A day in London

At long last, having located a new cord for my camera, I'm able to tell you a bit -- with illustrations -- about my day in London.

While booking my trip to India, I had the good fortune of finding a flight to Bombay that included a 10-hour layover in London. I like to break up the 20+ hours of traveling to India when possible, and this particular itinerary allowed me to have two overnight flights bookending a lovely day in the sunshine.

On suggestion of my friend Anna, whom I planned to meet later in the day, I started my day trip off in central London from the Westminster Tube station. It was a perfect place to start, as Big Ben greeted me as soon as I could see the outside world.

Big Ben looms large through the canopy at Westminster station.

I spent half an hour walking around Westminster, taking in the architecture, the sun, the crowds and, as I rounded the southern edge of the palace, the Thames. After a 10-hour flight from San Francisco, I was more than happy to have a breath of fresh air and a chance to stretch my legs.

I stayed at Westminster long enough to hear Big Ben chime 1:30 p.m. and then headed on, as I had only about 90 minutes left to sightsee. I headed north, first along the Thames for a block, stopping to get a solid snap of the London Eye.

The London Eye -- quite the Ferris wheel!

I headed up Whitehall then toward Trafalgar Square, buzzing through en route to Picadilly, which I was keen to get at least a glimpse of.

At Picadilly, I judged that I was in desperate need of some sustenance -- so I hailed a cab toward Covent Garden, in search of a noted chippy. (You can't head to London and miss a chance to have real fish and chips, can you? Thanks for the suggestion, Carl!) You can see the results here. Overall: Highly impressed.

Finally, refueled and in need of some caffeine, I headed back toward Trafalgar Square for tea. After an amusing stop at the post office (they have a take-a-number system, like a deli -- how efficient!), I finally found my long-lost friend, Anna, outside the National Portrait Gallery. We settled in upstairs for the aforementioned afternoon tea (see here), catching up about traveling, studying, writing and the old gang for nearly three hours. Afterward, Anna walked me through Leicester Square and dropped a very jet-lagged version of me at the Tube to head back to Heathrow. I had just enough sense left to pick up some postcards from the shop inside the station.

Postcards, written on my Tube journey back to Heathrow.

While my day there was too short to begin to see all of the sights I've dreamed of, I thoroughly enjoyed London. Next trip: Looking up where Dickens walked and wrote, a tour through rock 'n roll history and, if possible, a look inside the Royal Opera House, where the Nutcracker I watch every Christmas was filmed (yes, I know I was right there in Covent Garden this time -- but I was tired).

For now, off to lunch in Bombay at Royal Willingdon Sports Club, a great reminder of the British presence and influence here in India. For full photos of London, see here.

Meals: A round-up

I woke up all ready to post a bit about my stop to see Big Ben, Picadilly and the Thames -- but it seems I've forgotten the cable to my DSLR, where the loveliest of my London photos are lodged. So you'll have to content yourselves for now with a round-up of my food photos, most of which I've taken with my phone.

Up first: The first plane meal I had, following that delicious (and greedy) pizza at SFO. Virgin Atlantic -- lovely all around as an airline -- served up chicken korma as an option for Monday evening's meal, and I thought it was delicious.

Chicken korma with rice, daal and a bit of fried onion, flanked by the hip, purple Virgin Atlantic plastic cutlery.

Next, in London, I sought out the obligatory meal of fish and chips (and pint). I'd 'borrowed' a Frommers ebook on London from the San Francisco library, and the closest fish joint to Westminster, where I was spending much of my day, was Rock and Sole Plaice on Endell Street. I'm typically a Lonely Planet devotee, so this was my first experience with Frommers -- and it did well. Battered cod, recommended by one of the fry guys, arrived in a huge portion with an equally massive mountain of fries, all of which seemed to dwarf my cold pint.

Battered cod with delicious tartar sauce, fries with vinegar and salt and an Efes pilsner.

I could eat only half of the fish -- and even then, I blame it for the necessity of parcels at afternoon tea. I met my old friend Anna at the National Portrait Gallery's restaurant, where we mulled over all that's happened in the nearly five years since we'd seen each other while also taking in 180-degree views out over the city. It was lovely, but you'll have to take my word for it, as I was too jet-lagged by then to remember to take a photo.

The parcel, however, I remembered to photograph in the midst of my flight to Bombay. I'd finally regained my appetite -- and after devouring the chicken with coriander and dahi, I also ate the orange spice cake, which had been so beautifully wrapped as a foil handbag, as I sipped my chai.

Empty food containers, including one that contained chicken with coriander and rice, one of dahi from Sussex, and one of kulfi. 

The lovely tinfoil parcel, before I destroyed it to get to the orange spice cake.

Finally, last evening, I got to dig in after dinner to a treat dropped off by a neighbor: handmade chocolate dessert cups, filled with strawberry-flavored whipped cream and topped with a fresh strawberry. This dish had the potential to be overly sweet, with all that strawberry syrup, but the chef had done it just right.

Homemade chocolate fruit cups.

And with all of that food posting behind me now, I absolutely must go and have my morning tea. I'm feeling famished all of a sudden!