This is part 9 of a series.
It was now Sunday, our 10th full day in London. For once we weren't in a panic! We still had plenty of time, even if more pubs were awaiting us then we could handle. While there are fewer trains on Sunday, one still merely has to show up at East Croydon Station and expect a train at any moment. We caught the 9:45 to Victoria Station, heading for Leadenhall Market. While the market was really quite a beautiful sight, it consisted mostly of eating venues. There were very few shops. Pollock's Toy Museum is here, but is only open Thursdays and Fridays. Since we weren't hungry we left after a market walk-thru. Across the street is a vast Wetherspoon pub, The Cross Keys. We shared a glass of delicious Greene King Abbott Reserve. I will be on the lookout for this ale in the future. We suddenly had a lot of time on our hands, so we walked over to the Guildhall. We were very glad we did!
There are two points of interest at the Guildhall, both in the same building. The ruins of a Roman amphitheater are in the basement. I had been looking forward to seeing them. Alas, our Roman luck was not with us today. We made it to the ruins but it was swamped with people and vendors attending a mudlark jubilee. People scour the Thames River bed at low tide and pick up odds and ends, then sell them at market. Old dolls, pottery and numerous other flotsam are for sale, and business seemed brisk. The ruins were all around us, but difficult to appreciate under the circumstances. The art gallery is upstairs and is a real gem. Anchored by a gigantic painting by Benjamin West, there are several noteworthy works in the permanent collection, including a Constable sketch of a painting at the Tate and a very famous Pre-Raphaelite work.
We stumbled across a painting exhibit with a sound environment created by Jem Finer (Pogues)! The art was by Jock McFaden and was right up our alley. Underground is an immersive exhibit showing paintings both above and below ground on London's underground. While I can show a few of the paintings here in the exhibit, they work much better with Finer's sounds. He uses actual train noises (train passing through a tunnel) mixed with his own creations to capture the feeling of being there. We loved the show!
by sounds put together by Jim Finer.
After leaving the Guildhall we headed to one more nearby Roman site. This time we had much luck! The Temple of Mithras was discovered and excavated in 1954. Here is the description from the website. "The temple has been restored to capture the mystery and intrigue of the Roman cult of Mithras, who used to meet on this site. Haze, light and the sound of footsteps, chanting and secret whispers will transport you back to London AD 240." Admission is free and is certainly worth a visit. The restoration gives some idea of what it would have been like to visit here as a cult member. The viewing last for 20 minutes, and includes time for visitors to walk completely around the small temple.
Nearby we stumbled across another Wetherspoons pub, the Sir John Hawkshaw. We shared a glass of Wind and Eton Brewery's Conqueror Black IPA. The pub is inside Cannon Street Station, which we have never before visited. We sat 'outside' the pub in the station, watching trains arrive and depart. We made plans to have lunch at a vegan restaurant. Mali Vegan Thai was the only all-vegan restaurant we ate at, with vegan food being ubiquitous in London. We shared an order of Pad Thai, had coffee, then prepared to make our way back to Cask Pub and kitchen for our follow-up visit.
Earls Court Station showing the old facade! Mali Vegan Thai was literally a stone throw away.
We searched for The Doctor, but only found his Tardis. He must have used the District Line,
a more reliable transport.
Since the Cask Pub is near Victoria Station, and that is the station we use to get home, we couldn't resist a revisit. Deb was up for some ales this time, but alas both dark ales were no longer on cask. However, the amazing Peanut Butter Stout was on draft, and they had a Plum Porter from Deer Hill Brewery that was quite fantastic! It was 3:30 pm when we arrived here, but by 5:30 pm we were back in Croydon and sitting at the Green Dragon. New River Blind Poet Stout was waiting for us, and Old Mout Berries and Cherries Cider. We were home by 6:30, relaxing before our next big day arrived.
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On Monday (just two days left!) we finished the London Loop segment 11 begun last Friday. That part of the day is discussed in part 6 of this blog, but not what we did afterwards. Because we had to get home after the walk via Farringdon Station we decided to revisit our favourite pub from last May. The Dovetail is so boring in its appearance from the outside that I doubt they get much stray walk-in business. However, once you know what lies within, wild horses would not hold most beer lovers back. The is the premier pub in central London to enjoy Belgian ales. However, since the pub didn't open until 4 pm, we had some time to explore the area. We had coffee at a small shop outside the station, sitting at a table on the busy pedestrian street. Just around the corner we found The Hope, a beautiful old pub with tile work and etched mirrors. I found the first Dark Star beer of the journey, usually a favourite with me.
With still considerable time to kill we wandered into and passed through Smithfield Market. Lucky for us it was closed for the day, as it is London's central butcher and meat market. Again, like Leadenhall Market, it is a beauty and a relic of how they did things in the past.
After exiting the market through the rear doors Deb searched for nearby pubs on the phone. there were two Fullers pubs nearby, one of them a favourite from a much earlier visit to London. It was about a 7 minute walk to one of London's most beautiful pubs. The Viaduct has always been known as a flashy gin palace,and that tradition lives on. Whilst I sipped at a Lilley's Pineapple Cider, Deb indulged herself with a shot of house-infused gin. She had a pineapple coconut one over ice, and became an instant infused gin fan (we found a good one when we got back home at a local liquor store).
We had already visited three pubs today before heading to our final one. The Dovetail has Belgian beers (drafts and dozens of bottles) and even some vegan food (their pommes frites are legendary). We pretty much had the same thing as we did in May, namely Westmalle Dubbel and Deliurium Tremors on draft. But we added a glass of Kasteel Rouge, and it was legendary! Next time we will try some of the bottles of dark stuff. We shared an order of vegan Moules, which they prepare with mushrooms. Needless to say a good time was had by all, as this now has become an official traditional stop on our final day or days in London.
within its doors.
Afterwards it was a short walk to Farringdon Station and one train home. We now had one full day remaining.
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One full day remaining. What to do. How about visit another gallery and perhaps a few more pubs. Anyone interested? It was a rainy day, sometimes quite heavy. On the final day I actually had to buy my own umbrella as Deb's was pretty small to shelter both of us. We were heading to Tate Britain, last visited too many years ago. We were going to meet up with Caroline again at a nearby pub for lunch. However, the elevators weren't working at her tube station, and she needed them. The rain didn't help improve her odds of joining us, either.
Once at Victoria Station we were able to catch one bus right to the door of the museum. The C 10 bus was hard to find, and we got wet waiting for it. Oddly enough it terminated at Canada Water, so Caroline could have taken one bus to the Tate area. We spent nearly three hours in the galleries, which is famous for its collection of Turner paintings and an unrivaled group of Pre-Raphaelite works. We were quite surprised by how much really bad art was hanging on the walls. There were galleries and galleries that we hurried through as it seems they want to turn the museum into a Tate Modern for British artists. Some of it was so bad that we were simply agog. There was a somewhat fun temporary exhibit in the great hall, a cinema-based show about a VW van that toured showing movies. Called "When Words Fall Silent Cinema Speaks," it really was worth seeing.
Ophelia by John Everett Millais and...
By 2 pm we were back in the Cask Pub Kitchen, not far from Victoria Station and home. We shared a glass of Daily Bread Bitter from Abbeydale Brewing Company, which was okay but not too special. We also had another glass of the fabulous peanut butter stout and we split a vegan burger for our lunch. The bartender knew us and that we were Canadian. He told us that Mark Carney used to drink and eat here when he worked around the corner at the Bank of England. So we made certain to toast Mr. Carney!
Back on home territory we made a final visit to The George. This time we tried Oakham Brewery's (a favourite of mine) Citra, an ale I have had before. It was perfect in all ways. Then came East Land Brewing Company's Foundation Best Bitter, and it was goodby until next visit. The bitter was exceptional and full of flavour. Both were cask ales.
With our take out Quorn nuggets we returned to the hotel. It was packing night.
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Wednesday was travel day. We would have a day that was 5 hours longer than normal, with much of it spent at airports and on planes. We tried our luck with the SL7 bus, which took us from a stop near East Croydon Station all the way to Heathrow. We used to use this bus all the time. However, after a bad afternoon ride from the airport one time we only use it now in the early morning to get to Heathrow. But even that didn't work today. A ride that should take 90 minutes took 180 minutes. There were times when we were stopped for long periods, stuck in traffic. We were certain we would not make our flight. It left at noon and our bus finally arrived, but not at the airport. For the second time in a row we were all removed at Hatton Cross Station! The bus did not continue past it. We grabbed our luggage and headed for the tube station, catching a Piccadilly train to Terminal 2.
The terminal was chaos. Air Canada used to have an entire section to itself, but not any more. Now it is shared with several other busy airlines. Check in involves an automated system, with one poor guy trying to help out at about seven or eight terminals. We eventually made it to security. That ran smoothly until Deb was pulled over to have her bag searched. That took really long. I went ahead in and got coffee, badly needed for our jet lag program at this point. We managed to both get inside and finish our coffee by 11 am. Our flight left at noon. It was a fifteen minute walk to the gate and boarding had begun. Usually we have time to browse the shops, especially the whisky shop. But thanks to heavy traffic, a bus that stopped before the airport and an overly busy check-in area we barely had time to catch our breath before boarding.
The flight left on time and was a good one, if long. We had time in Toronto to eat and walk around a bit before heading to our Windsor gate. Our plane would not show up and it looked as if they would send us to a hotel that night. But two hours later they found a plane. We arrived in Windsor at 9 pm instead of 7 pm, and were home by 11 pm. Bed followed soon afterwards.
Overall it was a great trip. We know much of London so well now and are always seeking out new sights and places to hang out. The Capital Ring is now 13/15ths complete, with the Loop now at 11/15ths complete. Will we be able to finish these walks? Stay tuned here to find out.
Mapman Mike
The End
