August 22 was our last night in London, and part of the morning was spent returning back to London from Paris. After a quick trip back to our hotel room back at Wembley Park, we quickly went back to Knightsbridge because Janice had a couple of returns and VAT items to take care of at Harrods and Topshop. We then headed towards Piccadilly Circus to see the famous illuminated signs and we grabbed some lunch at a pub called Tom Cribb. From the official website: “The pub is named after British champion bare-knuckle boxer Tom Cribb who, in the 1800s, retired from the ring and later became a publican, at the Union Arms. The pub changed its name to honour his career.” I had a sandwich named after him and Janice had bangers & mash for the first time (both were very tasty). I wanted to try a truly British beer, so I had half a pint of Spitfire to wash it all down.
After walking around a bit, we stopped by Cool Britannia, one of the coolest souvenir shops in London. Unfortunately, I was quite bogged down with packages and it was way too busy in the store to take any proper pictures. I wish I had because it really is quite a fantastic souvenir shop.
Elliot making my first drink of the evening: The Westerners’ Erofeitch. Doesn’t he look like a naughty mad scientist? Note the water and food close by…we knew it would be that kind of night.
My next two drinks: The Perfect Lady (very sweet & creamy) and The Mandalay (slightly bitter with Campari).
To celebrate our last hurrah in London, we went back to Callooh Callay (see my first post here). The above drinks were all delicious and very mildly named. Things already became fuzzy for me after two drinks, so I very thankful that we had been eating and drinking water throughout the night. As the evening got later, the names of the drinks got raunchier. I’m sure Elliot has seen crazier patrons than Janice and myself, but I thank him for putting up with me, especially after four drinks (Janice can hold her drink much better and went three drinks deeper than I did). India, another lovely and incredibly understanding waitress, was also very sweet, keeping up with our silliness throughout the evening.
This was the last of the respectfully named drinks: this is the P-p-p-poppy. I think the stuttering comes from having the three drinks prior.
A very nice picture of Elliot and Janice. My eyes always narrow the more drink I consume, so I opted for no pictures of myself for the evening. I’m surprised I was even able to hold the camera steady for this shot.
Janice with a new friend she met whilst I was in the ladies room. The bluriness of the shot indicates why I couldn’t remember her name…sorry dear!
One of these drinks is called the Spagliato and the other is called Ahhh, Sh!t, It Tastes Like Christmas (as you can tell, I can’t remember which is which). The last drink of the night was what did Janice in, which is probably why it’s not pictured. It was a drink we used to have when we were clubbing. Elliot’s version is called “I F@#!ed the Red Headed Slut”. And so ended the night…
I’m not sure how we did it, but we filled out applications and turned them in before we left, with the hopes of obtaining membership to The Jubjub Bar. I’ll let you know if we actually got our memberships approved (*crossing fingers*). As Bridget Jones would say it was a “v. good night and blurry good fun!”
(Please note that as of September 5, our Jubjub Membership requests were approved! Now, does that mean that we should schedule another trip out there to collect our key? Hmm…)
The Metropolitan line. Our hotel was directly in front of the Wembly Park stop (Zone 4).
These last pictures in London are a bit silly. One is of the Tube line that we took regularly, which was the Metropolitan. The second picture I took because I’ve read that Alan Wilder (Recoil/Depeche Mode) grew up in Acton, which is in West London. On our way to Heathrow, the one of the stops was Acton Town. Is it the same area? I don’t know, but I had to take a picture of it (although I know he now lives in Sussex). I also have to say that I’m very sad that I missed the Spirit of Talk Talk launch party, which happened September 6 (Alan Wilder was rumoured to have been there). Even if I had known about it, I’m not sure I could have made it work anyway as it would have been just too long to be away from home and work. Oh well!
I took a couple of final pictures on the plane ride home of our route on British Airways. I love the individual video screens that are available on these long flights because it allows me to watch several movies I would never have otherwise watched. I watched The Five-Year Engagement and The Hunger Games on the way home (I can’t remember what I watched on the way to London because I was fighting a cold that I caught on the way). I also took a picture of our dinner that night because I also love meals on long flights. I particularly liked the dessert, and our nice gentleman flight attendant gave me another one after my meal (it was a cream passion fruit custard, with chocolate shavings on top, SO good).
I had such a great time with Janice and I’m glad we got the chance to get away and spend some time together. I’m also glad I was able to be there for her first European trip, showing her places I had been and discovering new places. I think there may be another European trip in the future (we’re shooting for Germany), but it will be with my husband and son. Cheers and thanks for reading!
Please note that most photos were taken with my iPhone unless otherwise noted. Photos 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10 were by Janice Gutana (photo collages are counted as one photo).
