Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: London

  • London (Central) – Duck and Waffle

    Our breakfast location on the Hike Norfolk day trip to London was a little shrouded in mystery as Steve was keeping it a surprise. We discovered, and I think the view was that we were impressed, to find out that we were going to the fortieth floor of Heron Tower (now formally known as 110 Bishopgate).

    The view looking up in the lift.

    The lights in the bar area of the restaurant. We were running a little early so we had a wait in this area for the table to become available, with another customer looking a little the worse for wear. Although this is a 24 hour operation, and indeed the highest 24 hour restaurant and bar in London, so perhaps that is a little inevitable.

    The views from the restaurant.

    A morning latte, which was excellent with its rich flavour and it was served at a drinkable temperature.

    I went, after much deliberation, for the spiced dahl which had two poached hen’s eggs, fresh coriander, flat bread and sumac sprinkled over the top. This was way above average, with the eggs being runny and brightly coloured, the sumac added flavour, the flat bread was lightly toasted and moist and the chickpeas were perfectly cooked. The sauce had a deep flavour and the dish was well seasoned, with everything being at the appropriate hot temperature. The portion size was also larger than I had expected, so this was a perfectly adequate breakfast meal.

    The pricing wasn’t the cheapest, but there was inevitably an element of paying for the location, with the drink being £4, the breakfast £10 and there was a compulsory service charge of around £2. The service was efficient and professional, but not particularly engaging. However, the efficiency was useful as we had an hour slot for the table and this proved to be entirely sufficient for our needs.

    We had booked across two tables so that we didn’t have to order from a set menu, which is required from larger groups. However, the staff seated us at neighbouring tables, so we could still hear what Dave was talking about.

    Overall, I thought this location offered better value than I had anticipated when we entered, although there is perhaps a need for a refresh of the interior as some of the seating was looking a bit worn.

  • London – Forgotten Streams by Cristina Iglesias

    This photo dates back to January 2018 and it’s an art installation by the Spanish artist Cristina Iglesias which is located at the relatively new Bloomberg HQ in London. It’s designed to mark where the Walbrook River once flowed, a river which was covered over relatively early on, during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

    The art installation is made from cast bronze and there are strands of this material used throughout, so the water flows to create small pools.

  • London – Briefly

    I’m sure many people would decide that if they had a day transiting (I’m not sure I can call it transit when it’s my home country, but that word works here for me) in London, they might actually get a hotel and have a peaceful night’s sleep before their flight the next morning.

    I decided though that this was another ideal opportunity to walk around Heathrow T3 for the night, uncovering more areas that I’ve never discovered. Well, this doesn’t really work, I think I’ve discovered all of Gatwick, Heathrow T3 and Heathrow T5 over the years. But, I can people watch. Or the people that are around to watch that is….

    Anyway, I get ahead of myself. My day was full of things that I can’t talk about (not that they’re important, more just drivel really that isn’t worth talking about), but it involved firstly getting from Gatwick South Terminal to London. By miracle given the recent railway fiasco, my train was on time and I got into London much earlier than I had anticipated. I got off at London Bridge, hence the photo of the Shard at the top.

    I also got chance to go to Wimbledon. When I say Wimbledon, I mean I went to the place, I didn’t actually see any tennis. But I can say that I was there. Well, down the road.

    Travelling to Heathrow at night isn’t really that common a pursuit. It meant that I had the entire carriage, and indeed nearly the entire underground train, to myself. But there were about five of us on there, and I’m guessing there was a driver as well. I also opened the windows at the end of the carriage so that there was a hurricane blowing through, which made the temperature just right for me.

    And when at Heathrow, it’s possible to see all the hundreds of people there….

    For anyone interested, the best places to entertain yourself for a night at Heathrow T3 are the arrivals area for getting devices charged and the bus station for the best people watching. There are very few opportunities to charge devices in the bus station area though, so don’t get there if you’re short on power.

    Whilst at the bus station, I watched two kids playing ‘paper, rock, scissors’ and they were keeping score. They were at 110-89 when I was watching, and the parents looked entirely exasperated. I can only begin to imagine how long that game had gone on before I got there.

    Oh, and I also watched someone fall off the bench they were sleeping on. This kind of entertainment is unmissable to me, I had waited for nearly fifteen minutes for them to move far enough to fall. And I couldn’t stop them, I can’t awaken sleeping people, they might be furious.

    Airport security opens at 04:45, which is later than Gatwick, and there are numerous benches for those who want to sleep. I didn’t, I wanted to stay away and read Facebook. See, who needs a hotel?