I was bored in the car on the way home, so I will round out my London blog with a top 5 compilation.
Cups of Coffee
1. Monmouth Coffee Company (Seven Dials). Perfect cup to get through a morning of Philo. Never forget that smell and the wooden stirring spoons. A bit expensive though. The last cup I got on the last afternoon
2. Despatch Box (Houses of Parliament). A perfect mocha, tax subsidized. Great for the walk from work to class the second half of the semester.
3. Costa Coffee. Flat White. Specifically from the place near Farringdon Station after the Westminster Pub Crawl or to kill the hangover before the V and A
4. Caffe Nero. The workhorse the whole semester, Best value to get through class. Specifically from the one on the corner of seven dials
5. Café Canova. Closest thing to American filter coffee for only a pound? Sign me up.
Honorable mention: that place next to Notre Dame in Paris, although it was incredibly expensive.
Museums
1. Museum of London. Perhaps the best organized museum I went to. Quite informative and synthesized lots of information in an easy to process format. A great Saturday afternoon. Just wish all of the exhibits were open.
2. The Louvre. Awesome two and a half hour experience. Cana, Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Etruscan couch people, and Hammurabi’s code! Art and artifacts to the heart’s desire. I came outside a much better, much more intelligent person. And we got in for free!
3. Tower of London. Great tour guide and a ton of history in two hours. Beautiful day with the family, and I didn’t have to pay the entry. Wish we had longer to see the crown jewels!
4. Invalides (Paris). Gets the edge over the Imperial War museum because we went there when it was empty, and I got to roam the exhibits by myself. Very informational, if not incredibly slanted towards French military “victories.” Plus Napoleon’s tomb is there!
5. British Museum. Went here five times, and I still didn’t get through all of it. The iconic museum of London lived up to its promise indeed. Great for an hour stop before class or to take the visitors in for the weekend. Definite must see if you want to look at the pillaged treasures of the Empire!
Honorable Mention: Musee D’Orsay (Paris), Musee Vaticani (Rome), Imperial War Museum
Never in a Million years: Tate Modern
Days of class
1. St. Patrick’s Day (duh). Everyone in green. Keggs and Eggs. Very few people sober. Professors getting mad. Fewer care. Pint at the break in Macro. Pub hopping after. Teaching the English how to drink. One of the best days in London.
2. Last day of class. Pints in the pub with Heffernan, O’Boyle, and Surredge. Drinking with professors can’t be wrong.
3. Last day of Theatre Class before Dublin. Acting out a scene on a postcard for Charles Duff and watching the whole class make asses of themselves. Awesome.
4. Third day of philo. Talking about the case of the conjoined twins still sends chills down my spine.
5. Second to last day of Macro. Only because I paid attention and got to answer his questions about politics.
Beer/ales
1. London Pride. My favorite real ale. Light and sweet. No wonder it’s the highest selling ale in London.
2. Sam Smith’s brewery bitter. 1.99 at the Cheshire Cheese. Not the tastiest, but it’s a good ale and can’t beat the price.
3. Bombardier. One of the most memorable Ales I’ve had on the ale trails. Not very bitter. Good stuff.
4. Guinness, especially the ones in Dublin. Creamy and it tastes like ice cream!
5. Fosters. 2.30 at the Exmouth on Monday nights. Can’t go wrong.
Meals
1. Ping Pong. Dinner with ND alumna and Sam Kaltenbach. Great drinks and dim sum and great talk about life and football. Super expensive, but we didn’t pay!
2. Carbonara in Tuscany. Great wine and Peter and I ate all the pancetta before it made it to the table. Splendid.
3. Il Gatino Blanco (Tuscany). I ate boar twice. Authentic Italian. Perfect last night in Tuscany.
4. Flat dinner with Kucich and OBoyle. Great discussions, good pasta, and good bonding with the floor and professors early on in the semester.
5. Intern dinner with Professor Heffernan. Great roast and awesome stories from Heffernan. Three hours of drinking with the prof.
Honorable Mention: Indian dinner #1 in our flat. Chorizo after the play in Coleen’s room.
Fish n Chips
1. Pillotchry, Scotland. The little place on the highlands tour takes the cake. Crispy and salty. Hit the spot after a long day of sitting on a bus.
2. Fryer’s Delight. Arguably the best in town. Wouldn’t disagree. The smell of that place makes my mouth water. Soo good.
3. City Pride. Surprisingly good fish n chips for a pub. Great chips. Best in town, and the beer batter could not be beat. A bit pricey though.
4. Star. Grease fest, but if you want to get your money’s worth, this is the place. Largest portion and cheapest price.
5. Nicholson’s pubs – any stop on the Ale trails. TJ and I tried the menu at the Clarence off of Piccadilly. A great dinner to settle the stomach mid pub crawl.
Honorable Mention: Cheshire Cheese. The Two Brewers off of Seven Dials
Favorite Pubs – I’m judging not based on the nights I’ve had in them, but on overall experience from the beer, atmosphere, company, and overall memorability.
1. City Pride. My first and last pub stops in London. It wins for sentimentality’s sake, but this was a great place to go for a quick pint, to watch the game, or to sing karaoke with drunk ND kids. Versatile bar, great food, and a hilarious 19 year old bartender. I’ll never forget TJ’s and my first night in this place, and the countless pints of London Pride consumed in the ensuing semester. Pride ftw.
2. Princess Louise. Loved the fun-house atmosphere when you first walk in trying to find a place to sit. Awesome décor, friendly staff, and cheap Sam smith’s bitters. Had great talks here with Coleen, TJ, and Dan and Owen on our final night together.
3. International Bar (Dublin). Last day in Dublin finds us in this tiny bar listening to a local Irish band playing authentic music right next to us, and a drunk bachelor party on the other side. Quintessential Irish experience and some good spirited heckling. I also apparently look like some sort of English celebrity I found out.
4. The Globe (Edinburgh). Awesome bartenders who gave us free drinks for knowing Matt chronert. Ran into a guy form Wales and talked politics with him. A great end to an awesome pub crawl. Super friendly place.
5. The Rocket. Again for sentimentality reasons. This pub will always have a good place in my memories not so much for the beer, but for the fun times I had here and its knack for brinigng people together J
6. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. Has to be in the top six. Great atmosphere, and you will always run into ND kids taking their parents out for a drink. Went here on the last night in town. Cellar looks like the bar in Inglorious Basterds. Never forget this one.
7. Ye Olde Mitre. A darkhorse candidate sneaks into the seven-spot. Secretive location and friendly staff. Went here on the last night and had a great time. Also has the pricness louise feel to it with multiple rooms and good beer selection.
8. Seven Stars. Old timey pub behind grays in fields where Owen and Dan took me. A cat ran around the quiet bar chasing a mouse. Our table was right next to a real iron boiler, and the bathroom was up some creaky stairs and next to the bedroom of the owner. Great conversation and great authentic London feel.
9. Sir John Oldcastle. Can’t go wrong with a wetherspoons pub. Beer and Burger deal can’t be beaten in terms of price. Had some good meals and pints here with friends and family. Good to go in a bind if you want a decent dinner. Roomy and quiet enough to hear yourself talk.
10. Black Friar. Sneaks into the top ten because of the sheer history of the place. Cool shape and nice dark corners for drinking. Favorite pub-crawl stop for sure. Drinking where Henry VII lobbied the Church to leave it? Sounds good to me.
Honorable mention: The Crown, Clerkenwell. The pub near Westminster with the division bell. The Blue Blazer (Edinburgh)
Never in a million years: Exmouth Arms. O’Neill’s. Sorry.
Weekend/Day trips
1. Edinburgh. Despite the atrocious bus rides, the day tour of the town, pub crawl, and highlands tour were perhaps some of the most fun 48 hours ever. Great traveling companions and some awesome stories to last a life time. Plus we got to see Nessie (sort of)!
2. Cinque Terre. Counting this as a day trip from Lucca because it sortof felt like that. Awesome scenery, perfect weather, great group of people. One of the prettiest places on Earth, and a place and day I will never forget. For some reason the drive out and back are the things I think about first.
3. Stratford upon Avon. Great relaxing one-nighter away from London. The trip to the Cotswolds was gorgeous. Never forget Chipping Campden or the nice Bed and Breakfast owners. Taking communion over Shakespeare’s grave and meeting the nicest parish folks ever = once in a lifetime experience.
4. Wales. Talk about once in a lifetime. Finally got to see the constituency of my MP and campaign for the party. Met some friendly welsh Labour people and had great talks about JFK. Will never forget those fleeting hours walking around Rumney and South Cardiff.
5. Dublin. A great feeling of being home. Got to hang out with friends from school and see some of my ancestral homelands. Awesome Guinness and free lodging. Wish I had more time here.
Honorable Mention: Greenwich village. Windsor.
Definitely Not: Versailles.
Nights out
1. Rocket #2. The night I “met” Coleen. Can’t beat that.
2. Pub crawl in Edinburgh. Drinkin with a good ole southern boy and talking about life in Scotland. Cool pubs, great bartenders, great stories, great talks about politics. Way too much drinking, but still one of the best nights out by far.
3. Booze Cruise. Again an obvious choice. Culmination of the entire semester with 130 of our closest friends on a boat ride up the Thames. I think the most memorable time was the pregame. Drinking an entire bottle of wine and cheap cider while partying it up in the flat while ignoring advice from the rectors. Drinking in the cab on the way there. Pictures of parliament. Watching the entire London Program get more and more inebriated in a closed space. Sounding like a broken record, I will never forget that night and the friends I made this semester.
4. St. George’s Day. Meeting that kid at Jerusalem tavern and drinking fosters at the Ex through the St. George’s flag. Apparently I had perfect Chicken and lost my girlfriend. Great night.
5. Soho Gay Bar. Screwing an 8 pound cover at Oneills to wander around until we found another late license. Ending up in a multi level bar with shirtless bartenders grinding on each other. Sticking out like sore thumbs, but Im pretty sure all five of us had a better time than we would like to admit.
Honorable mention: sportscafe beer pong (thanks, coleen). Pub crawl with the office managers.
Never in a million years: ONeill’s nights (bathtub, anyone?)
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