London: Day One

I headed out of the train station on Tuesday night, scheduled to arrive in London around midnight. I was in the “quiet” car where no cell phones or talking is allowed, so it was a very peaceful, relaxing trip.

Once I arrived in London’s Euston train station, I dragged my luggage out to the curb and hailed a cab which took me to the hotel where Lisa was waiting for me. (She had arrived from Colorado a few hours earlier.) I felt very cool and urban, hopping taxis at midnight in the Big City.

When I got to the hotel, it was so great to see Lisa. She ran down the hallway to meet me and I couldn’t stop grinning. We went back to her room, where she had some absolutely fabulous birthday presents waiting for me:

It was late, but we were so happy to see each other that we hung out in our pajamas, ordered some late-night room service, and chatted until the wee hours.

The next morning, we slept in. When we were up and around, we walked around the area the hotel was in to get a feel for the neighborhood. We ate a late breakfast at a café down the street, where Lisa got her first taste of the weirdness that is British cuisine: a ham omelet, with roasted veggies and a side salad. It was delicious, but I have to say… It’s very, very weird to eat a salad for breakfast. Not sure I'll be repeating that one.

This is us, hamming it up at breakfast:

After breakfast, we took the tube over to the Tate Museum of Modern Art. It was in this really wonderful old converted power station on the Thames river.

We walked around all afternoon, and gawked at the fabulous art. Here's a sampling of some of my favorite pieces:

The outside of the musem was beautiful, too. Here's the view from the upper balcony of theTate.

And here are a few artsy shots of Lisa, enjoying the indoor scenery.

I could go on and on with more pictures, but  I'll exercise a little restraint and stop here. Suffice it to say, I had a fantastic time at the museum.

By the end of the afternoon, Lisa and I were both a little bit worn out, so we decided to go back to the hotel for some down time. At dinner time, we walked down to an absolutely wonderful Russian restaurant in the neighborhood. It was cozy and inexpensive, a real rarity for London. The walls were deep red and purple, and the menu was filled with traditional Russian dishes. When we wandered into the place, I didn’t really know what to expect…We kind of ended up there on a whim. To my surprise, we ended up having one of the single most memorable meals of the whole trip. I had borscht for the first time, and it was delicious. I can’t believe I’ve lived this long without trying it… It’s truly wonderful. Beety goodness. In addition to chicken Kiev and cabbage rolls, we also downed quite a few shots of potato vodka—Mine was infused with honey and pepper, and Lisa’s was honey and lemon. I never thought that I liked vodka, and usually avoid it. But, I’ve been converted. Honey and pepper vodka is my new favorite thing. Like, ever.

On the walk back to the hotel, warm with vodka, we strolled through the quiet neighborhood. Lisa and I were dazzled by all of the beautiful blooming trees and flowers. We smiled all the way home.