jeudi 20 septembre 2007

A lovely trip to London...

...in VO ! Because I just like it better this way... and also because my German and Spanish readers often complain about my blog writing... which is French ;)!
I Hope my English will be understandable enough...


By the way I've made a new poll, don't forget to vote before leaving...it's just here on the right -->

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Last week-end we traveled to the UK for a 3 days journey hosted by "Manew & Niki", two French friends who have been living there for almost 3 years. The trip was so nice (partly because of the wonderful weather...yes we were in UK!) and so interesting that I couldn't stop taking tons of pictures to capture those lovely moments and share them with you.

Everything begun in the royal borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, some 50 miles away from London in the west direction.

On the first day we went visiting the region and especially the town of Windsor well known because of the Windsor Castle which is one of three official residences of The Queen.

We first had lunch in a typical English Pub with a very nice terrasse:

I chose a chicken & bacon salad with a supplementary topping "mushrooms & brie" which was a little too risky but how could I know the topping would be warm and melted...!

Our next destination... the town of Windsor... and it's Castle:

Another one ?

On our way up on the hill we found a bakery with lots of creamy cookies... While walking inside I was all excited about eating my first real British scone...

...but what I saw some seconds later was even more exiting... and finally I chose this beautiful shortbread with caramel & chocolate topping... simply delicious ! I dreamed about it again and again the whole week-end...

We didn't visit the Castle itself because just walking around was nice enough.

And above all I liked this little house which is located in the shortest street of England (dixit Manew!).

No no the picture is straight, only the house isn't...;)

Afterwards we went to the rugby playground of Windsor, where Manew used to play sometimes. The front view of the Castle is just perfect... without clouds I mean...

We didn't succeed in moving the old training machine but for sure I wasn't with the right guys... they might be the best badminton & golf players I know, they don't really look like Frédéric Michalak...;))

On our way back home we drove through a little village named "Bray" and guess what is there...in this little house...

The second best restaurant in the world !! Veridic ! It's called:

The best one is El Bulli a Spanish restaurant (am I right Silvano ? ;)).

Interested in some extract of the Menu at the Fat Duck ?
Here it is:

  • Nitro green tee and lime mousse
  • Oyster and passion fruit jelly, lavender
  • Mustard ice cream, red cabbage Gaspacho
  • Quail jelly, creme of langoustine, parfait of foie gras, oak mousse and truffle toast...
Looking at the price of the "Testing Menu" (£150...!) I add to convince myself we were more likely to eat Fish & Chips that evening...:(

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The next day was again warm and sunny ;) But before taking the train to London, we had to try some real English breakfast:

It wasn't so bad ! Really !! And we were finally ready for a long walk through London.

We arrived at the railway station Paddington, just in the middle of Sussex, a chic neighborhood ! And very peaceful compared to the agitation we had to face later on.

Next step: Hide Park...

...with all those little squirrels not afraid at all to eat peanuts directly from visitor's hands !

I didn't remember London was so green with all those nice gardens around the Buckingham Palace. The next one is "St James Park":

And...here it comes ! The Buckingham Palace !! Youhouhou !!!
Bad time, bad light...

I don't know that girl... but she seems to be funny ;) Like her hair...!!

On our way over to the other side of the Thames we met the big guy named Ben ! Have you ever seen him with such a blue sky ?

On that Saturday the east side of the Thames was really crowded...

That was because of the "Thames Festival" happening !

And the most interesting attraction was those musicians and "trapezists" flying in the air.

The ballad is almost over, just a last view from the City taken on the bridge in direction of Westminster Underground station:

After such a long walk we needed some drinks !

In the B@1 cocktail bar, near Covent Garden you can get 2 drinks for the price of one between 5 & 7 PM ! All cocktails are made with fresh fruits from very skilled and nice bartenders:

We tried the Rasberry Lynchburg, the Mojito which was really yummy and an ice cream cocktail, the best cocktail I've ever drunk... with vanilla ice cream, Baileys and chocolate liquor... so so good !

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Last but not least, on Sunday we went playing golf ! Ok, ok... not really golf but some kind of golf for dummies called "Pitch & Putt" (apparently well known in England) and it turned out I wasn't so bad at golfing at all !!;)

Just to give you an idea of what it looks like: Niki (the winner of Sunday's game ;)) and Philou on stage...

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I couldn't finish this pretty long story (are you still there ?? ;) without trying a recipe, the recipe that marks the London trip...

Back in time, at the Thames Festival, we found a Belgian restaurant called "Le pain quotidien" (nope...won't be any British recipe...sorry). Their brownies are so delicious I had to try them out.

I found the recipe on the blog "The Wednesday Chef", it is simply called the Belgian Brownie.

Unfortunately, the brownie didn't taste like the one I remembered from London, maybe I made some mistake in the ingredient's quantities conversion... maybe my oven acts different from the Wednesday Chef's one... or maybe the brownie tasted so good in London because of the ambiance, or the weather ;).

But still, it's a chocolate cookie, so it makes everyone happy !


All these photos and explanations for finally send Manew & Niki a really short message: thank you !

16 commentaires:

Clairechen a dit…

OK, you want it in english, you get in in english!!!! ;-)
First of all: you made WONDERFUL pictures.
Then, now my questions:

1. Are these your shoes on the picture with the squirrel?? I loooove them!
2. Isn't you beside the Bobby in front of the Buckingham Palace?
3. Why didn't you have take tea with the Queen???!!!!
4. Next time we meet in London! My aunt is leaving there since 30 years!!! Ok?

~marion~ a dit…

;))

1) No these aren't my shoes, but some Japanese girl's one !
2) Yes I confess... that's me on the picture.
3) We tried really hard to get an appointment with the Queen but her schedule was too tight ;)
4) Sure, I love London !

rolfiiiii a dit…

I would die to taste that shortbread with caramel and chocolate!!

Rosa's Yummy Yums a dit…

What a great trip! I'm a little jealous ;-P... Those scones look awesome!
Thanks for the great post and pictures!

Cheers,

Rosa

Anonyme a dit…

Bon, on fait avec ce qu' on a dans le bagage et ma valise d' anglais est très limitée :-)

Millionaire's shortbead: yummy yummy!!

:-D

Anonyme a dit…

Nice story, nice picts.... looks like you had a very good guide ;)
Just one thing: I think you forgot to mention that you ate the best chocolate cake EVER !!!! or maybe it was so good you can't even talk about it ;p
Regarding the Fat Duck, it used to be the best restaurant in the world...in 2005. That guy is not a chef but more like a chemist... http://www.fatduck.co.uk/
And by the way, just for the records, Nikki didn't win at golf !!!!

Anonyme a dit…

Bon ... je vais le faire en français, tant pis : te lire me réconcilie drôlement avec l'anglais !
Superbe reportage !

Anonyme a dit…

Thanks for all these pictures of sceneries which are so familiar to me! The shortbread is called a millionaire's shortbread;-) A few mistakes here and there but I'm impressed with your English writing! I hope my German was still as good as your English is...

Unknown a dit…

trop bien le recit ma puce!!

par contre t as pas dit qu on avait pris le tube et un cab (le meilleur moment du weekend) ;o)

Anonyme a dit…

Thank you for this lovely visit around London
English breakfast with beans and bacon is so wonderfull that it hasn't changed much since 1960 when I used to go around England during summer holidays
mg

Anonyme a dit…

Wow, what a trip!! (je me mets a ecrire en anglais, ca va me defouler car c'est la premiere fois sur un site francais!!) Looks like you had a blast!! I like your idea of writing everything in VO, for once... I've never done it in my blog, at least, never as completely as you did- it's fun. Thanks for this highly detailed article! Last time I went to london I was 14, and I loved it too. English breakfast can be pretty good, I agree, as long as they don't go "fancy" with pieces of pineapple on your ham!? So, I don't know a word of German, but I think it's a good idea to include this language in your blog a little more, because it kind of represents you now (just don't change it into a German-speaking blog! PLEEASE!!) ;)

Anonyme a dit…

Je veux y retourner!!! And I understand you about the choices you had to make! Scone, shortbread.... too hard for me! I must take both!

Flo Bretzel a dit…

Je prépare depuis quelques temps déjà ma cagnotte pour le Fat Duck, j'y arriverai un jour...

Hélène (Cannes) a dit…

J'aurais fait comme toi ... rien de tel qu'un bon fish and chips ou un bel english breakfast, quand on est là-bas ! Et avoue que la saucisse a ce "british taste" incomparable !!! ;o))
Bisous
Hélène

Anonyme a dit…

Oh la la, j'ai vécu là-bas quelques temps et cette visite sur ton blog m'a rappelé des tas de souvenirs. Merci pour cette superbe ballade !!!

Elegant a dit…

What a lovely place! Simply stunning

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