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London. Oh, glorious London! If we were here for a year, we wouldn’t run out of sights, different food, museums, churches…anything. London has it all. We loved our short stay, but as always, we are moving on.
Close to our hotel just outside of Victoria Station, we got to see Westminster Cathedral (not Abbey) for the first time. It is the largest Catholic Church in the UK. We were so impressed! It is free to enter, although everyone was making a donation. If you look at our first photo, the black brick you see above the main altar, which runs around the church, is how the church was originally built – it was inexpensive and fast. But since then, benefactors have been found to build and decorate the stunning altar area and also the glorious gold mosaic side chapels.
Sherpa Food Tours gave us a tour to remember. Our main guide was the Handsome and Sexy Nick (as he likes to be called) and the lovely Sevina (as we like to call her), who is learning the ropes. We had delightful conversations with both of them, had quite the tour of London around SoHo and the Seven Dials area, and tasted some great bites. It is easy to tell that Nick majored in drama – there was never a quiet moment, and ever-present were funny stories and impersonations. It was a delightful way to spend a few hours during our stay.
Mercato Mayfair is not to be missed! Set in the former St. Mark’s Church, all the food we tried from several vendors was just delicious. We met up with a friend, Weiqi, whom we first met in Reykjavik and had only talked to for 10 minutes or so during our original interaction. But since meeting her in Iceland, we have followed her on Instagram, and so we feel like we are old friends by now. We got to hear about her life in the UK and also how things are going in her native Malaysia. She was so engaging and knowledgeable! Very glad we were able to reconnect in such an unusual venue.
Another of our favorite days in London was just walking around, nibbling, taking photos, people watching, stopping for coffee – we call it aimless wandering, and it was quite pleasant and enjoyable. Big cities do draw us in, as there is so much to do and so much to discover. We will return to London again and again, as we always find something new here. But we are moving on – to discover a new favorite city.
The magnificent Westminster Cathedral, near Victoria Station.
A closeup of the mosaic arch over the altar area. Notice the white dots between the apostles and Jesus. They are…
…1,000 faces of angels! Without a wonderful docent giving us information, we would have never known.
This is an arch and ceiling of a side chapel. All the gold you see – even the “sky” above the palm trees – are tiny mosaic squares. It took 8-10 years for craftspeople to install!
Westminster Cathedral’s exterior, in red and white stripes. Since it is the design used on mosques throughout the world, we thought perhaps it had formerly been a mosque, then converted to a Catholic Church. Nope. Built as, and always used as, a church.
On our food tour, we tried a bao (hug), a fluffy white sandwich, named because the dough “hugs” the filling. We had short ribs with pickle, a lovely combination.Our tour guide, Nick, is on the right.
The charming interior of Mowgli Street Food, where we enjoyed fish curry, dal, and bhel puri (one of our favorites), among other items.
This is the work of Bambi, a local London street artist. She has reimagined Mary Poppins as Princess Diana, and the children are Harry and William. Her adjacent inscription, now faded, says: “You can be as naughty as you want as long as you don’t get caught.”
A little Formula 1 excitement! We started talking to our other food tour guide, Sevina, about F1, which is the only sport we follow. We found that she was a fan and she shared with us her selfies with Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton.
We really enjoyed the double messages in this restaurant: Haven for the Convivial (when did you last use that word??) and – Abandon All Plans.
Our food tour guide, Nick, pointed out many of these historical markers as we walked – this blue one above the door of Prince Edward Theater notes that Mozart lived here with his family (for 15 months). Mozart was already a celebrated child musician, but it was here, at 180 Ebury Street, that he wrote his first symphony at age 8: Symphony No. 1 in E-flat major, K. 16.
We passed a lot of pubs – public houses, originally not just for drinking, but also for food and lodging. The signs illustrate the names of businesses and were required by an act passed in 1393 by King Richard II. People were largely illiterate, and business signs graphically depicted the name of the establishment.
Just loved the name.
Passing a Tesla dealership, we noticed security guards on both sides of the building. There was also a line to get in!
Two names – Mr. Fogg’s, AND The Hat Tavern.
You are greeted by this building as you come out of Victoria Station. We thought it striking and bold. The UK newspaper The Guardian called it “the garish mess.” Design Magazine, awarding it the Carbuncle Cup as the ugliest building in the UK, criticized it as “the bright red prows that adorn various points of the exterior like the inflamed protruding breasts of demented preening cockerels.”Very unfair, we say!
The UK has many of these passageways connecting buildings…
Believe it or not, this is Little Ben.
We were struck by these offerings to eat: Folded Cheeseburger, Rotisserie Broken Chicken, and Female Chicken Livers. We didn’t know livers had a gender.
Ready for Easter, and very pretty.
Unbelievable. We passed a window in Covent Garden with D&G advertising “Fefe – The New Alcohol-Free Fragrance Mist for Dogs.” What is very funny is that at first glance, we thought it was a perfume to make you smell like a dog! We were at least relieved that we were wrong about that!
Mercato Mayfair, a delightful market in the former St. Mark’s Church.
Small food venues inside managed to mostly preserve views of the stained-glass windows.
The food court extended upstairs.
The old baptismal font is fronted by a gelato stand.
These folks agreed to a photo, all decked out in deerslayer hats!
…some are newer, too!
The Hippodrome was built in 1900 and used as a theater. Shows included equestrian acts, elephants, polar bears, and actual circuses. The sides could be flooded to accommodate boats. Today, you can see a chariot with two horses on the very top guarded by a centurion on either side.
Shades of Slim Pickens (from Dr. Strangelove).
Some of the wonderful busy-ness of Piccadilly Square.
Yep. We feel this way every day.
Surprised to see typical Dutch architecture in the middle of London.
In Covent Garden, the streets were florally named, and carts filled with flowers were placed all through the area.
A statue of Eros in Piccadilly Square, thought quite scandalous in 1892-93 due to its nudity, but the statue was generally well received by the public.
The sign (for the illiterate) and some actual hats and caps inside.
We watched this sketch come to life – from blank page to almost-done, but feel the artist made her face too chubby.It was fascinating to see the care he took with her eyes, and how he would put in dark, bold lines, only then to “soften” the lines by smudging with his fingers. Even though the portrait was priced at 50 pounds, we think she was prettier than her picture.
Greene King was quite ornate, both outside, and…
…a peek at the inside.
We loved the window of this pretty and lively bakery, L’Eto.
Do you feel…Happy?
Across the street from a pub we visited was this! A urinal! Out for all to see! For men only, though.
We are taking this advice.
Amen.
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