WEDNESDAY IN LONDON (July 31, 2013)

Wednesday morning we slept in until 9:00!  Oh well, we are on vacation.  Noel was due to arrive around Noon so we got dressed and headed out for coffee and breakfast.  We went to a local chain coffee shop called Cafe Nero.  David kept calling it Cafe Nerd and I thought he was trying to be funny but that's really what he thought it was called.  David normally drinks ice tea in the morning but it is not readily available here.  Seems like every place sells Lipton peach ice tea in the bottle.  He is missing his "real" ice tea.

Noel arrived and we visited in our room for awhile.  He was shocked at the size of our hotel room.  He said his is like a very small postage stamp.  And the desk clerk at his hotel told him he was giving him one of the larger single rooms!    

He brought me some of my favorite candy from Dublin called Time Out bars.  They are very much like Kit Kats but they are covered in Cadbury chocolate.  I absolutely love them.  I think the chocolate has a hint of coffee flavor in it.  I brought Noel some Hershey's Drops which he liked when I took them to Amsterdam the first time I met him.  

We left for lunch and we took him to the Old May Fair area where we had lunch on Monday. This time we ate at a very small cafe called The Little Square.  It was soooooo good.  There they did have brewed ice tea so David was thrilled.  I had the most delicious red pepper risotto!  David had a large Caesar salad and part of my risotto.  Noel had a fish dish but I can't remember what kind -- cod maybe?  And he had really good new potatoes with it.  It was a great lunch and we had so much fun catching up.

After lunch we walked for miles on the South Bank of the Thames River.  It was a great day for walking, partly cloudy and about 70.  The South Bank is an arts and entertainment district.  There are also many restaurants and play areas along the bank.  We started walking near the Tower of London and had great views of the London Eye and all of the cool London bridges.  At various times we could see St. Paul's Cathedral and the Parliament buildings and Big Ben.  We also had some great views of one of London's newest high rise buildings called the shard.  It is the tallest building in Western Europe and I read one article that said it is 87 stories tall and another one that said it is 92 stories tall.  There are many theatres along the bank too like the Royal National Theatre and Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Globe Theatre and the Tate Modern Museum.  It's a fun walk with fabulous people watching opportunities!  

Around 5:00 we stopped for a "spot of tea" and relaxed in a beautiful courtyard for about an hour.  It was a nice break after our long walk.  We then walked across the Millennium Bridge also called the wobbly bridge which was very fun.  We got an up close view of the beautiful St. Paul's Cathedral which has wonderful gardens surrounding it.  We hopped on the tube at St. Paul's and went back to our hotels to get cleaned up for dinner.

Noel had told us about an excellent Italian resturant he had eaten at last time he was in London over behind the Waterloo Train Station.  We met at our hotel and took the tube to Waterloo.  He found the restaurant easily and we had a delicious and filling dinner there.  The restaurant is called Caprini Ristorante and is very traditional looking.  David and I had wine and Noel had a beer.  We had cheesy garlic bread and David had minestone soup and Noel had bruschetta.  For dinner I had lasagna, David had fettuccine with mushrooms and peas and Noel had cannelloni.  I was hoping to have their homemade chocolate mousse for dessert but I was just too full!  We left the restaurant around 10:15 and headed back to our hotels for the night.

David and Noel are taking the train to Bovington on Thursday to see the Tank Museum.  I'm staying in London and having a massage at the spa at our hotel.  I will report again tomorrow!  Good night.