We stopped off at Balan's Soho Society at 7 Dials for breakfast which turned out to be a great choice. I had a brekkie burrito with a ladle-sized dollop of sour cream, while Adelaide finished her last full day in London with a full english (as a Hillbrookian, you begin with the end in mind), and both of us matched it with double-shot flat whites. I must admit, Londons coffee game had been good to us. We left significantly heavier.
Passing Trafalgar Square we made our way to Embankment ferry terminal. When we arrived, we were the only ones on the pier, aside from the interrogatory (Adelaides words, I would say charismatic) transport liaison officer who guided us in the right direction. After a short wait our Thames Clipper performed a radical reverse parallel park into the dock, and we embarked at Embankment. With ample seating, we sat up the front like true tourists.
The trip to Greenwich took a whole 30 minutes, but we got to go under Tower Bridge which was cool. We were surprised how empty the boat remained the length of the trip, despite it being around 9am.
Disembarking at Greenwich, we saw the Cutty Sark up on stilts with some men working on the main sail, and made a bee line for the observatory via the Park. The hills were unexpected. As we scaled the summit the sun came out, which gave us great views of Canary Wharf and the greater London CBD. We checked out the Royal Observatory and learnt about how they invented time (#woke). I found the quartz digital clocks fascinating. Addy walked up the Meridian.
After checking out the Observatory, we were curious about catching a Planetarium show, however it was nearly an hour later and the guy at the entrance desk warned us there would be school groups (we both shuddered). The planetarium let us touch a 4.5 million year old meteorite which made up for it.
Our brains full, it was time to fill our stomachs ("the more importanter organ" - Adelaide). We headed back into the Greenwich and investigated the markets. The markets had pretty standard fayre - lots of trinkets, homemade jewelry, popculture posters and a few "antiques". I stopped at a brisket van for a lovely brisket roll with spicy slaw, while Adelaide watched on intently (she couldn't decide). We wandered through Greenwich a bit longer, stopped off for a soda, and Adelaide found yet another Waterstones (and yes, it sold the same books as the others!).
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| The wide selection at the store - I was blown away! |
We decided to get the DLR home which took around the same amount of time as the ferry, but we got to see a bit of Canary Wharf on our way through. On the way back to the hotel Addy stopped off at Primark to buy a few more pairs of tights because they were just too good. In all honesty, we took the rest of the afternoon off and took it easy, spending time time to read and catch up on internet - after all, it is a holiday. Addy went out a little later in the afternoon for Fish and Chips to tide her to dinner, which we had something special lined up.
Earlier this year PRH released a book by Ottelenghi, and he had a kitchen, NOPI, in London which Addy had reserved a table at months in advance. We don't normally go out for pricey eats but this time we made an exception. We left the hotel in the early evening, and went for drinks at the Leicester Arms just up the road from the restaurant. As we had left after 5pm the work crowd were out in full swing for Friday arvo drinks. This meant finding anywhere to settle in was hard, and so we eventually found a patch of bar to claim our own. Adelaide and I lamented on how we were lucky that we hadn't had any language barrier issues to deal with just yet, being in England for our first leg. I proceeded to order another round of drinks and ended up with an extra pint I didn't want, thanks to Manuel my Spanish bartender (A sign of things to come? We'll see).
Nevertheless, we proceeded to Nopi for our booking and were briskly taken to a waiting bar where we ordered some drinks and had some delicious spicy nuts. The waiters were very hospitable. We got seated and ordered entree's of mutton and roasted aubergine; mains of a chickpea pancake for Addy and a half roasted chicken with a side of fried polenta chips for myself. Long story short, it tasted incredible. We were too full to have desert. If you're ever in London and can get a table, we would highly recommend.
London, and the UK, have been exceptionally good fun and a good way to start our holiday. It will be a bit sad to leave, as there is so much more we now want to do; but in the same vein there's so much more of Europe we're yet to discover (and eat!).
Tally ho!
D+A
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