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Published: July 29th 2023
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On Thursday, after breakfast we waited for rush hour to be over. While in our room we watched as one of the large ketch exited through the swing gates at St Katherine's Docks right beneath our window. Fascinating!! Wethen walked to Tower Hill Underground and went into Picadilly via Embankment. Our main aim was to visit the three main books stores and stock up as books are so much cheaper here. Emerging into Piccadilly Circus made me feel like I was really in London!! We strolled along Picadilly to Waterstones which is huge. Here we found several titles. From there to Hatchard's a beautiful old book shop where we browsed and bought a few more. By this time we were feeling our age and so much walking was getting to us but we soldiered on to Green Park where we took the Tube back to Leicester Square. From here a walk along Charing Cross Road and a drinks stop at Cambridge Circus, in the Cambridge pub and then to Foyles. This is also a huge place but again we found another couple of books to complete our purchases
. Feeling rather weary we turned down Old Compton Street where we found
Balan's, a small restaurant which seemed popular. We had a great lunch here. Fletcher had Thai red chicken curry while I opted for a prawn linguine. Both were excellent, accompanied by a lovely bottle of Pinot Gris. Then it was back to Picadilly and on the Tube to Tower Hill. It was the first day of the 5th Test so we had been checking on the scores. We went back to our room hoping to watch some action, but alas, it is only on Sky Sports and that was not on our TV
Instead we listened to the BBC radio description and rested.
At tea we walked to the Dickens Inn, hoping to see some cricket, but again, they only had free to air channels. The venue is a traditional British pub with plenty of character , many old beams and seemed very popular. After a drink there we returned to the room and I booked at a nearby restaurant for dinner. This proved to be a winner. The Cote is a French place overlooking St Katherine's Docks. Fletcher's
Breton fish stew and my Duck were both scrumptious and we then indulged in desserts, Chocolate crepe for Fletcher and
of course, a Creme Brulee for me. It had been a good day!
Friday was a travelling day. We had breakfast, packed and checked out at 10am. Then it was into a cab and off to London City Airport for our flight to Amsterdam. This was a new airport for us and is small but comfortable. No lounge here. We had to wait for 30 minutes before we could check our bags and then it was into the departure area. We stopped at a bar to wait for our 1pm flight. We flew British Airways on a small Brazilian manufactured plane, to Schipol in about an hour. There was also a one hour time change so we arrived about 3pm. A long queue for Passport Control and then wepicked up our luggage and out to the terminal. We bought tickets for the train into Amsterdam Central and then, with difficulty, manoeuvred our bags onto the carriage. I must be getting old as more and more younger people offer to help me lift the suitcase, a gesture I am grateful for.
Once into Amsterdam we looked for a taxi.There were no signs but in the end we spotted a rank and
gratefully we were driven to our hotel, The Social Hub. This is a converted student accommodation with many young people and shared office spaces . The room is comfortable but quite small and I felt very out of place. However it is only for 2 nights. To compensate, there is an excellent restaurant next door, the Baut, where we went for dinner , early as we had only a packet of chips on board the plane for lunch.
A very pleasant waiter explained the menu to us and was articulate and accommodating. We both opted for fish, Sole for Fletcher and sea bass for me. This was delicious served with soft mussels and an excellent sauce. Fletcher enjoyed his very much. Dessert was also good. I had a Pina Colada (not the cocktail)concoction with pineapple and Fletcher had a peach sorbet. A good finish to a tiring day of travel.
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