London Day One. 8/31/2018

G’Day! Busy day today.

Started out at Spitalfield Market – and surrounds, great shakshuka at Ottolenghi …and some interesting pear and basil juice. Then ran a few short errands. The bag I was carrying somehow separated from the strap. I remembered from previous trips to London, that this particular neighborhood has a lot of little shops near the Underground station (Liverpool Street). So I stopped into a shoe repair place. And as I was having breakfast I realized that time was standing still – my watch battery was dead. So I also located a watch repair right next to the shoe repair.. and Voila! Everything fixed and ready for the day.

Hopped on the tube and headed to Notting Hill to meet up with Lara at the Czech Centre at Kensington Palace Gardens. They had a small 50^th anniversary show of cartoons from Prague Spring 1968.  And in the words of the explanation of the exhibit —  

 “These cartoons perfectly capture the injustice done to Czechoslovakia in 1968. And they remain a pictorial record and a warning to us today as a resurgent Russia once again flexes its muscles.” Spent some time talking with the young Czech woman who worked for the Centre. She was born after the fall of the Berlin wall and only knew about life in Czechoslovakia in the 70s and 80s from her parents. She was surprised to learn that I had traveled to the old Czechoslovakia several times while under Russian communist control (in 1970, 72, and 86) and several times after that – 1992, 2003, and 2012 and that I had driven through such a large part of the country (now two countries). The cartoons were fun and poignant and also interesting technically.

From there we walked (total walking today = 7 miles) through Kensington Gardens (past the Diana memorial – with spontaneous memorializing by Brits and tourists, especially today on the anniversary of her death.  

We continued on through Hyde Park to see Christo’s new floating artwork, constructed with 7,506 brightly painted oil barrels.  It was a spectacularly beautiful day — not as hot as it has been in London these past few weeks, and not as cool as it might have been.  

From there we walked to the new Japan House – sort of like being in Japan (new Japan).  The building is intended to provide the city with a chance to learn more about Japanese. It’s basically a showpiece to entice Londoners to travel to Japan, but it’s a high-priced store with exquisitely designed objects. There’s also a sleek restaurant upstairs, and the most amazing bathrooms – about which I will not go into detail at the moment! The layout of the building is designed to provide “maximum space for peace and tranquility.”

At that point I realized that my neck was very red and itchy… so I bolted to the pharmacy to find out more information. I am now taking Claritin and also using an anti-steroid cream and can already see that it is fading. 

Then, after a few hours at the hotel doing work (and having a huge argument with Apple on the phone — My keyboard is not printing the letter “h” (hetch in the UK), Apparently it is a “known issue” and requires a three-day fix by bringing your computer to Apple Store for repair. … So, every “h” you see in this note has been inserted through cut and paste!  I tried the shaking fix that is shown  on several You Tube films and I also bought a can of compressed air – nothing has helped at all. Naturally there aren’t any appointments available for tomorrow at the Genius Bar. I’m going to head to the Apple Store on Regent Street in the morning, but I can’t give up my computer. I suppose I’ll have to go to the local store when I get home and might have to use my older MacBook Pro for a few days. (Not a happy camper). If you see any missing “h”s… I apologize – complain to Apple!

Mike and I then headed to dinner (planned some time ago) at The Ledbury – Three Michelin stars… and listed as one of the best 50 restaurants in the world. It’s located across town from where we are – near Notting Hill – about 6 miles from here.. Dinner takes about 3.5 hours.. The menu was something like this:  

• Starters (not counted in the 6 course meal) included some kind of very thin parmesan meringue with foie gras inside, smoked muscle on top of seaweed crackers, and some other little gem
• Datterino Tomatoes, Crab, Sorbet and Shiso
• Warm Egg, Celeriac, Wine, Dried Ham, and I think a Truffle 
• Cod Caramelized in Honey with Radishes on the side 
• Grouse with chantrelles and sweet corn and ??
• Pre-dessert: custard with peach and raspberries and sweet basil
• The supposedly “real” desert: tartlet with ice cream, tiny diced fruits
• Then the next desert – a sort of “good bye” as the dinner was ending – some kind of eucalyptus chocolate and also some kind of juniper cookies

OK… Not good for dieting. And I don’t think my 7 miles of walking today came close to countering the meal. No food pictures.. seemed too tacky.

It’s pushing on 2 am… and I’m fading. Have a great Labor Day weekend. More tomorrow. I like the fact that we’ve been to London together and separately many, many times. It’s comfortable; I know my way around; and there aren’t any requisite sites to see anymore. So it’s merely hanging out, walking neighborhoods… and visiting. Tomorrow after I get some work done, I’m heading to Mareylebone and we are going to an off-broadway type theater.

Fern