London, Edinburgh, and Paris trip During Aug/Sept 2013

Friday, August 23rd-24th
We started our journey on Friday when Carol’s co-worker Joe took us to the airport. We had a late lunch at the Schlafly restaurant and I kept my resolution to try a beer now and again. I actually did a sampler tasting for a change of pace.

We flew American on an  MD-80 to Chicago.  From there, we went on American Flight 46  in a BOEING 777, departing Chicago about 7:15 PM and arriving at London Heathrow at 9 AM. There seemed to be a number of Brits on the plane with us. We watched a movie and got some fairly restless sleep. We were just a few minutes late but as we walked off the plane and through customs, we saw Craig was waiting for us.

We piled into his flashy Audi sports car and headed out into the suburbs of London. The roads were very narrow with trees right up to the roadway. We first went to see the Enterprise offices. It was more crowded than I expected but they are moving to a bigger space in the coming months and we drove by that as well. He also took us by his old golf club which was absolutely gorgeous and then on to his house which is what we could consider a duplex in the US. As expected, it was not US spacious but compact and functional.

Because there is a fuel tax for driving into London, he called a taxi to take us to the train station. We got our tickets that took us into Waterloo station where we bought our Oyster cards. It was raining hard so he provided an umbrella to us as well. We had our two pieces of carry-on luggage each, so it was quite an adventure. We finally landed at the Apex London Wall Hotel, 7-9 Copthall Avenue. This was a great business class hotel and very comfortable. 

Here is the description on Hotels.com

Apex London Wall Hotel is close to Bank of England Museum, St. Paul's Cathedral, and Royal Exchange. Also nearby are The Gherkin and Barbican Arts Centre.

Dining options at this London hotel include a restaurant and a bar/lounge. Wireless and wired high-speed Internet access is complimentary in public areas. Additional amenities include a fitness facility, multilingual staff, and a media library. This is a smoke-free property.

Rooms have city views. The 89 air-conditioned guestrooms at Apex London Wall Hotel include iPod docking stations and laptop-compatible safes. Beds have Select Comfort mattresses and premium bedding. Complimentary wireless and wired high-speed Internet access is provided. Rooms are equipped with LCD TVs with premium satellite channels, free movie channels, and pay movies. All accommodations provide desks, complimentary newspapers, and direct-dial phones with voice mail; free local calls are offered (restrictions may apply). Bathrooms offer separate bathtubs and showers, bathrobes, designer toiletries, and makeup/shaving mirrors. All units feature minibars, coffee/tea makers, and complimentary bottled water. Additional amenities include slippers and hair dryers. This city view room measures 248 square feet (23 square meters).

We were hungry and Craig was anxious to get us out into the action of London so off we went. We had lunch at Jamie’s Italian because we love Jamie Oliver. We started with a cheese and charcuterie plate. And then,  I had wild rabbit Tagliolini pasta and Carol had the Tagliatelle Bolognese. We had a great very Zinfandel like Italian wine.  
Jamie's Italian

From there, we took the train to King’s Cross to pick up our train tickets to Scotland. We walked over to St. Pancras to check out where we would be going and then had drinks at a great bar called the Booking. I had a gin and berry cocktail while Carol had an absinthe cocktail. We had to stay up until at least 9 PM to avoid jet lag but since we had been up since 6 AM Friday morning, we were slowly starting to run out of 
steam. And so on a rainy typical London day, the solution was to walk and walk and walk. We rode the 
Tube to the area where we would stay during the last part of our trip, Trafalgar Square. We walked to the 
London Eye by crossing the most beautiful bridge in London, the Lambeth. Over near the Eye was an area
that was full of food trucks but we were still full from our big lunch. We tried to close out the day at a very 
quaint speakeasy that Craig knew but it was too crowded. So we called it a night but Craig surely gave us a great first day tour of London.

August 25th

We paid for the Hotel breakfast to be added on Sunday morning and it was well worth it.  I had an proper English breakfast which included toast, scrambled eggs, beans, bacon(ham), sausage and blood sausage. Carol had a proper Scottish breakfast that included smoked salmon and then cold cuts from the buffet. It was a great start to our Sunday and a relaxing morning after a great nights sleep. No jet lag really. During breakfast, there was a writer holding court at a nearby tables.

We headed out for our first big walk through London. Since we were in the old city area, we saw many placards where buildings had been destroyed during the Great Fire. We quickly wandered to the Police Station (not sure if that is where you would find Scotland Yard). But Carol had patches and offered one to the Mounted policeman there. We had a nice chat and he told us they had about 150 horses and it sounded like they are used extensively. They used to be in the same division with the K-9 officers but not any more.

We made our way to St. Paul's where we were able to step inside as Sunday service had just ended. We saw Lloyds of London and many other financial buildings. We eventually made our way to the Tower Bridge. The sight of it was quite breathtaking. We decided to come back later to actually do the Tower of London tour. But today, we walked a long the harbor that was full of clipper style sail boats. There was a big race staging that was to go round the world and was starting in London. We walked away with a CD and I can’t wait to watch the story of last year’s race.

It was time to eat something light to hold us since my BD dinner was not until 7 PM. So we ate at a great little place called Ping Pong. We had crispy duck rolls and a vegetable roll. Carol had the Pinot Grigio ( a Mirabello) and I had the Ping Pong which is martini bianco, white wine, and lychee juice served with Asian basil seeds. I also had an order of cashew nuts with basil and garlic, crunchy broad beans and honey roasted peanuts. we finished with a scallop and shiitake dumpling.

Ping Pong Dim Sum

We happened upon a city tour boat- The circular cruise that was heading to Westminster and back to St. Katherine's. So we bought tickets and joined.  It was quite nice to sit back and we had a 15 minute break at Westminster so we enjoyed a glass of wine. There was a mother and daughter that I originally thought were from Israel but they were actually from NYC. But the mother had trouble understanding the narrator so I tried to translate.

That evening, we had my delayed birthday celebration at Duck and Waffle. Craig had suggested it weeks earlier. He came by our hotel and we all walked there as it turned out to be right near our hotel. We had drinks before dinner. Craig had an Old Fashioned while I had the Truffle whiskey sour which is made from Monkey Shoulder Whiskey, lemon, sugar, syrup, rosemary, and truffle. Carol had a JD+C and it is made of Gentlemen Jack's whisky, Aperol, cacao, with a salted cola reduction and cider vinegar. The bar at the restaurant is very funky. The place is located in the Heron Tower, one of the tallest buildings in London, right in the heart of the financial district. So what great views we had.

During dinner, we had a wide variety of tapas, pig ears, the actual duck egg and waffle, bacon wrapped dates, spicy ox cheek doughnuts, yellow fin tuna, Scottish scallop, and more. It was the most spectacular tapas meal ever and I enjoyed every minute of it. We watched as the sun went down and continued to enjoy the great view during dinner. It was all quite spectacular and a very special BD. We finished up with some Armagnac and took lots of photos.

Duck and Waffle

Then after dinner, Craig took us to “See the Mayor” which was a Speakeasy nearby. We entered through the refrigerator door and downstairs, had more classic cocktails. The receipt for the drinks was from the Breakfast Club at 12-16 Artillery Lane. So the entrance is actually in this little breakfast joint but the bar is the secret place downstairs. We had a real London bartender with unkempt black hair, mustache and goatee. It was all very stylish. I decided to have the classic Negroni. Carol and Craig each had an Old Fashioned.

August 26th

Monday morning, we had to get going early to get to King’s Cross for our 10:20 train to Edinburgh. I had booked us in First Class which was very reasonably priced. We did realize the reason was that Monday, the 26th of August was a Bank Holiday. We spent our time waiting for departure in the First Class lounge. 

There was a coffee machine with espresso and lattes available as well as snacks. It was a very comfy place to wait. Our train was provided by East Coast and we enjoyed a nice meal along the way. The lunch was a pulled pork and apple sandwich with crisps and tea. The staff kept coming by to collect our trash but at first we could not understand what they were calling it and finally realized that their word for trash is rubbish. As with many British terms, it is a word we all know and understand but simply do not use in the same way here in the states. So adding in the British accent, it made for some humorous moments. The top phrases or words that are typical British," proper, brilliant, bloody, and rubbish." We heard them all used numerous times.

It was great to get out into the countryside and see a bit of England.  We saw houses, new and old; many with terracotta roofs, stone walls and ivy. We saw a skate park, plenty of graffiti (just when heading out of the city), farm fields, horses, and small lakes where people were fishing. Many of the horses had coats. There were also many many woolly sheep grazing in their pastures. We saw a large boat, almost yacht like, in a small channel of water. There were green fields, small towns, windmills and solar panels to provide power. We wondered if there were nuclear power plants as we thought we saw one in the distance. On a train, you are close enough at times to see individual backyards which are much like ours with fire pits, patios, trampolines, gardens, and privacy fences. We saw a fair number of RVs, which they call caravans. Some where parked at lake sites but they were all small. No big Class A giants. The sky was a gorgeous blue with puffy clouds. About 3 hours in to our journey, the terrain changed and everything was just greener and brighter. At one point, we were close enough to see the ocean and the wild beaches of Scotland.

Our meal was very light and by the time, we arrived in Edinburgh, we were ready to eat. The Edinburgh train station is just one level below our hotel, which is called The Carlton, at 19 North Bridge. We had a room with 1 double bed. 151 square feet (14 square meters). In-room amenities include climate control, coffee/tea maker, desk, direct-dial phone, and safe. Complimentary wired and wireless (high-speed) Internet access keep you connected, as well as the dial-up Internet access available for a surcharge. Bathroom is equipped with shower/tub combination, hair dryer, and complimentary toiletries. The hotel staff was super friendly.

They were very nice to us and arranged a cheese plate for us. Craig had already arrived since he flew so he joined us while we snacked. Once fortified, it was time to head over to the Fringe. The Fringe is a massive event with shows of all varieties and was actually on its last day after nearly a month of activities. Craig had arranged for us to see a Magic show with the magician being a guy he had met on his ski trip earlier in the year. His name was Chris Dugdale and it was quite entertaining. Before the show, we had another quick bite to eat. We enjoyed some crepes in the cool outdoor eating venue at the Fringe. There was great people watching and the festival atmosphere reminded Carol of Key West Florida.

After the magic show, we had a few minutes and I had a great smoky whisky, it was my first (but not last) Lagavulin. We then went to see a show called “Take it Interns”, which was quite good. It turned out to be a musical.

August 27th

The next morning, we had breakfast at a great placed called Urban Angel. There were smoked salmon eggs hollandaise, haggis, tatties, and a cacao almond milk banana smoothie. We had breakfast with Craig and then parted ways as we wanted to do some tourist stuff he had already done.
Urban Angel

We walked by the garden area and saw someone playing the bagpipes. We were at the bottom of a huge hill and from there we made our way up toward Edinburgh Castle. There was a light mist in the air. Along the way, we found a shoe store called Clark’s and I found the shoes of my dreams. Since we didn't have enough room to buy anything, I put that on my list of things to check out online once we got home.

It was quite a climb to get up to the Castle. Once there, we found a long line to get tickets but it was worth the wait and great people watching. At the castle, we bought the audio tour as this was a really special historical place and we wanted to learn as much as possible. After our tour, we had a proper English tea which was quite spectacular.

We walked down the Royal Mile which was full of many great shops, I did find room for a Scottish rugby shirt since I had already left two of my packed shirts behind as suggested by Rick Steves and Betty Neely. We found a police station that sold shirts and found a K-9 T-shirt that Carol bought. At the bottom of the Royal Mile Hill, we saw Holyrood, the Queen’s Edinburgh Castle

We had very special dinner in Edinburgh at a place Craig found. It is called “Michael Neave Kitchen and Whisky” and it is on 21 Old Fishmarket. It did turn out to be the most expensive dinner I paid for but it was well worth it. Craig had a steak, I had deer and Carol had duck. We started with a rabbit terrine and finished with a chocolate orange mousse. After dinner, we all tasted a variety of whiskies on the outside patio. I tasted the Abelour A Bundah, the Ardberg 10, the Ardberg Ugeadail (which was super peaty) and the Bowmore 12. While we were tasting, there was a nearby Ghost Tour and it almost felt like we were part of it, but in a much better way than traipsing all over the hills of Edinburgh.

The Carlton Hotel was fantastic but we needed to open the windows and around 4 AM every night, there was some kind of Scottish drinking songs being sung nearby and it did wake me up but I had to smile. The Scots are a very interesting people.

August 28th

First thing Wednesday morning, we had a fantastic breakfast at The Edinburgh Larder.  It was definitely a great locavore place with excellent food and the people were super nice but that is typical for Scotland. In general, they are a happy, helpful bunch of people.

Our tour was the Rabbies 3-Day Speyside Whisky Tour from Edinburgh.Our first tasting was at Dalwhinnie. But before the tasting, we made our first stop and enjoyed a wonderful walk in the woods through the Hermitage Forest. We saw an interesting building that had a spectacular view of a waterfall. Below is snippet from the Rabbie's site that describes the trip itenerary. We had a group of 16 and a driver named Barney.

We had lunch The Pancake House at 40 Atholl Road -Pilochry

Scotland Tour

Rabbies Speyside Whisky Tour

Day 1 takes you north to the historic village of Dunkeld and the stunning Hermitage forest waterfalls. After lunch in Pitlochry you can sample the delights of Scotland's highest distillery at Dalwhinnie, near the source of the River Spey. Warmed by the amber nectar you continue on your way through the Cairngorm National Park before reaching Grantown on Spey, your base for 2 nights. 

Day 2 A whole day exploring Scotland’s most famous whisky region. After a scenic drive toward the coast your first stop of the day will be at the family owned Benromach Distillery for a personalised tour. From here it is a short distance to Elgin – home to Gordon and Macphail – one of the world’s leading specialist whisky bottlers and suppliers. From here you will travel back up the Spey to Craigellachie for a visit to the Speyside  Cooperage where you will see another aspect of the whisky making process. After lunch here or in nearby Aberlour you will visit Cardhu Distillery. Cardhu is the most important whisky in Johnnie Walker Black Label. From here is back to Grantown on Spey 

Day 3 takes you through the beautiful Cairngorm Mountains on route back to Edinburgh. In the morning you will explore Glenlivet – not just a distillery but also a beautiful glen with great walks and wonderful wildlife. You will then enjoy the majesty of Royal Deeside, passing by Balmoral Castle, and stop in the village of Braemar in the heart of the National Park. From here the route south passes over Scotland’s highest mountain pass through Perthshire before arriving back in Edinburgh.

We ended our first day of touring with dinner at Craig's Bar. Some of the whiskey tasted there included the Tamdhu, the Lagavulin 16, the Balvenie double wood. Carol left a police patch there which Robbie, the owner really loved. He was such a character, a grisly kind of guy but funny. We had meat pies as our main course and whisky as our side dish. The ambiance in this place was perfect and included a couple from another region of Britain that were on holiday. They had their German Short-haired Pointers with them and the dogs had free run of the bar. We chatted with them about dogs and it was great fun. 

August 29th 

Thursday started with a hearty breakfast at the B and B. The breakfast options were haggis, eggs, bacon (which always really turned out to be ham), sausage, porridge, yogurt, juices, fruit and more. The food was quite excellent. But no time to linger, we had a 9:30 tasting at Benromach. This was the smallest and most intimiate of the tours. We were even able to stick our heads in to smell the mash pit. 

We had lunch in the town of Abelour which is of course near the Abelour distillery.  We stopped at two whisky shops but the pinnacle was Gordon and MacPhail in the town of Elgin. We bought some samplers there, a MacAllan Gold, a Glenfarclas 10 year old, a Benriach 10 year old and a Bladnoch, which was 6.30 pounds while the others were 4.30. 

Our afternoon distillery was Cardhu, the spiritual home of Johnnie Walker. It was full of Johnnie Walker photos and memorabilia. Since the actual location where Johnnie Walker is nothing to see, this is where they bring business guests so there was quite an impressive tasting room and lounge

That night, we had dinner that night at the Garth Hotel. While we were waiting to be seated we chatted with two couples who were sitting the hotel bar with their little white dog. They were up there staying in their caravans. Dinner was pigeon with salad and lamb chops. After dinner, we each had another whiskey since we were after all in Scotland. 

August 30th
We had our finally tasting at the Glenlivet. From there, we had lunch in the little town of Bradmarat but on the way, we passed the Queen's Scottish castle, Balmoral which actually belongs to the Windsor family not the government like Buckingham Palace. She was in residence and her flag was flying. We kept an eye out because she is known to come into town but no luck. We also stopped at Barney's favorite shop, "The Castle Whisky" and what a place. We were able to taste 6 or 7 different whiskies and learned a lot from the shop keeper.  Before returning to Edinburgh, we stopped at a bridge outside of town. What a gorgeous view of the ocean and we happened to see a rainbow. 

We found the roads in Scotland to be very narrow. Usually one car had to pull over to let the other pass. We were in a Mercedes passenger van for 16 but it was still narrow fortunately. The sheep were often right by the side of the road. All of the bridges were strictly one lane. Barney was a good driver so we felt pretty safe. During the course of the tour, he told a narrative story that shared with us the history of Scotland, all the way to present time and the current movement to split from the UK. He said the reasons had to do with Scotland's desire to stay with the European Union while the UK might pull out and also because Scotland (unlike Wales) has great wealth from oil. So they are interested in keeping it all for themselves. There is also a historic nationalist feeling that goes way back in the history that he brought alive for us. He also played some bagpipe music from one of his favorite contemporary Scottish musician. He talked about football and told jokes and really made the trip a educational and enjoyable experience. While we only toured 4 distilleries, we saw so many others from the road. 

Our group were all nice. There was Derrick from the Netherlands and his GF, Vardi who was from London. Ryan and Christa now live in London but she was originally from Alaska and he from Montana.  Jess and his girlfriend were from Boston though she was originally from Kansas  There was a big family group that was originally from Jamaica but some now live in Bermuda and some live in the US.  We not only traveled together in the van but ran into each other wherever we went for lunch or dinner. So it was kind of fun. 

Friday, our wonderful tour ended and we were back in Edinburgh and back at the Carlton with a bigger, nicer room that was on the 5th floor. Craig came over and we put out the rest of our samples and had another tasting. We had a Dalwhinnie 10 and 2 variations of the Benriach. After that, we had dinner at Gordon’s Trattoria, 231 High Street. I had pasta with salmon and Carol had spaghetti bolognese. We had a really nice Spanish Tempranillo. After dinner, we took a stroll up the Royal Mile and saw another ghost tour.
We walked all the way up to the Edinburgh Castle. We had to end the evening with another whisky tasting at the bar recommended by Barney. I had the Superstition from Jura and Carol had the Dalmore 15. Craig tried to drag us to the 10th best bar in the world but we were too tired. I regret not going but oh well.

August 31st

On Saturday, August 31st, we flew from Edinburgh to Paris on Easyjet. While waiting at the airport, we ran into the couple from Boston, Jess and his GF who was originally from Kansas. They were also flying to Paris but on a different airline and only were to have a few hours there before returning home. We also briefly met up with Craig before he flew back to London. We were very happy to be able to bring both of our bags on as carryon luggage. The plane arrived at Charles De Gaulle Aiport (CDG) and we managed to find the train that took us to Gare du Nord. I had read somewhere that we needed to find a sign that said RERB and so we did. It was all a little confusing but we managed. Once on the train, we looked out at graffiti and to be honest, there were a lot of smelly people that could have stood to use some deodorant. Once we arrived at the station, we took a taxi to our hotel, the Eiffel 7. The taxi took us right by the Louvre.

The hotel was a very nice boutique hotel on a quaint little side street and as expected, it is super close to the Eiffel Tower. It is located at 17 Bis Rue Amelie.

Here are the details per Hotels.com:

Room details: 1 queen bed (1.60 m wide). Premium bedding. LCD TV with premium digital channels. Direct-dial telephone. Complimentary wired and wireless Internet access. Minibar. Tea- and coffee-making facilities. Hair dryer. Makeup/shaving mirror. Fragonard toiletries. Bathrobes and slippers. In-room safe. Luggage rack. Individual climate control. Air conditioning. Non-smoking. One bottle of mineral water is complimentary daily. One cup of tea will be offered daily in the salon at tea time. 4.5   from 40 guest ratings

Once we arrived and settled in, we took a walk to find our first dinner in Paris. Just a block away was Bar Central on Rue Ste. Dominique. We had a fabulous planche de fromage and planche charcuterie (cheese and sausage tray) and a bottle of Maison Johannes Boubee Bordeaux. We could see the top of the tower from where we sat outside and already, the experience was like a dream of Paris.  

After dinner, we went across the street to the little grocery store and bought a bottle of wine and a corkscrew. It was around 8 PM as we walked to the Eiffel Tower to find our friend Denis. We had found via Facebook that he, Brian and two of their friends had been in Paris all week. We wandered around the area but it was too dusky dark and we never found them. But it was cool knowing they were out there somewhere. We sat on a park bench and enjoyed the wine, the atmosphere and the lights of the tower. They do a light show every hour so we stayed long enough to experience it twice. On the way back to our hotel, we stopped for crepes at Crep and Tea.

September 1st

Sunday morning, we slept in. The hotel was absolutely luxurious. We walked a bit once we were up and had lunch across from the Palais des Invalides. The restaurant was called Le Grand Palais and it was 21 Ave. D. Franklin Roosevelt. We started with 6 escargots and then had confit canard (duck) which was amazing. There was an annoying lady next to us that wanted a rush order on the duck and I loved it when the waitress responded why her duck was not ready. “Your duck is cooking. This is not McDonalds.
To drink, we each had a glass of Ver. Aligote and then a Ver. Brouilly with the duck. We finished off with two espressos to fuel the afternoon. We did enjoy walking around the Palais.

It was clear that we only wanted to drink French wine while in France. Our favorite regional wine is Languedoc but the Cote du Rhone reds can be very good as well. In the afternoon, a Bordeaux is nice but not as much a favorite for dinner.These were some other recommendations but not so easy to find, Faugef, Gigomdos, and Mineoreos.

From there, we walked to the Arc de Triomphe after a stroll down the Champs Elysee. Along the way, we stopped at a lovely place called Le Marceau at 39 Ave Marceau and had deux verre vin du jour.

That night, we had our Eiffel Tower Tour.  We met our guide and quickly got through the security line and met on the mid level of the Tower. From there, she pointed out sites in each direction. What a great view. She was excited to have a couple from Missouri as she was nearing the end of the summer and hoping to have someone from every US state. She was actually from Australia.  One of the most unique sites was Sacre Coeur at the top of Montmartre.

After the tour, we took the elevator to the top of the Tower and by then it was dark, so the view was all light. Paris is the city of lights. We took the elevator back down to the mid point and then crazily decided to walk the steps the rest of the way. What an experience and once you start, there is no turning back.

Tour departs from the front of the South Leg of the Eiffel Tower. When you arrive at the Tower, you'll see there are four legs - North, South, East and West. Look for the words "Pilier Sud" written on the South Leg. Your tour guide will be wearing a red t-shirt (in summer) or red hat and scarf (in winter), and will be waiting for you at this point.

We had dinner at a wonderful place called Thoumieux. We had an excellent bottle of wine from Languedoc, a Cahors and a bottle of Evian. Carol a steak which was listed as Onglet de boeuf and I had the veal, Quasi de veau. Brasserie Thoumieux is located at 79 Rue St. Dominique and is run by Jean-Francois Piege and Thierry Costes. This is one place that I had actually read about in one of the Paris travel books. The review suggested that when it came to the food, there were hits and some things were just ok. But it is a beautiful dining room, a trendy set (which was true even though it was a Sunday), and an overall interesting place. The chef, Piege is formally of Les Ambassadeurs.

We ended the evening with a Calvados back at Bar Cental. We really fell in love with this place and stopped in every time to finish the night. We enjoyed watching some locals having a spirited discussion at a table nearby. We definitely found lots of skinny French people that smoke. We saw a man (who we thought was probably gay) having dinner with a young woman and watched their animated conversations discreetly. Under the table was the dog which they fed the occasional table scrap.

Monday, September 2nd
On Monday, the city came alive and we experienced the hustle and bustle of Paris. We had lunch at Le Vauban. (Le Vauban) I had a Caesar salad and Carol had a  veggie salad. We walked to the Rodin Museum and Musee d’Orsay but they are both closed on Monday. We saw the famous Pont Neuf Bridge.  We rode on the batobus to Notre Dame and then on from there for water tour on the Seine. We were able to go inside at Notre Dame, which was absolutely amazing. We saw the Latin Quarter and the Left Bank.

We walked around the Palais and at one point, we ran into some police officers and Carol offered them a badge in trade. One of them pulled off the badge from his uniform that was attached with velcro and gave it to her. They were National Policemen and I think they had been deployed to Paris in case there were riots or strikes with summer ending and this being the first day back to work after a month of holiday. There also did seem to be someone famous at the Palais but we were never sure who it was.

At one point, we ended up at Les Mouettes. It was around 2:30 and we had an afternoon espresso at this Cafe in Paris. At 6:30, we stopped at Sarii Mirage(Sari Mirage) for a glass of wine. This is the leisurely life of Paris.

We had dinner at a wonderful place, Chez Pierrot was a little bistro just a few doors down from our hotel. The waiter/owner wore a black and white striped shirt and looked like an Italian gondola driver. Carol had duck and I had chicken with cream sauce. Our appetizer was eggplant, tomato and mozzarella cheese.  We insisted we wanted a big bold red wine. So then after dinner, he brought us each a snifter of Calvados since we like the strong stuff. For dessert, we had a crepe with real melted chocolate (not a sauce but the real thing). It was just wonderful. 
We finished our last night back at Bar Central with another Calvados and an Armagnac. The man with the dog was there again and now we were feeling like regulars. We could see the light of the Eiffel Tower and it was still almost surreal. 

Tuesday Sept 3rd
Today, we head back to London. We took a taxi back to Gare du Nord but arrived too early to check-in at the the Eurostar station. So we had a glass of chardonnay at the Duvel Cafe, 22 Rue de Dunkerque. From our seat, we got a good view of the seedier side of Paris. There were sex shops and a McDonald's. The area was not a place I would want to be in the evening.
Once we checked in, we chatted with a group from Australia who were also heading back to London. We shared our experience of just using carry-on luggage and it made the time pass. While there was no real first class lounge like there had been for the train to Edinburgh, on the train, we had nice seating and it came with a cheese plate meal and a few small bottles of Bordeaux. The train left precisely at 3:13 and arrived on time. It was roughly a two hour trip and the time under the English channel went by very quickly. There was a stop before London where it looked like the cruise ship folks would board.

Once we arrived at St. Pancras. we took a short walk to King's Cross and loaded our Oyster card. We took the tube to Charing Cross and then had a short walk to our hotel, Club Quarters at Trafalgar Square. Craig had taken us by when we first arrived. The hotel is at 8 Northumberland Ave, which is a block over from Whitehall.

The Eurostar

After we settled into our hotel, we were ready to really experience London. It felt like our previous two days was more of a sampler. We realized quickly how centrally located this hotel was to a number of key London attractions, Big Ben, Parliament, Trafalgar Square, and more.
We were hungry and wanted to try some traditional fish and chips (which are served with peas) so we headed to the Lord Moon of the Mall at 16-18 Whitehall. It was a loud noisy pub and we each ordered a beer at the bar. I had a Newcastle Brown Ale and Carol had a Tuborg, which she really liked.
We then ordered the cod and chips. This was a very reasonably priced meal, coming in at around 22 pounds.

After dinner, we continued to walk around our new neighborhood and take in the sights after dark. We eventually strolled down to the Thames and decided to have a nightcap at the Yardarm Club on the RS Hispaniola which is docked at Victoria Embankment, right under one of the beautiful bridges over the Thames. It also has a lovely view of the London Eye.

Wednesday, Sept. 4th

Wednesday morning, we headed right toward the London Eye to beat the crowds. So glad we did as it was also clearest in the morning before some mid-day clouds moved in. While we waited, we grabbed a quick breakfast at the Zen Cafe. We had cookies, an espresso, and a banana. The London Eye was awesome. Our capsule was not even full so we had lots of room to walk around and see the sights in every direction. 

Next, we took the Green Line and District Line (Tube route) to the Tower of London station and bought our tickets. Our tip was to buy the tickets at the Tube station and skip the lines.  The Tower has played so many roles throughout history. It was a home, a prison, a place of torture and is currently the home of the vast and impressive crown jewels.  I guess the most famous aspect and one that gave us pause was contemplating the fate of Anne Boleyn. We loved our first trip to Ping Pong, so why mess with success. This time it was early enough for a proper meal. We had two white wines, a duck roll, a spicy lamb roll, a chicken bun, another scallop and shiitake dumpling. We finished off with two more of their signature drinks, a ginger caipirinh and a wasabi amaretto sour plus dessert was a mango pudding.

From there, we rode to the Tube to the area of the museums and took a look around the Museum of Natural History. We also walked up toward Kensington Gardens and saw the Imperial College

Wednesday evening, we took the tube back to our old London neighborhood to meet Craig and Jeff King as the second best bar in the world. We arrived easily enough and found the block where the address should be but had to walk by a couple times and finally ask to realize it was just a yellow door with a bird on it. The place is called Nightjar and our seating was in a cozy little brick vestibule on the lower level. The address was 129 City Road. To get there, we took the Tube to Old Street Station and then walked up Old City Road.

The drink menu was totally overwhelming and just went on and on. Craig had a drink in a pine cone and another one that came with a flask in it. Eventually, Jeff and I just gave up and started ordering Single Malts since we were talking about our time in Scotland and it was making us thirsty for whisky.

Thursday, Sept 5th
We started our day with croissants and coffee at a place called "Eat" located at 39-41 Villiers.

We then opted to buy tickets for the Hop On-Hop Off bus. We have always found this a really great way to see a city and avoid unnecessary walking.  We took the main route which took us …

We were hoping the bus would go inside Kensington Gardens but it didn't and so we never ended up seeing Kensington Palace but got a good sense for the Gardens and Hyde Park as we circled the outside. We also luckily got off at Buckingham Palace and were able to witness the changing of the Guard. It was super crowded but we were patient and eventually worked our way up to have a good view. I took a ton of video that I can’t wait to see and splice together. The only downside was over-hearing a discussion between an American and a Brit. The American was very anti-Obama and was ex-military.  He told her how no one liked the president and I corrected him and said that I did. He then said.. well you know.. the whole Don’t Ask Don’t Tell thing, we don’t like that and I told him that I was gay and that I do like it.

We had lunch at Little Wu, in the Chinese area near Leicester Square. It was a really nice buffet and very affordable.

We first rode the red loop and then the yellow loop so we ended up back in the area of the Tower of London and took our free boat ride back to Westminster. As we walked back to our hotel, we once again passed #10 Downing Street. This time, Carol stopped to chat with the policeman and give him a patch. The next thing we knew, we were given access and had lots of photos taken right in front of the door. The Prime Minister was away at the G20 Summit but still, it was super cool to be there. CNN was camped out doing their typical photo shot of the door to go with the big news story that was going on during our trip.. Syria's use of chemical weapons and how the West would respond.

It was 9 PM before we were back and had time for dinner. By then, we wanted something close by and settled on Prezzo, which is located at 31/32 Northumberland Ave. We had a goat cheese starter. I had spaghetti carbonara and Carol had the lobster and crab filled tortellini. We had a nice cabernet sauvignon.

I believe it is a chain but it was still new to us.

After dinner, we walked back to the Hispanolia. But someone was throwing eggs from the bridge down on the boat. So we left and went to the boat next door, the Tattershall Castle at Victoria Embankment. We each had a Glenfiddich.

Friday Sept. 6th

Friday, we had the first rain since London Day 1..which is not too bad for our country with such a rainy reputation. Paris was clear and dry as well.

We started by riding the Tube to the British Museum. Once we arrived in the area, we had an early lunch at a place called the “Proper Hamburger” which was absolutely brilliant! It was located at 6 Store Street and was officially called Byron. The burgers were great, the wine was great and the service was really top notch. Once filled, we had to wander around the block a few times to find the entrance to the Museum. Once inside, we quickly found all the famous amazing cool stuff, the Rosetta Stone, the mummies, the DaVinci items.. Wow what an impressive place. We could have stayed all day but our next stop was to be the National Portrait Gallery which was equally amazing.

Dinner that night was right next door to the hotel at 7 Northuberland, a sushi place called Watatsumi. We had a Cotes du Rhone wine, some tempura veges, sashimi (tuna, salmon, yellow tail, and sea bass) as well as the salmon and avocado roll. It was very good and very elegant.

In the evenings, after dinner we would go to Boyd Brasseri which is the bar inside of Club Quarters. Ironically, our waitress who seemed very British on the surface turned out to be from Sedalia, MO. Her name was Maria They had a great happy hour after 10 PM with 2 drinks for the price of 1 and I think we stopped in every night except perhaps the night we went to Nightjar. During that time, we had several classic cocktails, a Manhattan, a Black Russian, a Side Car

Saturday 7th

We had a very early morning and very expensive taxi ride to Heathrow. Once there, we got through security which was not too bad and grabbed a bite to eat at the Bridge Bar in Terminal 3. I had a Bridge Classic breakfast with a J20 apple and raspberry drink. Carol had a cheese and ham toastie with a mango tango.
After we had breakfast, we had our customary cocktails, a Glenlivet, a Captain Morgan, and and a Jack and Coke. Our flight left at 10:15 AM and arrived in Chicago at 12:55. Once we left Chicago, We arrived in St. Louis about an hour later. Our friend Carolyn was there to pick us up and thus ended an amazing European vacation.