Honeymoon: Day Four in London
Unlike the other days, on Thursday, April 13, 2006, after a fast breakfast of instant curry ramen (instead of Pret!) we headed out to easyInternetcafe, then to Tottenham Court (instead of Picadilly Circus). OMG, a break in routine! Whatever shall we do?!
Our first stop of the day was the British Museum. I have to say, I got really spoiled with all the free museums. It’s so kick-ass that they are almost all free. All the building were so gorgeous, although as far as architecture, I loved the Parisian buildings far more on average.
After almost three hours of roaming around the museum and mocking various works of art
this guy told us to go away
so we did. I mean, look at him! Wouldn’t you do whatever he said? His buddy showed us what he does to people (and animals) that don’t listen to them:
Dude. That’s harsh. Anyway, we headed over to pretty much the first cafe we could fine, which was called “bibimbap cafe”, and found that kimbap tastes the same no matter where you have it.
We roamed a bit further in the museum area, where Seppo bought a camera strap to replace the one he left at home. What? I didn’t give him any grief over that, I swear! 😀 It was a camera shop/cafe, which I thought was an awesome concept. They had little chalk drawings of what the different coffees consisted of, not to mention dusty display cases of old and new cameras.
We returned to the hotel around 4:45pm and rested up for around 45 minutes, then headed out to eat at Marcus Wareing at the Savoy Grill. What an unwieldy and grammatically awkward name for a restaurant. We have this pic of the outside:
but we were too wussy to take any pics indoors. It’s a shame because it was a beautiful place.
The service was so good and attentive that I was surprised that they didn’t hold the fork to my mouth so that I could eat. It was weird: the service was almost so attentive that it felt intrusive, but it never really crossed the line. Even though it was extremely attentive, we never were made to feel like we were not doing something right or anything, and the waitstaff seemed to be so sincerely glad to hear we had a great dinner. I mean, it’s just excellent training, I know, but it was still very believeable. Still, the best service I ever had was at Chez Panisse. The difference was that it felt more… homey, and more inviting, whereas Marcus Wareing exudes a “this is a nice place so we are going to go the extra mile” feeling, if that makes any sense.
The food was, without exception, excellent. I enjoyed every bite of every course, including the little amuse bouches they served us. I will cover it more in depth in the food blog at some point. I would totally go back again. The prix fixe menu also makes this place a veritable bargain for the phenomenal service and quality of food.
At around 8:30, we left the restaurant and walked along the Thames to the Temple station. We went back to the hotel and rested up.
It’s so funny, because I feel like almost everyday in London, we had dinner pretty early (to take advantage of some of the prix fixe menus), but almost everyday in Paris, we didn’t even leave to get dinner until 8:30 or 9.