London — Days one & two

On our way back from Rome, we stopped in London for two nights to visit with an old friend and Joanna’s favorite city.

By the time we got back to Rome on Monday, arrived at the airport, and made it into London, we’d lost most of the day. But it wasn’t a complete waste…

I’d been talking to college friend Rys for a while before we’d arrived, and so we met up with him in Richmond, just outside central London, at a pub on the Thames. Had dinner and a lovely time catching up with him, learning about his latest job as an associate at a patent law office (training to work as an attorney in copyright law for scientists, essentially).

Tues morning we awoke to rain only to have it clear up by the end of breakfast (gotta love London weather), so we decided to do some shopping in Notting Hill. While most of the antique shops weren’t open (their big time is Sat morning, followed by Fridays, from what I could tell), there are some newer boutiques nearby that have lots of great stuff. I found a new leather jacket and Tim was completely enamored of an organic grocery that had lots of ready-to-eat essentials.

We had theatre tickets that night, and since the play was at a location on the river, Rys had suggested taking the train to Embankment and walking the rest of the way. Thankfully, the weather turned out to be gorgeous that night and we had a lovely walk to the theatre. He’d been right; the area had completely changed since I was a student there, and it was great to see how beautiful everything has become.

Having seen the Globe Theatre being rebuilt in 1994, it was so great to be able to see a performance at the site. Even better, they were performing The Comedy of Errors, which just so happens to take place in Ephesus. Yup, that’s right — in Turkey, the city we’d visited just a few days before. So it was amusing to see little references to the culture that I doubt we would have fully gotten in the past. Nothing like Shakespeare in London. Nothing.

Our day ended with a late dinner at La Pont de la Tour, a French restaurant overlooking Tower Bridge. Wonderful meal, wonderful end to a great day.