Day 14 - London

Beer drunk: 0 pints, Wine: 3 glasses
Distance walked: unknown

Slept soundly only to be woken early by the couple in the room next door checking out at 6am. Getting suitcases out through the doors on the small landing is clearly tricky.  Below is a picture of the large landing.  I took it standing on the stairs up to the 3rd floor.  On the right is the swing/fire door giving access to the stairs leading down, ahead is the door to room 27 and on the left is the swing/fire door to the small landing that gives access to rooms 28 and 29 (my room).  I couldn't take a picture of the small landing as it is too small.

Aside from the strange arrangement of fire doors this is a fine hotel for its price range. The reviews on tripadvisor are really mixed.  Some complain it is dirty, which isn't the case.  There is certainly dust on little used surfaces, e.g. the windowsill, and I suspect looking under the bed would not be advisable.  However, the bedding is clean, as is the bathroom, and those are the places I care about. It is a compact room but you can walk around the foot and both sides of the bed, as well as open the wardrobe doors fully.  That might not sound like much but I've stayed in places where you couldn't. The bathroom is also a decent size. One place I stayed in Paris was so small that when you were sitting on the toilet, you could put your feet in the shower and rest your elbow on the sink.  Here at least the bathroom is long enough that the these are laid out one after the other, rather than in a clump.  However, it is so narrow you need to open the bathroom door so you can safely dry yourself off without banging your elbows.

After breakfast I went for a wander around the neighbourhood.  Right around Paddington station all the 4 and 5 storey terraces have been turned into B&Bs or hotels.  Whole streets are wall to wall cheap hotels.  However, if you go into the mews at the back of these rows the story changes.  It is all private homes with lots of pot plants and outdoor furniture in the mews that make it look almost village-like and much more upmarket.  If the ads in the local real estate agents are to be believed they are also eye-wateringly expensive.  If you just replace the pound sign with a dollar sign, it is dear enough, never mind doing the currency conversion.

After ambling around Paddington, I ambled around Hyde Park and then finally down Oxford Street in the direction of the British Museum.  I didn't go into the museum because by the time I got to it, it was lunchtime.  I stopped at a pretty French bistro, the Savoir Faire, which is trying its best to be Parisian even though it is on a busy road in London with building works going on next door.  I was warmly welcomed, even though I was on my own, as I was their only customer for the first 30 minutes.  I'm not sure their Parisian feel is working which would be shame as their food was very good.

To start I had maple glazed goat's cheese on toasted baguette slices which had been topped with pesto.  It sounds odd but really worked. The crunchiness of the toast contrasted well with the creaminess of the cheese.  The sweetness of the maple glazing went really well with the earthiness of the cheese and the garlicky goodness of the pesto.  For main I had a beef daube with steamed veg. The beef was very rich and tender.  You could cut it with a fork.  Graeme would have approved of the veg.  Personally I would have preferred it to have been steamed a few minutes longer. For dessert I had tarte tatin which was sadly disappointing.  It was made with apple puree rather than slices so the texture was wrong.  Also, the apples were some sweet variety rather than a tart one like a Granny Smith so it was all a bit cloyingly sweet. 

After lunch, I didn't so much as amble but rather waddled in the direction of the theatre ticket booth in Leicester Square.  I got cheap tickets to see a Jeeves and Wooster play tomorrow. I hope it is better than The Mousetrap.

The Mousetrap was on at St Martin's theatre which is lovely but very, very steeply raked so not for those unsteady on their feet as it would have been easy to lose your footing and tumble down the stairs.  The floor also undulated from side to side which made me worry about the soundness of the whole structure of the building.  

I'm afraid I liked the theatre better than the play.  I suppose theatre actors have to make their gestures large and pitch their voices so they carry to the very back row, but it gives their performance a very mannered and artificial feel.  On the other hand, perhaps they were simply not very good.  The plot was also not one of Agatha Christie's best.  I actually dozed off for a portion of the 2nd act but still managed to work out whodunnit.

For dinner I decided on a place call ASK Italian, which is part of a chain, but I only wanted a quick bite.  I was going to have a pizza but they only made them in a size large enough for two.  I suppose I could have had one anyway and just left any I didn't want, but it seemed such a waste.  The pasta dish I wanted, penne baked with meatballs, had been sold out so I settled for lasagna.  It was decent but nothing special.  For dessert I had my test dessert, tiramisu.  This was clearly made on the premises and properly, with savoiardi biscuits, not layers of sponge cake.  It also made no pretence of being flavoured with any sort of alcohol, just with coffee, so there was none of that nasty artificial essence in this one.  On the whole it was also quite decent.  I would have liked it more if it hadn't come with a thumbprint on the top where the chef had steadied my piece as he was lifting it out of the dish.  Still, you can only hope that everyone in the kitchen has clean hands, even without thumbprints in your food.