passed out from bliss. Can you see how the Chipotle is making me look deranged in that picture? I was really overexcited.

We went biking all around Hyde Park. We went to Shakespeare's Globe theater/theatre (pick your spelling depending upon your nationality, please). Went to Buckingham palace and said cheerio to the Queen. And then we ate more fish and chips.

To London we go

Today we are off to London for the weekend, to visit my friend Kristin, who I met at college orientation in the summer of '03.  I just had my first taste of fish and chips a few weeks ago while I was in Nottingham, and I. Want. More.

Also, I am hoping to catch a glimpse of a Buckingham palace guard or two. Because no European adventure is complete without a few snapshots of cranky-looking men in fur top hats.

I'll be back with pictures and stories on Tuesday!

Vegetarians please look away

Remember what I said about Europeans liking the whole animal?

Anybody care for rabbit stew?

Because you can get a whole rabbit in Nottingham for five bucks.  Pre-chilled.

Food of the British Isles

We had - *gasp* - really tasty food in the UK.  Pick yourself up off your chair.  I know they don't exactly have a reputation for being culinary geniuses (understatement), and they aren't going to surpass France or Italy anytime soon, but the Brits can pull off some good belly-filling grub.

Let's start with breakfast, shall we? The Mister really went for  it here with THE BIGGEST BREAKFAST, listed below.  Pretty much all of it was good except the haggis, which is a traditional Scottish sausage-ish mystery meat made of all the unsavory parts of your favorite barnyard animals.

If you are eating in the UK, I recommend that you follow that up with a nice lunch of a cheese and pickle sandwich, which to my shock and amusement had little to do with cheese and nothing to do with pickles.  I kind of thought that it would be like slices of cheddar or something with dill pickle slices.  When I mentioned this to a British woman who was sitting near me, she snickered and said, "Pickles? Like gherkins? Interesting. That wouldn't have occurred to me."  Then I asked her what exactly "pickle" is in the British sense, since it looked, as you will see below, like a trail mix held together with some kind of salty brown sauce.  "Well," she said uncertainly, "it's just pickle."  

"Yes," I said, "I have been educated now, no more of that silly gherkin nonsense.  But do share with an underbred New Worlder: what exactly is pickle?"  

She floundered helplessly, "Well, you see, it's pickle."

It was most enlightening.

For dinner, wrap it up with a classic fish and chips.  I don't even like fish too much and this was transcendent.  Crunchy, smooth, greasy.  Perfect. 

Oops, focus was off. I must have been overexcited at the prospect of actually eating this baby.

For an authentic touch, soak the fries/chips in vinegar before eating...and eat them with a fork, please.

Wash the whole thing down with a Scottish soda, Irn-Bru (pronounced iron brew , no word yet on why the Scots decided to ignore basic principles of English spelling while naming their favorite drink).  To really get the feel for this thing, imagine bubble gum, Smarties candies, Red Bull, and plain sugar mixing in a toxic brew.  Add some carbonation and artificial neon orange coloring, and you'll have the general idea.  But don't listen to a malcontent like me, listen to the residents of Scotland who have made it their best-selling national soda - beating Pepsi, Coke and all the other behemoths.

For dessert, chase the whole thing with an Edinburgh tradition, a deep fried Mars bar.  If you think this would only fly in the American South, think again.  Scots aren't afraid of anything: not men in skirts, not the English and certainly not a little wussy thing like cholesterol.

Delicious foods not pictured included bangers and mash (twice!), sticky toffee pudding, treacle tart (Harry Potter's favorite dessert), sausage rolls and plenty of meat pies.

Oh, and for the truly curious among you, here is what pickle really is.

Either way, the sandwich was tasty.

  

Nottingham and Sherwood Forest

   

After our time in Edinburgh, we headed into England and down to Nottingham to visit with our friends Christy and Duncan.  We had an awesome time catching up with them and getting an insider's view on  everyday England.  On our way to Nottingham we had a few hours on the streets of London, where we managed to sneak in a lunch (of mouth-wateringly delicious South African spicy roasted chicken) with Kristin, a friend from college.  We hadn't seen each other in a few years, and she's living in London now, so it was so fun and trippy to be hanging out together in London, of all places.

Anyway, I digress - back to Nottingham.  I will now answer the burning question on everyone's mind: YES, Sherwood Forest is real, and YES, I visited, and NO, I did not meet the Sheriff of Nottingham.  

Come visit Sherwood Forest with me:

And some general pictures from around Nottingham: