Distance walked: 16km, Alcohol consumed: 1 large glass wine
We were so concerned about the time the long uphill trek to the railway station would take we set off with buckets of time to spare. While it was hard work, it wasn't as bad as we had feared so we actually got to the station in time to take an earlier train to London. There were quite a few business travellers on our train, typing madly on their laptops. Not sure if they were commuters (not all the way from Brighton surely?) or just on business trips.
Once we got to London, we couldn't check into our apartment as it had been occupied the previous night and wasn't ready yet. We wheeled/dragged our cases to the apartment rental place's office and left them there, before heading off to the British Museum. Here you had to go through security and get your bags checked. I'd never experienced that before. They seemed to be checking specifically for knives or anything sharp you could cut with. I'm not sure if they are just more nervous than usual after the attempted bombing on the Tube last week or if there has been a specific threat.
The security queue moved briskly and we were soon inside. We browsed in the shop for a Roman statuette for my lararium but couldn't find anything! There we many Egyptian statues, and a shop nearby the museum selling replicas of Greek statues, but very little that was Roman. I was surprised. Perhaps it simply depends on what has been the focus of recent exhibitions. We then went to see the Lewis chessmen, the Sutton Hoo ship burial and the gallery on the Romans in ancient Britain before breaking for lunch.
For lunch we went to a small French bistro nearby called Savoir Faire which I had been to before. They were short on waiting staff and the maitre d' (also the owner I suspect) was a little frazzled. I had French onion soup to start which was made properly and which You Could Eat. For main I had ordered the cassoulet but it turns out the chef had miscounted the number of serves he had left and they were out. I settled for the liver with leeks and polenta & wild mushrooms. This was good too. Service wasn't very fast, for which the owner apologised several times. A large group had ordered about the same time as us. She also apologised profusely about the mix up with my main order. How they handle mistakes is a sign of a good business. I like this place.
After lunch it was late enough to check in so we went back to the rental offices and picked up our keys. It was then another 10-15 minute walk, dragging the cases, to the apartment. It is right near the University of London and it is wall-to-wall students around here. Our apartment is spacious but not nearly as plush as the one in York. We have three single bedrooms but two bathrooms, so one each which is good. The bathrooms are more upmarket than the rest of the flat and the water pressure & temperature are good. They've spent money on the parts that matter.
After unpacking we went to a nearby supermarket to buy food for breakfast and toilet paper. They only supply us with one toilet roll per toilet. Any more you have to supply yourself!
Once we had put our groceries away, we headed off to the British Library via the Euston tube station to get Oyster cards. It was about 4pm now and the station was getting busy. It must be a nightmare in actual peak time. We spent about an hour at the library looking going through their gallery of treasures - including a Gutenberg bible, pages from Leonardo da Vinci's notebook and a letter from Michelangelo nagging his nephew to get married.
We were then planning to hop on the tube and go to Covent Garden just to wander around before walking back to the flat. However, we couldn't face the thought of the crowds and our legs were very tired. Our flat is on the 2nd floor and there is no lift. We had been up and down them several times already today and that, coupled with all the dragging of suitcases, has just worn us out. Instead, we went back to the flat, put on a load of laundry and just rested.
After we felt a bit more energetic we wandered around the Fitzrovia district looking for a place to have dinner. We settled on a tiny Italian place called In Parma. They are very proud of their authentic ingredients from the Parma region - mainly the charcuterie and the cheese. They just have these, plus pasta or polenta dishes on the menu. Their pasta is home made. They tried to get us to have a bowl of Lambrusco but I think it is revolting so we declined. We shared some bread, olives, cheese (taleggio) and salami to start. For main Mary had the anolini in brodo and I had the tortelli d'erbetta. We both rated our dishes Not Bad. The first meal we've had that has received the highest possible rating. I wanted to have the zabaglione for dessert. However, it is made to order and takes 15 minutes and we were falling asleep at the table so I settled for taking their business card so we can book a table to eat there another time on this holiday.
So back to the flat and off to bed.
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