For Christmas, Gail & Yogi bought us a voucher for a "London experience" which included anything from High Tea in Kensington Gardens, to Thames Boat Cruises or spins on the London Eye. We reviewed all the options carefully and finally decided to do something fun and completely random: the Medieval Banquet dinner and theatre experience in Tower Hamlet!
We, and along with the other diners in our medieval party, assembled in Tower Hamlet to be lead below into what would be our medieval den for the evening. The room was set up with long banquet tables in a cellar-type room and riddled with actors and waitors decked out in medieval wear.
We were seated next to another couple from Kent who had also received this experience as a gift, and the next couple over were from Essex who again - had received the gift for Christmas. Trend, much?
The evening began with a introduction on how to behave medievally: "Wasaa!" is what you yell out before you drink, apparently. The king entered, as per usual introduction by his servants, and the wenches began to bring out our first meal of our 3 course medieval dinner: a ham, cheese and salad platter. And red wine in great jugs. Bliss!
The evening continued in true medieval fashion: dances with hankerchiefs for all the women to participate in, men having to do an obligatory dance, circus acts, jugglers, traditional medieval songs, you name it, it had it! Dinner was a great piece of meat and dessert a strawberry shortcake. Of course, with more and more red wine!
It was such a fun random night, a trip down English memory lane below the city streets of London!
By Celebrity Guest Blogger Nick!
Valentine’s day traditionally conjures images of fluffy teddy bears holding heart shaped objects, men struggling to understand the difference between different celebrity perfumes and far too liberal use of the letter ‘W’ in pwace of ‘L’. So imagine this bloggers delight when he realized February 14, 2009 and would be spent at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin!
On our Friday night flight with Aer Lingus, we were privileged enough to witness a contest between a small child and a jet engine seeing who could produce the most decibels. The small child won. But nonetheless we were delivered safely to Dublin, Ireland – the land of Guinness, Potatoes and Leprechauns. After the bus dropped us in the centre of town late on a Friday evening, where we were able to see the effects of the afore mentioned Guinness in full force, we safely navigated to our Celtic Lodge Guest house.
We awoke Saturday morning early and eager to explore a new city. After consuming a Full Irish Breakfast (strangely similar to a full English) we saw our first landmark – The Spire. This 120m high pin like monument stands in the city center and is affectionately referred to as the “stiletto in the ghetto” by the locals. After our necks became sore from looking at the Spire, and we concluded there was no way possible to capture us and the entire Spire in the one photo, we aimlessly wandered over the River Liffey and eventually found Trinity College. One of the “must do’s” in Dublin is visit Trinity College and see the Book of Kells. We had all intentions to until we found it was 10euros! Satisfied we had learned all we could about the Book of Kells from the gift shop we turned out attention to the other “must do” – the Guinness Storehouse tour.
Whilst en route to the Storehouse, we stopped momentarily to take in the view of the Christ Church. Whilst Lindsay was taking photos, I was using the free Tourist Information map to make sure we were on the right path. Suddenly out of the blue an old man with protruding nose hairs stops and asks me “do-ya-know-where-ya-goin-leprechaun-thare-laddie”. Judging by my blank expression he repeated slower. “Do you need some help finding the Guinness Storehouse… laddie”. After confirming his suspicions we were heading to the Storehouse, he pointed and gestured and spoke while I entertained him with repetitive nods and uh-huh’s.
The actual Storehouse was an education on all things Guinness and gave me a new respect for the dark brew. After we learned how to brew, taste and appreciate Guinness fully, we sat down to an outstanding lunch at the restaurant there. In the middle of the actual building is a large glass structure in the shape of a pint glass. The top level of this pint glass is the Gravity Bar offering 360 degree views of Dublin where we were treated to a complementary pint… of Guinness of course. Whilst Lindsay complained of being bloated from too much beer, I appreciated the views of this heavily industrial city.
Feeling a little tipsy from the Guinness, we returned to our room for a nap before again venturing out for Valentines dinner. Initially we were a little concerned about not having a reservation, however our fears were put at ease when a little traditional place took us in. We were given a number and told to sit in the bar and await our number being called. Felt like a meat raffle at the Leagues Club! After hearing number tree, tirteen, and tirty-tree all called, we were shown our table and treated to a lovely meal. After dinner and a couple more drinks at Temple Bar, we called it a night.
Day 2 we decided to visit the Kilmainham Gaol just on the outskirts of the city. The best thing about the Gaol was the Tour Guide who was incredibly passionate about Irish History and was very good at conveying this to a motley tour crew. Feeling a lot more cultured and educated than when we arrived, we did what all cultured and educated folk do – went to the Museum of Modern Art. After appreciating some art for a while, we commuted back into the city for our last meal in Dublin.
We decided to have something cheap in a pub – without beer considering the day we had previously! We found a pub with a live musician (who I would have liked to see in that decibel contest with the small child and jet engine) that seemed to fit the requirements. So two pints of coke, a steak, and club sandwich please barman. 37euro(!) later we decided a cheap pub meal wasn’t our best choice!
Regretfully London was calling again, and time to go home. However by this stage we had decided that we hadn’t yet had enough Guinness, Potatoes or Leprechauns and decided to come again very soon!
Those arctic winds we felt in Cambridge, was not us feeling a pinch of a country breeze; no those were winds brought to us from Siberia. Really. And we know what Siberian winds bring – snow!
As darkness fell on the Sunday, so too did the snow. We were immeasurably excited as the small little parcels of ice fell from the sky. We rushed out with our camera to try and catch some of it on film as a memory of this special treat for us (as we did with every snowfall). It seemed to be coming down hard, but we felt reassured from our experience thus far in London that within 20 minutes the snowfall would cease and it would begin to melt…
Yet, the snow continued. By our bedtime, the snow was still falling intermittently and starting to settle. However, as I fell asleep I felt sure I would wake in the morning and it would all be gone.
At 4:30am, Nick woke me up because Clapham had been transformed into a SNOWHAM! There was a good 20-30cm snow everywhere! I was so excited, I almost couldn’t go back to sleep!
By 6am, we got up and decided to get out there early to try and avoid any type of havoc the snow might cause to London’s public transport system. Of course, we had no idea just how much havoc the snow would cause to London’s public transport system.
I dressed for work, instead with a snow jacket, sneakers and snow gloves as I tried to battle my way along the street, stepping into 20cm thick powder along Clapham Park Road! Buses were cancelled, so I headed to the Tube station to commute my way in. Although some lines were delayed, the Victoria Line was running without a delay.
I was at work by 8am; and as I opened my work email, I started to get all the messages from my work colleagues that due to the weather they couldn’t make it in! Meanwhile, one colleague walked from Wandsworth, and another from Chelsea as they had no other way! As most of the company seemed to be “snowed in”, I whipped through my tasks for the day and decided to head home about lunchtime (I did not fancy having to walk home to Clapham should all the tubes stop running as they were threatening!).
Nick met me at the Common (his boss had sent him home as they didn’t want him snowed in in the office) and we went for a walk around the Common before heading home: there were droves of people playing in the snow. It was as if NOONE had attempted to even go to work! They were all in Clapham Common building rude snowmen, pushing themselves along on sleds, rolling giant snowballs, and having violent snowfights! (No wonder England became the laughing stock of Europe…)
To see a snowfall such as this, which never happens in London anymore, we both feel truly lucky. It was amazing to wake up and have the snow almost knee thick, and see the beauty of a snow-laced suburb right before our very eyes. What an expierence!
