The Accidental Tourists

Today we spent a day being tourists in our own city. Mostly if the weather is good we head out of town to get some fresh air and exercise but today we were feeling a bit lazy and decided to stay in London.

First we went to Covent Garden and after meandering around the shops, we had a coffee at The Crusting Pipe pub. They have a pleasant outside area in the main market. I was actually quite surprised how reasonable the prices were. It was certainly a lot cheaper than doing the same kind of thing in Paris.

Then we walked over to St. James Park, picked up some sandwiches from the park cafe and ate them sitting on a sunny bench by the pond. I have still not found a city that has parks as good as London’s.

From there, we walked over to Horse Guards where by chance the hourly changing of the sentries was just starting and we ended up at the front of the small crowd that had gathered. It was quite exciting with all the shouting and sword presenting going on. In all the years I’ve lived in London I’ve never seen that before!

After that we went to Charing Cross station and got a train home. I spent the journey thinking that most of the time living in London it’s all so familiar, and often you are in a hurry going somewhere or other that you stop noticing things around you. But today I was reminded what a colourful, exciting city it is, and how enjoyable it must be to visit as a tourist and experience everything for the first time.

Nymans

Nymans Garden

Today we went to Nymans in West Sussex. This is an outstanding National Trust property which is well worth the effort to visit. There are lots of varied things to see including picturesque gardens, woodland, a Victorian mock-medieval manor, and of course the obligatory tea shop.It was a pleasantly warm day and the spring flowers were showing off their best colours along with some spectacular azaleas and rhododendrons. We had some lunch in the cafe, and also some tea and cake later on which is pretty much compulsory when having a day out somewhere like this.

We didn’t bother looking in the house, as the weather was so nice we just wandered around the gardens and woodlands, making use of benches whenever they presented themselves, and enjoying the sunshine.

Annoyingly I had forgotten my camera, so I had to resort to the camera on my phone which didn’t really do justice to the surroundings.

Practicalities: Nymans isn’t the easiest place to get to without a car. We got a train to Crawley, from where you can get buses to the property. However the buses are not very frequent so you can end up with a long wait. On the way there we didn’t want to waste any time so we got a taxi from Crawley which cost £10. On the way back we timed our departure to coincide with a bus back to Crawley which was a more reasonable £2.50 each. Although the bus is sporadic, it does seem to be reliable and runs to the published times. There’s a bus stop right outside the property.

Richard Alston Dance Company

Richard Alston Dance Company

Tonight we went to a contemporary dance performance at Wimbledon Theatre. Despite the theatre being very close to our home, we hardly ever go there. Partly it’s because the shows don’t often interest us, but also it’s just sometimes too easy to overlook what’s on your doorstep. I have only been there twice before, once to see a Doctor Who play starring Jon Pertwee, and another time to see the Rocky Horror Show.

I found out about the show from my friend Penny, who had seen the same tour in Poole. The Richard Alston Dance Company have a repertoire of pieces set to classical and contemporary music, by composers such as Prokofiev, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass. I always thoroughly enjoy contemporary dance shows and hopefully I will be going to more than usual this year, having bought a membership for Sadlers Wells. The tour (which is going on until June) features different pieces on different nights. On our night we were lucky enough to see “Roughcut”, which is performed to Steve Reich’s “Electric Counterpoint”, my favourite composition of his. This was the highlight of the show, with the dance beautifully responding to the unfolding layers of the music, with changes in key and phase following alterations in dance pace and movement style.

It was really good to go and see something locally, and as it was a Friday, both of us having an early finish from work, we had time for food beforehand at our new favourite local restaurant Casa Nostra.

I will definitely be keeping a closer eye on what is coming up at Wimbledon Theatre, if nothing else the ticket prices are certainly more attractive than the West End.

Box Hill

Juniper Bottom

Today was our first country walk of the year, which took place at Box Hill. This is a favourite walking area as it’s easy to get to by train, and there are various routes you can take.We started with lunch at a pub called the Stepping Stones, very near Westhumble station. This is a very good place which welcomes walkers as long as you take off any muddy boots. Ours were not muddy at all as we hadn’t done anything yet. They have a varied lunch menu including plenty of vegetarian choices. On Sundays they do a roast, and even offer a veggie version which is a giant Yorkshire pudding with roast potatoes and veg with gravy inside. Today was Saturday so I had a veggie lasagne and Julie had cauliflower cheese.

We then started to make our way up Box Hill using a route we hadn’t tried before via a wooded valley called Juniper Bottom. It was quite a gentle ascent at first, with the end bit getting a bit steeper. The weather was perfect, some sunshine but not too warm. The views were great from the top of the hill. It always makes me laugh going there because when I was younger my parents used to literally drag me up there as I sulked and moaned the whole way. Once I kicked my shoe off so it bounced quite a way down the hill, thinking the whole family would have to abandon the activity. But instead I was made to go and retrieve it and then walk back, and then complete the walk up the hill. I sulked for England that day.

Things couldn’t be more different now, I love to go for country walks. It’s cheap fun, and it’s good exercise. Although, I only enjoy it in good weather. So I’m not that hardcore really. But if it’s dry I can do a 10 mile walk quite happily.

We didn’t do anywhere near 10 miles today though, it was more like 5. It should have been a bit more but I went a bit wrong with the map and we ended up cutting it short and ended up in Dorking. You can see the route we took here.

To explore Box Hill, take a train to Westhumble station, and use an Ordnance Survey Explorer map to follow the public footpaths (marked in green). Check the contours though, some routes up the hill are very steep and are better suited for on the way down!

Benda Bilili!

Staff Benda Bilili

This evening I went to the Brixton Ritzy cinema to see a preview of a new film Benda Bilili, with a question and answer session afterwards with the directors. I had never heard of the film but it was about a subject close to my heart, African music.

The film is a documentary which follows the rags-to-riches tale of the band Staff Benda Bilili who despite being mostly crippled by polio and living on the streets of war ravaged Kinshasa, have been catapulted into world music superstardom.

Whilst that is the basic story, there are a lot of other elements the film brings up such as attitudes to the disabled, the human impact of the vicious war in Congo, and above all the resilience of people and how, when it’s all you have, hope can be enough to live on.

I really enjoyed the film. There are some very distressing parts to it, but the overall mood is upbeat and positive. After the film finished there was applause as the Belgian directors came into the auditorium.

There was then about half an hour of questions put to the directors, many of which were about the individuals in the band and how fame had affected them. Another popular subject for the questions was about the experience of filming in that environment. The directors said that locals are very suspicious of Westerners with cameras, thinking that all anyone wants to do is to show how terrible everything is in their country. The directors had a battle against some hostility to try and convince locals that they were essentially trying to tell a positive story, albeit against a negative backdrop. The band are revered in Kinshasa and are seen as cultural ambassadors, many people having lost all faith in politics.

So if you get a chance to see it in a cinema or on DVD I would recommend it, it certainly makes you think and gives you an insight into how humans can experience such terrible deprivation and suffering but somehow transcend and transform their own and others’ lives through music and hope.

Pancake Day

Crêpes Suzettes flambées

Today was pancake day, and as usual Julie insisted that we celebrate it in the traditional way after dinner. I always feel a bit underwhelmed by the idea of pancakes, until I actually start eating them, when I realise how delicious they are. Then I forget again until next year. The taste of home made pancakes does remind me of when I was younger as we always did the pancake thing at home.

Back then it was just lemon and sugar as the toppings. Now, we get out every jam and preserve we can find along with some fruit and whatever else seems good. It was a particularly good spread this year as we had some nutella, some Swedish drottningsylt (blueberry and raspberry jam), bananas, whipped cream and various other goodies.

Inspired by our various trips to France I decided to try making a Crepe Suzette which turned out really well with a butter and orange sauce and the spectacle of flambee! Julie made the pancakes and I did the sauce and pyrotechnics. It all passed off safely you’ll be happy to hear.

i do it as follows: melt some butter in a frying pan then add orange juice, grated orange zest, and a bit of sugar. Simmer for a couple of minutes. Add the previously cooked pancakes, fold into quarters and baste with the sauce. Add the liqueur of your choice (in this case, Armagnac) and ignite either with a match or the flash way by tilting the liquid towards the hob flame. Wait until it goes out or extinguish with the flat of a spatula, depending on how much booze you want left in the dessert. Then turn out on to the plate, pouring the sauce over.

Of course, you could make pancakes any time. But there is something quite fun about only having certain things at certain times to make them special. Roll on the hot cross buns I say!

Chiswick House Camellia Festival

Camellia

Today we went to Chiswick House where there was a camellia festival. This was an exhibition in the newly restored conservatory. The camellia collection of Chiswick House is believed to be the largest in Europe.

The plants are very attractive to look at, and look as though they should smell nice but in fact they don’t have any scent.

Some of these plants are nearly 200 years old and were mostly brought from China in the early 19th century. There was a lot of good information about the collection, and stewards were on hand to answer any questions.

Chiswick House and Gardens has had a major restoration project completed in June 2010 and the whole place was certainly looking a lot better than the last time we visited several years ago.

The cafeteria especially was much improved. It is now run by Company Of Cooks, and after we had finished the exhibition we went there and had some good toasted sandwiches for lunch.

My blog being somewhat behind schedule, the camellia festival has now finished. But Chiswick House and Gardens itself is worth a visit for a stroll around. It’s not the easiest place to get to; we took the District Line to Turnham Green from where it’s about 15 minutes walk.

Flâneuring our way home

Place Franz-Liszt

When we woke up on the train we were somewhere near Orléans. We got dressed and went to the restaurant car for breakfast. It is so nice sitting there having coffee and pastries watching the countryside whizz by as the sun comes up.On arrival in Paris, the weather was cooler again by a few degrees, but bright and sunny. We decided to do something we often do in Paris which is to walk to a random location in a straight line, thereby discovering things we may not have seen before. On this occasion, where we agreed to walk from Gare Du Nord to Place Contrescarpe, that strategy paid off quite well.

Firstly we came across Place Franz-Liszt which was just 5 minutes walk from Gare Du Nord and is a quiet square with benches and a church. On a summer day this would be an excellent place to sit and relax while waiting for a train back to London. Gare Du Nord itself is not that interesting a place to wait in.

Further on, we walked along Rue Montorgueil which we had never been to before. This is a really attractive street which is mostly pedestrianised and had lots of nice cafes and gourmet food shops. As it was Sunday we were surprised to see most of the shops on this street were open. We sat outside an over-trendy cafe called Bianco and had a coffee and some mini-croissants.

Eventually we arrived at Place Contrescarpe having spent a very pleasant hour or two just ambling along. Although there are a few places we like there, it was too early for lunch. To pass some time, we got the Metro to the FNAC shop in Champs-Elysees where I collected a ticket I had bought online for a concert I am going to in Lyon in the summer. This all went very smoothly and I’ll definitely do that again for any concerts in France. By then, we were getting hungry so we went to a place we had seen at the end of our walk called Le Tire Bouchon in Rue Descartes. This was a small independently run bistro which appeared to have a quite a few vegetarian options. The service was charming, and I was very pleased with my pavé saumon with green beans, and afterwards the lemoniest lemon meringue pie ever. Julie’s vegetarian “dish of the day” was less successful as we couldn’t actually tell what it was. It was either some sort of pancakes or maybe a tofu thingy. She wasn’t that keen on it, but said that all the potatoes and vegetables that came with it were really good.

Following lunch, the weather was still looking bright, so we took the metro to the Bois De Boulogne and spent some of the afternoon walking round the Lac Inférieur and an English style garden called Pré Catelan. By the time we had finished that, it was starting to get quite chilly and so another cafe stop seemed in order. We went to Cafe Odessa in Montparnasse where we decided to while away the time we had before our train back to London. I had a fulsome and punchy French onion soup, proper stylee with the cheesy bread on top, Julie had a salad, and we munched our way through that as the cafe got very busy with Sunday flâneurs.

Finally, we jumped on the metro to Gare Du Nord and completed our round trip back to London by Eurostar, fully agreed that it had been a perfect holiday!

Barcelona again, Bracing Beach, Bunk Beds

The overnight Trenhotel at Barcelona Franca station

Today we sadly had to leave Valencia and begin travelling home. But to let us down gently we would have some time in Barcelona and Paris on the way. The first leg was the Talgo train to Barcelona which was going to take a few hours. So after checking out of the apartment, we popped into the market hall and got some cheese to go with the bread we had left over to make up a lunch we could have on the train. The Talgo trains are quite basic but are very cheap if you book early. Our tickets for this journey were just 15 Euros. 

When we got to Barcelona, it felt a lot cooler than Valencia had been so we had to change our clothes around a bit before leaving our luggage in a locker for the day. After sorting ourselves out, we had a walk through the Jardines de la Ciudadella, a relaxing park which houses the Catalunya parliament building. From there we walked down to the beach area. It was cool but not unpleasant and we had a coffee in a beachside cafe thinking how nice it would be in the summer. Although I would imagine it gets very crowded in the main tourist season.

We walked along the beachside for a while, watching people playing volleyball and walking their dogs, until we reached Poble Neu. This is a very untouristy part of the city and has an attractive wide rambla with pavement cafes. It was a bit cool to take advantage of that today though. Instead we took the metro to the centre and had an early evening meal at Taller de Tapas. They had the gas heaters on the outside tables so we sat outside and had some good food including a lovely Huevos Estrellados which is basically egg and chips with the egg all broken up and oozing over the chips. Then we had to bid farewell to Barcelona and get the overnight train to Paris which was leaving Franca station at about 9pm.

The Trenhotel as they call it in Spain is a fun way to travel. You can have a private cabin for 2 people with bunk beds, and this includes breakfast in the train restaurant. It’s not the cheapest option at around £200 per person return but it’s a great experience. It’s a lot cheaper if you just go for a normal train seat but I don’t think you would sleep very well in that. Tonight I had a really good sleep in the comfy bed and woke up quite refreshed for a day in Paris.

Valencia Day 2 – Parks and Paella

I woke up feeling slightly bleary, and after breakfast we went to a 200 year old horchateria called Siglo where I sampled another local speciality. Horchata is a chilled milky drink flavoured with tiger nuts. It is very refreshing, and quickly perked me up. As is tradition, it was accompanied with fartons (snigger). These are delicious soft buns dusted with icing sugar.

Jardines del Real

Re-energised for sightseeing, we went and had a look at one of the old city gates which is a huge structure that also doubled as a prison in medieval times. From there we crossed the river and walked along the Jardines del Turia. This is the old river bed which has been converted into a 7 kilometre long park after the river was diverted. The temperature hit 20 degrees today and the sun felt quite warm as we strolled through the park. It’s planted with trees and also has some benches and ponds. It must be a very welcome oasis when the summer really hits.

After a while we came across a larger more formal landscaped garden called the Jardines del Real and we walked through there and found a cafe where we sat and had a cold drink. There’s a brand of still lemonade you can get everywhere in Spain called Aquarius which I am quite partial to.

Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències

We returned to the river park and continued round until we reached the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències. This is an incredible futuristic museum and cultural complex surrounded by lakes. It couldn’t have been more different to the medieval city, the curving white organic forms of the buildings in sharp relief against the pure blue sky. There was a waterside cafe where we had a sandwich and a drink while soaking up some more sun.

Our minds well and truly boggled by the architecture of the Ciutat, we took a bus back to the old town as we had walked for many miles by now and our feet were getting a bit tired.

Today was Julie’s birthday and we needed to make sure we found a good restaurant for her birthday dinner. Valencia is famous as the home of paella, so we had a look around town and found a nice looking place called Bodego de La Sarieta that did various paellas including a vegetarian one which looked perfect. In keeping with the Spanish tradition of late eating, they didn’t open until 9. So after a siesta at the apartment we got changed and went out about 8 for some drinks before dinner. We found a welcoming, sociable little bar called Cava del Negret and I had my usual rum and coke which came with the expected generous Spanish measure of rum!

Paella

We got to Bodego de La Sarieta at about 9:30 and it wasn’t that busy so we got a good table. We ordered some grilled asparagus and wine to keep us going while we waited for our paellas. Proper paella takes 30-40 minutes to cook, so anywhere that can give it to you in less than that isn’t doing it properly from fresh ingredients. I ordered a seafood one, and Julie went for the vegetarian one. When the paellas came they looked beautifully golden and savoury, piping hot in the metal pan straight out of the kitchen. They tasted as good as they looked, and I also managed to squeeze in a spongey creamy dessert afterwards. A perfect end to a perfect day, which was to be our last day in Valencia as tomorrow we had to start the train journey home.