A Short London Pitch

 

Beautiful, Look What We've Lost

What's you favorite city? The DFW Metrosprawl, New York, Chicago, DC, Paris, Rome, Venice, Detroit? They're all great in their way, though some more so than others, but for me it's London, perhaps because I lived there for years and see it as something of a home town.

These days I like central London, which, for me, means that area going West from St. Paul's to St. James, encompassing Clerkenwell, Holborn, Bloomsbury, Covent Garden and the Strand, the Embankment, Soho, Piccadilly, and the Mall. Knightsbridge and South Ken seem a bit far West and perhaps always has done. Still, Solemn High Mass at the Oratory is a must, followed by Sunday lunch at the East India Club. Delicious.

Oh My, We've Devolved

After that, you can stroll down Shaftsbury Avenue to Bar Italia in Soho and enjoy a coffee or two, followed by an RV with old pals at a welcoming pub, maybe the Coach and Horses or French House in Soho, maybe somewhere else, like the Lamb in Lamb's Conduit Street, or wherever. Big fun, then stroll back through the genuinely Olde Streets of old London Town to your setup. 

Perhaps that's the top floor of the Farmers Club on Whitehall, most congenial and affordable to boot. Here, have a look from it's rooms today, from Whitehall Place looking East:

Behold

There it is, London. The center of town's changed, for sure, since the far-off, halcyon days of the '90s, when I last lived there, but still, it doesn't seem so very off, and the grandeur and history of the place are very much alive, albeit swarmed by tourists. You can avoid those, though, if you nav away from their game trails. As in Leicester Square, etc.

See That Little Cupola Onna Terace? Favorite Place. There'll Always Be An Agra

When you get tired of the hurly burley, and there's plenty of that, fall back to the NatLib on the Embankment and setup in serenity on the Terrace cupola. Right congenial. When you get tired of that, retreat to the Farmers Club for a delicious sandwich at the bar and stroll over to Soho, which may or may not involve rickshaws and associated hi-spirits.

Your Old Pal,

LSP

Pubs

 

One of the things you can do in London is go to pubs, I like that and enjoyed the Princess of Prussia, the famous French House and the Coach & Horses, the last two being in Soho.

Just a lot of fun but be ready for a bit of a scrum inside and out the Soho pubs for the first part of the evening. They get more manageable as the night goes on. Then, after last orders, you can stroll down the road to Bar Italia for coffee. Always a good result.

And I know it's not a pub but I like Gordon's, which is a wine bar on Villiers Street, next to Charing Cross station. Back in the '80s the action was all inside, in a cellarlike bar, but now you can spread out onto a congenial terrace, and drink your claret under helpful heat lamps. The food's good too, simple and not too pricey.

Convenient. You can walk down the Strand or the Embankment, pull into Gordon's, enjoy that, then head over to Soho for the rest of the night. Fun, and it was good to revisit old haunts and discover they were still there, mostly unchanged.

Of course other things have changed, but that's another story.

Pints all 'round,

LSP