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Destination: London

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London’s Anglesea Arms Pub

When in London, I like to stay in South Kensington. It’s a classy neighborhood — so elegant, my hotel is not allowed to put out a sign. It also has a quintessential British pub, the Anglesea Arms.

Along with beautiful Georgian architecture, the Anglesea Arms is filled with classy Londoners.

 

The Anglesea Arms Pub is everything a British pub should be, in my mind. Musty paintings and old-timers, beautiful people backlit, dogs wearing Union Jack vests, a long line of tempting tap handles advertising beers available, and flower boxes spilling color around picnic tables perfect for a warm summer evening. That’s why I recommend the Anglesea Arms in my London guidebook.

 

And for me, eating in a pub that takes its cooking seriously is the best deal in town. For £15 (just under $25), you get a delightful meal. When you consider the high cost of dining in London, the joy of immersing yourself in a neighborhood pub, and the quality of this dinner, this is a great value.

To top it off, we filmed an on-camera for our Travel Skills Special here. After a pint of beer, I was thankful I remembered my lines. Looking up from my meal and into the lens, I drilled home my point: “Unification does not threaten Europe’s diversity. In fact, that diversity is both as vivid as ever, and more accessible. Imagine: Today for lunch, it was quiche and fine French wine under the Eiffel Tower; for dinner, it’s pub grub and a hearty ale in a classic London pub. Here’s to diversity.”

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Bulleting Under the English Channel

I still get excited about the Eurostar train trip from Paris through the English Channel Tunnel (a.k.a. “Chunnel”) to London. But the routine at the station has become, well, routine: Show your ticket and passport. Wait in a lounge until it’s time to board. Cross over the tracks on a secure sky bridge to a secure platform where your bullet train awaits, and follow the crowds as security officials make sure everyone gets on the right car. Within minutes, you’re zipping at 180 mph across the French countryside. Now that the new tracks are complete on the English side, you go just as fast there — and within about 2.5 hours, you’re in London.

When the tracks parallel the highway, we pass cars like they’re standing still (the train is going 100 mph faster than the speeding cars). When the attendant offers wine, it isn’t the cheap stuff they serve on American airlines — it’s a fine French Médoc.

And then, suddenly, there’s darkness for 20 minutes. Whenever I ride my bullet train down through the tunnel deep below the English Channel, playful thoughts fill my head.

If you can’t see the video below, watch it on YouTube.

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To Celebrate Our Pocket Guides, I’m Sharing Some Tips on Rome, Paris, and London

My publisher tells us that our new Pocket Guides to London, Paris, and Rome are doing great–not cannibalizing sales of our full-size guidebooks to those cities but getting in on the thriving market for smaller, more colorful, and more portable “best of” and “top ten” guidebooks. To celebrate their success, here’s a fun Q&A for people anticipating trips to my three favorite big cities in Europe:

Best photo op in each city?
Rome: The old ladies on their folding chairs as they hang out in the Jewish Quarter; rays of sunlight cutting through St. Peter’s Basilica; the scene on Via del Corso in the early evening when it’s closed to traffic, and the community is out for the passeggiata.
Paris: The city from top of Montparnasse Tower (you don’t have to look at the Montparnasse Tower); the neighborhood action on a street like rue Montorgueil; the honey-colored tones of freshly baked bread and pastries at just about any corner bakery.
London: Different angles on the Millennium Bridge; the pageantry during the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace; Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament from the top of the London Eye.

Best free yet enriching experience in each town?
Rome: Going to a late Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica (most days at 5 p.m.); being all alone in the Pantheon very early or very late; exploring the back streets of Trastevere.
Paris: Being in the organ loft at St. Sulpice Church as Daniel Roth plays a short concert between Masses on Sunday; sitting on the steps of Sacré-Cœur in Montmartre as darkness settles on the City of Light.
London: Enjoying the many wonderful and free galleries and museums–especially the British Museum and the British Library; taking in Speakers’ Corner at Hyde Park on Sunday; viewing the legal action in the Old Bailey courtrooms.

Favorite single museum and why in each town?
Rome: The Borghese Gallery–It must be the most sumptuous palace in Italy even without its many Bernini masterpieces, including my favorite statue anywhere, Apollo and Daphne.
Paris: The Louvre–It shows off the greatest collection of art in Europe in what was its biggest palace.
London: The British Museum–It’s the chronicle of our Western civilization.

What guilty pleasure do you indulge in each city?
Rome: Staying in the decadent Hotel Nazionale and dining at my favorite restaurant, Il Gabriello.
Paris: Pigging out on macarons at Ladurée on the Champs-Elysees.
London: Riding in the big black taxis just to talk with the cabbies; wandering through the parks, browsing from obscure monument to obscure monument, while people watching.

Biggest mistake time-strapped travelers make in each city, and how to avoid it?
Rome: Going to sights like St. Peter’s and the Colosseum when there is a long line. Rather than waiting an hour to get in, you can be all alone at the greatest church in Christendom if you simply go early or late. And the line for the Colosseum is actually a line to buy a ticket, which is a combo-ticket that includes the neighboring Palatine Hill. Simply pick up your ticket at the Palatine Hill entrance a short walk away, and stroll right past the long line waiting for tickets at the Colosseum.
Paris: Waiting in long lines for the Louvre, Orsay Museum, Sainte-Chapelle, and Versailles. All can be avoided simply by purchasing the Paris Museum Pass (sold at any city museum).
London: Going to a play when you’re suffering from jet lag–that’s one expensive nap. That’s why, if I’m touring England, I go from the airport directly to Bath (a relaxing, smaller town) to get over jet lag. I finish my tour in London when I’m fully adjusted to local time. And that way, nothing will be anticlimactic since I end up in exciting London. It’s the best finale for a trip around Britain.

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Enjoy a Free Trip by Bundling Travel Memories

Every few days, it seems, the editor of our Web newsletters gives me a general theme and asks me to write a vivid travel nugget. It’s one of my favorite tasks: just sitting quietly in front of my computer and meditating on a particular place. In fact, it occurs to me that having a memory bank of rich travel experiences is a wonderful blessing. Just the other day, I revisited London:

If I flew to London tomorrow, I’d eat dinner with a man in a fisherman’s apron who knows as many words for white fish as Eskimos have for ice. I’d learn of the wonders of scotch with local experts at a fancy mahogany bar under the chandeliers of a luxurious former bank lobby. I’d join the crush of commuters on the ramshackle Tube as they read their trashy daily newspapers. I’d walk the Jubilee Promenade along the Thames under the towering icons of a new skyline and past quirky bits of Dickens’ London ‘ half-timbered stagecoach inns, operating theaters where they sopped up the blood with hay, and a hospital for psychiatric inmates in a neighborhood called Bedlam. And I’d while away my afternoons in Europe’s greatest museums ‘ free and always tickling my sightseeing fancy with new exhibits. Between each stroll and museum visit, I’d join chatty locals again to feel the pulse of today’s London behind the etched windows of venerable watering holes where candles have spilled and beers have sloshed on the same tables for literally centuries. Just writing this makes me want to fling around my winter scarf and head for London town.

If you haven’t tried this, you might enjoy it. Spend a few meditative moments bundling travel memories.

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Travel Tip: Take a Hike

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I just spent 10 days in a car exploring Britain. I forgot to note the mileage, but I started in London, scoured the Cotswolds, toured North Wales, and then drove up north to the Windermere Lake District (near Keswick), before returning to London. Total cost for diesel: £120 (about $185).

For the first time, I really took time to hike in the Cotswolds and the Lake District. And when I think back on the highlights of the last 10 days, those hikes were it. Nothing too demanding — just hiking through farmland from Stow-on-the-Wold through the Slaughters to Bourton-on-the-Water and back in the Cotswolds; and up along Catbells, high above the lake called Derwentwater in the Lake District.

The point: I can’t imagine a better way to spend three hours in a day. Every day has three hours to spare. What else is so important between 4 o’clock and dinnertime? With these walks, I take home vivid memories.

In the Cotswolds: farms in action viewed from behind, ducks rudely butt-up in millponds, rabbits popping up in fields like some video game challenge, ancient wind-sculpted trees, wet and slippery kissing gates, and slender slate church spires marking distant villages where a hot cuppa tea awaits.

In the Lake District, I struggled up and over Catbells — a ridge walk I’ve recommended for years (and felt guilty having never actually hiked). The weather almost kept me in. But I was glad I ventured out — the wind “blowing the cobwebs out” (as my B&B host warned) once atop Catbells ridge, the comedic baa-ing of sheep, being the stick figure on the ridge for those observing from distant farms or boats on the lake…as others have always been the stick figures for me.

And, oh, the joy of a pub after a good hike. Studying the light on ruddy faces while sipping the local brew in a pub has always been part of the magic of travel in Britain. When your face is weather-stung and your legs ache happily with accomplishment, the pub ambience sparkles even better.

About the weather: In Britain, you don’t wait for the weather to get good. Blustery weather is part of the scene. Consider it a blessing. The majority of “bad weather” comes with broken spells of brightness. Don’t get greedy — you wish for and are thankful for brightness, not sunshine. As they say here, there’s no bad weather…just inappropriate clothing. And if you’re in a hiking area and your clothing is inappropriate, your B&B host can likely loan you a heavy coat (along with the best local map).

Hiking along the ridge, with the weather — like a dark army — storming overhead, the wind buffeting in my ears, my camera bulging but dry under my coat, and a commanding 360-degree lakes view…makes me want to turn cartwheels.