My friend Shayna is teaching International Sports Law in London for the summer so I went down for a visit.
I took the bus….it is a long bus ride but also the cheapest option if you don’t book the train way in advance.
She is staying in Hendon near Golder’s Green. This is a very Jewish area. There are tons of kosher restaurants and bookstores. It is very much like areas of Brooklyn and Queens in NY only with different accents except for the Israelis.
We did a few organized activities for tourists and some on our own. Here’s a breakdown:
On Thursday, we did a walking tour of Old Kensington. It was supposed to include the roof gardens / Kensington gardens and picturesque streets and homes.
The guide was pretty terrible. It might have been his first time leading this walk. We walked around a place where rich and famous people used to live.
He would point out the little plaques/signs on their former homes. He would read some famous facts about them from a book. Gee, I know how to read too.
Also, I don’t really care the Princess Diana ate at a specific restaurant or shopped for toys in a specific store. I guess I am not the target audience.
I ended up mostly ignoring him and taking pictures and sadly the roof garden was closed that day. The tour ends in Kensington Gardens (adjacent to and formerly part of Hyde Park).
Toilets were not on the itinerary, so Shayna and I wondered if the Consulate of Fiji would let us in and eventually found one in the park.
We had fun walking around there to get back to a train. I took pictures of geese and swans and the Elfin Oak (which sounds cooler in theory than it actually is).
On Friday we went to Hampstead Heath. We wanted to get to Parliament Hill for a view of London.
Apparently London doesn’t believe in putting maps at Hampstead Heath. We found one posted as we exited near the entrance marked Parliament Hill. Enter the huge nature area from somewhere else and you’re on your own. Asking people for directions has them pointing in vague directions, which is as helpful as it sounds.
It didn’t matter because it was a gorgeous day. We had a nice walk and eventually even made it to Parliament Hill (in a really roundabout route). The actual Parliament Hill view is not so special but the wander was great.
Sunday was a great day with flawless weather. First half of the day was a 3 1/2-hour cycling tour.
I highly recommend a tour with The London Bicycle Tour Company (located at Gabriel’s Wharf, +44 (0) 20 7928 6838). [They also rent bikes out if you want to go on your own.] We did the Royal West Tour. It was a great way to see famous sites (and orient yourself in London), get a bit of exercise and be outside in the sunshine.
The guide was great. He did not talk your ear off, just identified what we were seeing with an interesting fact here and there.
Our group finished the regular route a bit early and our guide took us to see a bit more so we would get our full 3 1/2 hours. After the bike tour we returned to the Thames River for a while to take some more photos including ones of Star Wars Stormtroopers out and about in conjunction with a local exhibit.
Sunday night we went on a Jack the Ripper tour with Donald Rumbelow. He is the author of The Complete Jack the Ripper, and is recognized as the expert on the subject. He is also a really good guide.
Because he is well-known there were about 70 people or so out for the tour. You can go with other companies for smaller tours. But he knows his stuff, speaks clearly and makes sure the whole group can hear and is happy to sign copies of his book at the end of the tour.
It did feel a bit weird at times, touring in the wake of a serial killer. It was interesting and will correct misconceptions if you’ve seen any movies based on the Ripper.
I don’t really think it is appropriate for young children. The few that were brought on the tour, thankfully, ended up not really paying attention to what was being said.
So London Walks was 1 for 2 for the walks I went on. Shayna had gone on a few more and had some good experiences.
I would like to return to London and do my own tour to check out Banksy graffiti.
It’s really expensive to visit London (and England in general)…thankfully we didn’t have hotel costs. We did eat out a couple of times at Kosher restaurants and visit some Kosher bakeries.
Isola Bella Cafe (63 Brent Street, Hendon, +44 (0) 20 8203 2000) had really good Thai food. It is a bit of an everything restaurant (people at a table across the aisle were having burgers and fries.)
I ordered a Thai meal special and had yummy corn soup, veggie pad thai and salad, and fried bananas with ice cream for desert. Shayna had a Thai meal special with vegetable soup (a bit salty), fish (good) and chips (fries), and a different fried fruit with ice cream.
The food was really good and the portions are huge (which makes you feel a bit better about the prices in pounds). This is easily a place where two people can share a meal. We ended up taking most of the pad thai home (along with most of the fried bananas) and having it as part of another meal. It reheated well. (Time Out Review)
Coby’s (115a Golders Green Road, +44 (0) 203 209 5054) is an Israeli cafe with cute Israeli waitstaff. I had Melawach which I hadn’t had in ages with grated tomato and a hard boiled egg. Shayna had an Israeli breakfast. Desert was a yummy chocolate crepe with coffee ice cream. this was also a thoroughly enjoyable meal. You have to time a meal to Coby’s well, it tends to get crowded. Definitely go inside, even though all the tables outside were packed when we went, we found a great table inside. [Time Out Review]
Mr. Baker {119-121 Brent Street, Hendon, +44 (0) 20 8202 6845) is a large bakery and a great source for whole wheat pitas and rugelach and other pastries. They also have tables and chairs so you can eat in. [Time Out Review]
We also visited The Cake Company (2 Sentinel Square, +44 (0) 208 202 2327) to look at Kosher wedding cakes. They have some really ornate and fun ones on their websites. It was also not to far from where Shayna was staying.
The woman was very helpful and noted that there are two options, fruitcake or sponge cake…For the fruitcake, I was picturing sponge cake with fresh fruit in it or something (like a yummy fruit tart in cake form)…Not fruitcake, the joke at Christmas-time, stale, hard and filled with dried fruit.
We told her we had never had some so she gave us each a slice. The looks on our face were pretty comical as we each tried a bite (I’m guessing mine was at least as comical as Shayna’s). Shayna had hers first and then gave me the rest of hers. I tried a bite of mine and then held the remainder of both our slices in my hand. I then handed these sheepishly to the salesgirl for placement in the bin.
Definitely don’t want fruitcake. Apparently, they are a popular choice for wedding cakes. What are people trying to say about their futures with their chosen spouse? Eeeeech!!??
Successful bits of shopping in London: a Wagamama cookbook [NOT KOSHER Noodle Place with some nice veggie items on the menu and in the cookbook] and a rain jacket. [It's amazing how difficult it is to find a rain jacket in England. Especially, with all the flooding this year, do people not realize rain is year-round here?]
Link to full set of pictures from my London adventure
Links to related media:
Kosher Food Guide from London Beth Din
Lonely Planet London
Frommer’s London 2007 (Frommer’s Complete)
The Complete Jack the Ripper
The Wagamama Cookbook
