Today, Maxine and I decided that we'd each do different versions of sightseeing. Here's how I spent the day:
Had a "full English breakfast". First off, I'm not a breakfast eater, so actually committing to have breakfast is a touristic event for me. A full English breakfast is 2 eggs sunny side up, a side of baked beans, sausage, 3 strips of ham, mushrooms, 4 slices of toast and butter, and roasted tomatoes. I don't know who originally came up with this set of items as the official English breakfast, but it almost seems like a joke. What were they thinking when they added the baked beans? Sausage AND ham? OK, well it tasted good. And filling -- I skipped lunch.
Took the bus over to Fortnum and Mason for food sight seeing. It's a food store. Seems to largely cater to tourists. Prices were high. But, they had a lot of things in tins with the Queen's image on them. Does she (or any of the royal family) get a royalty when their image is used?
Walked a block down to Jermyn Street. High end clothing, mostly men's. The fabrics looked very good. Custom shoes, suits, ties, shirts, boots, hats (all sorts), cuff links, and other things that were not obvious to me. I went in 2 stores, just out of curiosity, and was treated well. So, a good experience, even if I can't conceive of ever buying a suit there...
Wandered the neighborhood. Walked down Pall Mall (thought it was a cigarette, not a road). Sat for a while in St. James' Park and read a magazine. As an aside, most of the parks (not by landmass because Hyde Park is so big) are private with locked gates. As opposed to Paris, where I don't recall ever seeing a private park...
Along the way, a guy in a suit stopped me and said, "Your lace is undone Sir". There's a politeness to the streets of London that is refreshing.
But, you hear so many different languages. It would be easy, if I were from London, to lapse into the stereotypes of Germans, Italians, etc. Minimally I think I'd get frustrated that all the tourists cluster and make it difficult for me to get by them.
Took a train to Gabriel's Wharf which is a smaller craft market. From there a bus to the Tower Bridge. As I was getting off the bus (I'd gone just to get pictures of it and the nearby Tower of London), I noticed that the bus stop was adjacent to another pub that had been on my 'list', The Draft House. Went inside (3pm...) and got into a conversation with the bartender. He kept pouring me samples (6?) because I was asking questions about their beers. Ended up trying Estaminet (Pilsner) and Palm (Pale Ale) both from Brouwerij Palm, a Belgian company. And Sambrook Brewing's Wandle Ale which was a pretty flavorful session ale. (Sambrook is located in London on the Thames River -- I'd been asking about local beers).
Had 1/2 pints of (remember, beers here are LOW alcohol) Black Isle (Scottish) Porter -- the bartender said people have been ordering it as an alternative to Guinness. And Dark Star's Partridge (a bitter). Then headed home.
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