London
A weekend trip to cross “see a Tottenham game” off our bucket list!
Days at a Glance
| Date | Day at a Glance |
|---|---|
| Thu, 28Sep23 | Arrival |
| Fri, 29Sep23 | British Library,British Museum, Walking tour through Historic London |
| Sat, 30Sep23 | Buckingham Palace, Walking tour through West Minster, National Gallery, Tottenham Game |
| Sun, 01Oct23 | Hyde Park, Kensington Palace, fly home |
High-Low-Hero-Chow/Ciao*
| Ben | Maggie | |
|---|---|---|
| High | Tottenham game | Tottenham game |
| Low | Butter paneer (too sweet) | Luton airport distance from London |
| Hero | Joel Matip (OG) | Fellow Tottenham fans |
| Chow/Ciao | Diogo Jota and Curtis Jones (ciao on red cards) | Dal Makhani |
*A game I learned from Ben, who uses it with friends as a fun way to reflect on an experience
Journal
Thursday 28Sep23
Friday 29Sep23
We enjoyed a proper English breakfast at Nora's Cafe, where I enjoyed the Vegetarian English Breakfast with Bubble and Squeak and Ben had vegetarian hash.
.JPG)
To start our day at the British library, Ben rented us bikes. London is not nearly as bike-friendly as the Netherlands, and while Ben was doing a good job at navigating us through the crowded streets, we still managed to get called "dick heads" by a guy leaning half of his body out of the window to yell at us. Nothing like a little confrontation to get the body excited for a day of exploring!
The British library was brief but interesting. Seeing a document from the 1200s is pretty cool, even if I didn't remember my elementary school lessons on the Magna Carta. Unfortunately no Jane Austen on display, which was my original motivation for going.
We had timed entry to the British museum at noon. Man, that museum is huge! We used a Rick Steves guide to help navigate the highlights and we were still there for hours. It was really interesting to see the Rosetta Stone and all the Ancient Egyptian artifacts, but it felt weird that there was so much historic treasures crammed into a small space with pathetic "Don't Touch" signs that many tourists ignored. While Ben and I enjoyed learning, we both agreed we would've designed the museum much differently. Ben wagered that within 20 years he predicts some artifacts to be returned to their rightful country, likely starting with Greece. We both remembered visiting the Parthenon museum where they explicitly call out the British Museum for keeping what they believe is rightfully theirs... So mark your calendars for 20 years from now and we can see if he's right!
Appreciating ancient artifacts from Egypt, Greece, and Assyria really can work up an appetite! We found a restaurant nearby, Fish Plaice, advertising Fish and Chips, but when we got there, I got the vibe that Korean Chicken was actually their specialty…However, we decided to try it, with my dad’s wisdom in the back of my head. My dad likes to say the quality of the fish can be determined by the size of the fried pieces (one large piece? quality fish. a bunch of small fried pieces? lower quality.) The cod coming out of the kitchen was one large piece so we ordered a big ol’ cod and some Korean Chicken. Both delicious, but the Korean Chicken was definitely the stand out.
After refueling, Ben led us on a Rick Steve’s self-guided walking tour of “The City”, starting at the Church St. Clement Danes and wondering up Fleet Street, ending at the London Bridge. It was interesting to see all the old monuments and learn about what the city has endured.
After lots of walking, we took a break at the hostel before heading out to dinner. I had been craving quality Indian and knew London would be the place to get it. We ended up at Taste of Jaipur where we enjoyed dal makhani, butter paneer, and stuffed paratha. The waiter tried to steer us away from butter paneer, saying it would be “sweet,” but it the only(?) creamy paneer main course (most of the main courses being meat-based or vegan). Still absolutely delicious, but a good reminder to trust the waiter, as it definitely wasn’t as balanced as the dal makhani.
We ended the night getting over-priced Guinness’s at a tavern on our way home. Turns out that Guinness does taste better in Ireland. We enjoyed people watching-Brits get sloppy quickly!
Saturday 30Sep23
We started our day tubing to Buckingham Palace to take in its splendor and enjoying a pastry on a nearby bench. We wondered along the pedestrian walk and came upon the start of a Household Cavalry inspection ceremony, where the guards were being judged in a very public-facing, tradition-oriented ritual. Man, the Brits love their tradition.
To see more of the city, we did (another, I know) Rick Steve’s self-guided walking tour, starting at Big Ben and ending at Trafalgar Square. It was great to see many of the classic London sights!
We needed to grab lunch before the National Gallery, and it just! so! happened! that there was a Chipotle nearby…Ben has dearly missed Chipotle in the Netherlands. While enjoying his veggie bowl (with tortilla on the side, as usual), he remarked that, while this scratched his Chipotle itch, it wasn’t as good as American Chipotles. Any guesses for how many times he’ll have Chipotle when we visit home in December?
We had timed entry to the National Gallery at 13:30 and could only spend 1.5ish hours there, but I wish we could’ve spent much longer! So much beautiful art-I was really impressed. I enjoyed the Vermeer and Seurat, I’m learning I have a weird affinity for pointillism. Plus it was cool to see the Van Eyck “Arnolfini Portrait” that we had in my childhood home growing up. I would definitely go back!
Finally, the main event of the weekend! The Tottenham game! Ben has been a Tottenham fan for years, and we knew that living in Europe meant we’d be able to more easily get to London. However we didn’t realize how difficult it would be for us to get tickets, Ben had to pay for memberships to have access to resale tickets, and even then had to spam refresh the website for days to find tickets. Granted, this was one of the most popular game of the season against rival Liverpool. Through his perseverance he got us tickets, albeit not next to each other. (Now that he’s gotten it figured out, we already have tickets to go back in December. We have a running bet of over/under 2.5 games this season, my bet is over).
On the tube to Tottenham, we saw plenty of other fans in gear. One group even gave Ben a Strongbow cider to get us in the mood! An old fella started chatting us up and was so excited to hear it was our first game. He recommended we get off at the “Seven Sisters” tube station and walk the 30ish minutes to the stadium to see the Tottenham neighborhood. We followed the local advice and it was electrifying to walk along with thousands of other fans. We go to the stadium plenty early, enough time to soak it all in (and use our membership merch vouchers to get scarves!) It really is an incredible stadium. We got a snack of sausage roll and their house-specialty: beef and onion pie. The game was truly incredible. We won 2-1 on a last-minute own-goal after Tottenham had a 2-man advantage from 2 red cards for much of the second half. It was one of the most exciting atmospheres I’ve ever been in.
The only thing distracting me from the game was the drama of my seat-mates. Behind me was a group of Dutch fellas, chatty as usual, asking me about American sports and remarking I looked too young to be married. Next to me a solo teenager got into a screaming match with a woman, cussing at each other and needing to be separated by a few seats. Tensions were running high!
Fans were in good spirits after the exciting win. We enjoyed a few pints outside the stadium in a fan village area chatting with some locals. One local, also named Ben, invited us to a “proper London pub” with him. Just a block away, this place was about halfway full and the DJ was playing Bob Marley way too loud. We chatted as best as we could over the loud music, and while he was entertaining, we didn’t want to keep the party rolling with him. When Ben made it clear that we wouldn’t be joining our chatty but slightly weird friend at the next pub, our friend said “but this place isn’t a proper pub, this is a Walmart version.” When Ben incredulously replied “but you picked this place,” he just shrugged.
On our walk back to the tube we chatted with other fans, finding out there was quite a contingent or Northern Irish Tottenham fans. We grabbed some McDonald’s that we enjoyed at our hostel before passing out from one of the best nights ever. Truly, the Tottenham game was electric unlike anything I’ve ever experienced, and I can’t wait to go back.
Sunday 01Oct23
After an amazing night, we were looking for a laid-back morning. We tubed to a Jewish bakery/deli in the Notting Hill neighborhood and enjoyed bagels and rugelach. It was great to sip my latte and watch an old baker tend to his mini-challahs. Afterwards we walked around Hyde Park and checked out Kensington Palace. We were both impressed with Hyde Park, huge and quite serene for such a large city. We ended our walk at the bus station where we took the 1 hour bus back to Luton airport.
What a great weekend trip! We are excited to return in December for another Tottenham game.
For the Record
| Details | |
|---|---|
| Arrival | EasyJet, Thursday 28Sep, 8PM LTN |
| Departure | EasyJet, Sunday 01Oct, 4PM LTN |
| Accomodation | Wombat Hostel, Dock St |
| Thursday Dinner | Bon Appetit Lebanese, Leman St |
| Friday Breakfast | Nora Cafe, Wentworth St |
| Friday Lunch | Fish Plaice, Museum St |
| Friday Dinner | Taste of Jaipur, Brick Lane |
| Sunday Breakfast | 101 West, Westbourne Grove |
| Maisy | With Hanna and Ray and their two corgis |
Comments
Post a Comment