It was time for my first trip to the capital of England. Maybe even Great Britain – The United kingdom. Maybe even Europe. I had wanted to visit this city for a long time and now was my chance. I couldn’t have asked for a better companion and guide in this large city. Isabelle Uller had lived there for a number of years, and gave me an introduction that suited me well.
I had said before we went there that I had little to no interest for seeing the usual tourist sites, like The Big ben, Westminster abbey, The London eye, and so on. I wanted to experience the city as best I could in the 3 days we had there.
The trip was paid for by Studio G, as a reward for a pleasant result the prior year. And if it was not for this fact, London would still be on my list of places to visit. It is now transferred to the list of places to revisit – accompanied by Paris.
My first impression of London overwhelmed me a bit. At first i thought it was the size of everything, but i later realized it was more the number of small things. The quantity of the city. I think i was overwhelmed by a need to take everything in. It was only after realizing this and accepting the impossibility of the task that i could relax and enjoy what I was experiencing.
The first day we walked along Oxford street and browsed some very large stores. We passed through Regent Street on our way to Soho. I liked Soho for it’s smaller size. I liked the narrow streets. Later we gave a visit to The National portrait gallery. A lot of large old paintings of old royalties. Not exactly our cup of tea, so we found our way to the basement and saw a small exhibition of photographs by Mary McCarthy. I had bought her book some time ago, so I really enjoyed seeing her prints on the walls of The National portrait gallery. Following the visit to the gallery we had a few pints of lager at a pub, before we went to our reservation at a Chinese restaurant in Soho, Plum Valley. This restaurant gave us what was to be the best meal, by far, of the trip. For starters de ate a very delicious duck, chicken and prawn dumplings, fried squid, and some vegetarian dishes i sadly have forgotten. For the main course I ate Mongolian beef with fried noodles and some rice. I think this even qualifies as my best meal EVER.
The second day we did some more shopping in Oxford street, and checked out Covent Garden. Boy do they have shoe stores in Covent Garden. I don’t think two hands have enough fingers to count them all. A bit later we met up with the rest of the gang to have dinner at a restaurant I have sadly forgotten the name of. Or maybe the restaurant is glad, because I didn’t like the food there. It was ok. I ate it all. But I had expected more from a restaurant with such a fancy menu. Oh well. They can’t all have the best food I guess. Isabelle and I ate quickly, because we had other plans. We were going to a metal pub in Soho, to meet some old friends of her. On our way there Isabelle assured me that she knew where it was. After walking up and down the street two or tree times, we tried the next street, and there it was. Bröderna Olssons Garlic and Shots. What a lovely little place. Judging by the name i would have thought the smell of garlic would be more prominent. But I couldn’t really smell any garlic. Luckily we didn’t make use of the elaborate shot menu. 101 different shots can very quickly spell disaster. And what a colourful pallet of friends. A writer, a rock/metal photographer, a touring band merchandise salesperson, a brain surgeon. We talked for a few hours and had a few beers then we took the tube back to the hotel.
Third and final day Isabelle and I travelled to Camden to shop a little at the markets. She found a lovely dress and a handbag, and i found a leather jacket. We also gave a visit to the fascinating store Cyberdog. Blacklight and raving music. I guess we were in a raver’s heaven. Back to the hotel to grab our luggage and off to the airport.
There is a very funny story to be told about the long drive to the airport, but out of respect for a certain person, I will keep it to myself. …for now.