This England: Back in London with Music, Shopping and a Special Meet-Up!

When last we left our happy travelers, we had completed a road trip to Basildon Park, Hungerford, Burford, Snowshill Manor and Hughenden. We arrived home in time to get to a guitar concert at the wonderful crypt at St. Martin In the Field.

Plinio Fernandes is a South American guitarist who often plays Brazilian folk music. Despite being exhausted, I enjoyed his playing with largely South American selections. And you couldn't beat the atmosphere. The Crypt of St. Martin in the Field is in the basement of this historic church located in Trafalgar Square. By day it is a restaurant, but other events take place in the space (as well as in the lovely church above).

If only he hadn't been a double act! He was joined by a cellist whom I described as ghastly (and so were the pieces she played.) To be fair, it was probably more the pieces that were ghastly than she was, but when she started to sing atonally, along with one of them (going flat on the high notes, no less), I just wanted to get out of there. I was very relieved when the guitarist returned.

 

Or, as one might say after meeting a couple, "Loved him, hated her."

The next morning I bordered on the comatose so Rick head off early to the British Library again and we planned to meet up at St. James Piccadilly for a piano concert that afternoon. Rick went to the concert; I walked down the street to Fortnum and Masons . . . 

 

. . . where I indulged myself in retail eye candy! 

Fortnums is so elegant (and not inexpensive!) But they do a wonderful job with their displays.

 

I loved this art installation on one of the walls. Hmmm. I could do this with all the kitchen stuff I haven't donated yet. Heavy duty adhesive, white paint. Of course, you'd need a really strong wall to support it! I'll leave that craft project to someone else!

And I'm always excited when I look down the spiral staircase from a higher floor!

 

(Upon returning, Rick said he didn't like the concert either, so I was glad I skipped it!)

I love St. James Piccadilly. It's a Christopher Wren church and I wrote about it much more HERE. It's simple and beautiful. But what I really love most is that my second great grandparents, Elizabeth and Stephen Grainger, were married in this church and my great grandmother was christened there, no doubt at this beautiful baptismal font. It was designed by Grinling Gibbons, one of the few sculptures the artist ever did in marble.

Another thing I love about this area (apart from it being only a block from Piccadilly Circus and close to Green Park) is that on many days it has a wonderful street food market. We were off-schedule for lunch but apparently a lot of others were too!

 

We both indulged in the best-ever beef brisket sandwich I have ever had, beautifully seasoned! I'd return in a heartbeat (and buy another to take home for dinner!)

And, they were starting to get Christmas decorations in place.  I can imagine that hanging all the lights in London is quite a job and requires some early work! I would love to have seen this lit up a month or two later! (Blogger Steve has a nice video walk of the London lights here on Shadows and Light.)

 

Speaking of Steve, we had better plans than street food for dinner. We were off to meet him, his partner Dave, and their wonderful dog, Olga, at their home in West Hampstead. (Olga deserves a blog of her own.) We had some wine and a look at Steve's  garden (still going, even in October) before heading down to the main street for dinner.

We dined at a place called the Wet Fish Cafe and it was fantastic. I had an excellent fish with risotto and there were wonderful appetizers, too. But best of all was the company. Steve and Dave were great, the conversation loads of fun. The only downside of the evening was that it was over much too soon!

Our next day was a bucket-list day for me! So home to bed!

Travel Tips:

• Don't Hesitate to Split Up from Your Travel Partner -- Face it. When you are traveling with others, sometimes one of you wants to do something and the other doesn't. You may be exhausted. Or have bad feet. Or just don't want a second concert when you went to one the night before. There is no sin in splitting your day and doing what you both want. Travel is expensive and you might not easily get back to a spot later in your trip -- or ever. So do it. Just make sure you have a place to meet up and a plan. (I will say that this might be harder if you aren't familiar with the language but in England it is a piece of cake!)
• Try the street food! A good food truck or street food market can top the best restaurant if they have what you love. And it's a lot less expensive!

• Contact Your Blog Friends. If you regularly follow a blog from someone who lives at or near your travel destination, connect in advance and see if you can meet up. I can almost guarantee you that you won't be disappointed, that illusions won't be shattered! One of the best things about blog world is that it's made up of people with whom we must have things in common or why do we visit! Even if you can't meet face-to-face, your blog friend might be able to give you good recommendations of things to enjoy during your visit that might be off the grid. (It was thanks to blogger Jenny that we found our excellent hotel and I probably wouldn't have looked there otherwise.) 
  

(This is a bit of a week or two for me and I may not be replying well to comments, but if you ask something specific I'll do my best to get back to you. Thanks for understanding.)

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