London: Last Day

Despite waking up to a gorgeous day, we started indoors with the National Gallery Museum after breakfast - though we enjoyed the weather as we walked there down the Mall, arriving just after the 10 a.m. opening. Featured here is really a fantastic range of art - sadly, the Impressionist rooms were closed, so we'll have to wait for Paris to see more of some of my favorites (Picasso, Van Gogh, Chagall...). That said, we still saw an amazing batch of art - including Caraveggio, Vermeer, Renoir and some unfinished Michelangelo works - giving some very interesting insight into how he worked and his artistic process.

Next we headed to Brick Lane in the East End. Here we splurged for what was a relatively simple Bangledeshi buffet for lunch (tipping the wallet at $60 for what is about $20 in Fremont!) However, the experience was great - our server - an Arab fellow studying hospitality in London - had worked 12 years at an American company in Dubai, so he quite fancied us (of course, asking "Did you leave your husbands home?"...to which I said, "Yes." Still, he slipped us business cards and it seemed he fancied Jill, as he put his cell number on hers...). The food was great, somewhat reminiscent of Udupi Palace in Seattle which serves up South Indian food; however, this had a good lot of meat. They pretty much only eat lamb and chicken at these places; beef is too costly and being that most are Muslim, they eschew pork. Always happy to eat lamb, there were no complaints coming from our table :)

Rest time took place in the late afternoon before heading out for our final dinner here. Despite our initial thoughts of eating a nicer dinner in each city, we opted to attempt to stay on budget and do something simple after a walking tour. Now, I know, tours are at times kinda lame, but we did a THE COVENT GARDEN PUB WALK (Off-piste in Gas-Lit London) that was riddled with history, drinks, and some of the remaining several hundred gaslights in London mostly in the Covent Garden neighborhood. We met some nice people (having the tour centered around a couple pub stops forces some interaction, which we wanted and found nice). From there - since it ended at 10 p.m. - we did a grab'n'go last run of fish'n'chips before hitting they hay.




















Shots outside the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square; Brick Lane...food, spices, atmosphere; London Walk - pub, gaslight, Oscar Wilde sculpture..and I found the one pink taxi in London, and got the driver to smile for me! :)