London 2018

Went back to London end of summer last year to see Hamilton. It’s my way of supporting local artists from where I come from. One of the main cast members of the musical is a Filipina, Rachelle Ann Go. Saw her in Miss Saigon in Broadway, and I totally loved her performance. So I thought, why not enjoy the pleasure of seeing her again in Hamilton since London is not so far away from France, and even more convenient for me this time around, having no need to apply for a UK visa since I have recently acquired my French passport.

But before that, we also saw and did a lot of other things…

London underground is just so iconic… they’re filthy and stinky, and really old… but kinda charming in a vintage-y, sentimental kind of way.

Our first day was drizzly, as expected. So we felt like having Ramen and we managed to find one, luckily. I think it was a fast food chain called, Bone Daddies. It was not bad at all.

First order of the day was Japanese food… not sure why… oh yeah, coz Japanese food in France is always so-so when it’s not the expensive kind.

We stayed in a centrally-located hotel called, CitizenM. If you’ve read my previous post on Keukenhof, you’ll know that I liked my experience in this hotel in London so I stayed in the same hotel chain in Amsterdam. The service is really good, and fast. The rooms are small-ish but clean and stylish.

Nice touch at the CitizenM Hotel, and nice view too!

Our hotel is just right across the Tower of London and right next to the underground station.

Sitting like a queen and having drinks at the hotel’s hipster bar

We had dinner at a place called St John. We saw this restaurant in Anthony Bourdain‘s show, and we decided to check it out. It seemed like the kind of restaurant that hubby and I would like. And we were not disappointed. It was quite full when we dined. The service was excellent. And we really liked the ambience. The food quality and the service are really good for the price.

Dinner menu at St John

Crispy Pig’s Skin

Sucking the marrow out of life, literally.

The next day, we headed out to Portobello Road and Notting Hill for some breakfast, shopping, and checking out the sites from the movie, Notting Hill, which I am quite a fan of. I have recently watched the movie again on a sick day, and I’ve come to realize that it is actually kind of a mixture of two of my favorite movies — The Purple Rose of Cairo and Roman Holiday, which I only weirdly realized after the nth time of seeing it.

Pancakes and Matcha Latte at Granger and Co… definitely worth the long queuing time.

Of course, I bought one.

That famous blue door of an apartment in a famous 90s Rom-Com movie

Not the actual book shop in the movie, just the inspiration. The bookshop where it was shot was not really a bookshop.

Somewhere around Baker Street

Sherlock Holmes profile mosaic at an underground station

browsing inside the Abbey Road Studio souvenir shop

We discovered that there was a Carnaval in Notting Hill the day before we were leaving London, so we decided to go back to the place and check it out. It was a bit bleak and drizzly. And not really much happening. We didn’t stay long, and just decided to go to the museums.

Charles Dickens actually lived in this house that has been turned into a museum. It was very interesting to have a peek into his personal life. As a teenager, I have enjoyed reading some of his books. Most of them seemed to have been written for my age and my sentiments at the time.

So happy to have discovered this one!

Pictures were not allowed inside the museum, so I just took photos of souvenir items. That Shakespeare book was from the Notting Hill book shop.

Hamilton was kinda disappointing. Although, Rachelle Ann Go has a really powerful voice, it just didn’t go well with rapping. Also, the lyrics and the rhythm were kinda repetitive. It was so boring to listen to, after an hour or so. We didn’t really feel like going back after the intermission. But we didn’t have anywhere else to go and didn’t feel like wasting our tickets. I think the appeal of the musical is mostly political, and I’m afraid that’s all there is to it.

Finally, what we came to London for.

Difficult to get a good seat even though I booked months in advance!

On our last day, we walked around Tower Bridge and The Thames River. Also, visited Tate Modern to torture myself again after Hamilton. But this one at least is free!