So… for the last week, we were in London. We’re in Paris now, but have only just arrived. Quite different.

I enjoyed London quite a bit. We went to a huge number of museums – not normally my thing, but the combination of them being 1.) free and 2.) diverse meant that they were a really good, and interesting way to pass the time.

We started off at the National Gallery, which was a good thing, because the organization of their exhibits was excellent. I went in without much context, or understanding about the real evolution of the various works, but left feeling like I had a reasonable idea about how various paintings were thematically or stylistically connected. The only thing that really left me cold was the section that was focused entirely on really old religious iconography, which I simply didn’t have the knowledge to even begin to comprehend.

After the National Gallery, we ended up at the Tate Modern (excellent content, very poorly organized, IMO – no sense of continuity or context – organizing modern art by theme (landscapes?) seems almost the worst way to have organized the various works. After that, off to the British Museum. We ended up focusing solely on the “left” wing (ha-ha), where their Egyptian, Greek and Roman works were kept. We took a quick spin through Korea, but basically, there was so much stuff that by the time we were completely wiped out, we’d still only seen half the museum.

On the last day in London, we went to the Imperial War Museum, and saw the Children in War exhibit, which as expected, was heartbreaking. There was more time, but I couldn’t really bring myself to go look at more of the consequence of war. Very interesting, very informative, and very, very heavy.

In terms of food, we did quite well, I think. We ended up eating at a couple excellent places – Gordon Ramsay’s Boxwood Cafe was quite good, and the best “bang for the buck” that we had, I believe. I had a really vivid dream about the dessert that evening – a Passionfruit Fool (basically, a yogurt/whipped cream mixture, flavored with passionfruit). Excellent stuff, and I hope that I can find a recipe somewhere to make some attempt at making it when we get home.

Still, the best meal I had in London was the dinner at the Savoy Grill. Started off with a variety of little things, but my starter was a smoked haddock omelette – easily the best egg dish I’ve ever had anywhere. Perfect in every way. The main was a lamb neck, which is kind of strange, but was done really well. The jus was a touch salty, but the meat and vegetables were perfectly done. The dessert was a rice pudding, which was good, but couldn’t hold a candle to Ei-Nyung’s cinnamon-infused creme brulee.

Whew.

Strangely, one of the other best meals I had was from a place called Bang! which you might have guessed was a sausage grill/bar place. Strangely, it was just across the way from the hotel, and looked sort of crap from the outside, but was actually quite elegant on the inside. We got a trio of sausages, mash, and onion gravy. The sausages were delicious, and varied, the mash was perfect, and well-complemented by the gravy. Also one of the cheapest meals we had while there.

Other meals of note, which I’m sure I’ll write about at some point:

Fish & Chips at a place called Rock and Sole Plaice – best fried fish I’ve had – the crust stuck to the fish like glue, and was nice and crispy. The chips were also great – greasy, to be sure, but nicely crispy and well-flavored.

Wagamama – a noodle chain – got a spicy chicken ramen which was largely unremarkable, but some duck gyoza that were delicious. The chocolate cake with a wasabi-infused frosting was also surprising, and quite good.

Yo Sushi was a bit of a letdown, but I should have known that going in. We hadn’t quite gotten adjusted to HOW GODDAMNED EXPENSIVE everything in London was, and looking at the menu, there were only a few things we were willing to gamble $10 for a bite or two on. They had some really excellent cheap dishes, like a chicken katsu curry (for $7), but the pricing was prohibitive to the style of dining they require.

Anyway – after all the museums and the food, what I left London with was a sense of affection – I really rather like the place, and there’s enough that we missed that I certainly wouldn’t mind going back. I could see living here for a year, maybe two, but holy crap is it expensive.

Paris is quite different – a little taller, and a little less like say, New York. There were moments in London, walking down Oxford St., that felt just like walking in midtown Manhattan, and not in a way that I particularly enjoy. Walking down Rue de Rombateau (I’m sure I butchered that), the sense I got was very different. On Monday after Easter, which is a bank holiday here, there was a huge tourist glut, but still, the open cafes and food stands was a welcome and interesting change from the place we’d spent the previous week.

And just for the record, the thing I thought when I walked out of the subway stop in Picadilly Circus was, “Hey, I’ve been here in PGR!” while walking by the Pompidou Centre, I thought, “Man, this looks much better in real life than it did in Midnight Club 2 or Midtown Madness 3.”

Tomorrow, we’ve got a city to explore. Tonight, we wash socks.