Monopoly Finale

On Saturday, I attempted to meet Jess at St Paul's to see one of the many touristy things here in London that I still haven't seen. Not really paying enough attention to the Rememberance Day and the Lord Mayor's Show Day information, I arrived at Bank tube station to chaos, delays on the tube, and the two minutes silence - was a little weird! Then a pararde kicked off with all the Queen's men... The St Paul's plan was abandoned after realising I was on the wrong side of the parade, and Jess reporting minimal entry to the cathedral.

Instead, Jess and I headed to the first stop of the second half of the Monopoly Pub Crawl, which was the plan for the day! A farewell London adventure for me, and the last chance to finish the crawl that I had been part of back in March.

The first stop for the recommencement of this crawl was Whitehall on the board, and thus The Lord Moon Of The Mall, where our first half pint was drunk, and a hearty pub meal of bangers and mash was consumed.

Charles joined us at the Northumberland Avenue stop, at the Sherlock Holmes, for a half pint of the Sherlock Holmes brew. A walk in the cold London air, and a short tube ride later, another pint was had at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese for the Fleet Street stop.

Andrew, Kristy and Scott joined us at this stop, for the walk over to The Strand and The Wellington pub. Here we were joined by Nat, who wins the award for the most travelled to join the crawl, after flying in from Copenhagen (she's mad! we love it!).

Finding the Marquess of Anglesey was easier this time than the very first time I completed this leg, before we got to The Chandos near Trafalgar Square, and The Moon Under Water for the Leicester Square stop, where we were joined by Laura.

The Comedy for Coventy Street, with the half pints still coming, and a food and half pint stop at The Captain's Cabin for Regent Street on the board. A glimpse of the Xmas lights here showed that they were the same as last year - lame! No pub found at the location outlined in the instructions for Vine Street, and the posh looking establishments and their burly bouncers were none too keen on letting us half pint in there!

A wander along Carnaby Street before O'Neills for Marlborough Street, and a half pint upstairs in The Duke of York as the closest pub to Bond Street.

Our finale was the Oxford Street pub, which was quintessential English pub, The Woodstock, after another peek at last year's Xmas lights repeat! A Winter Pimm's, and then another full pint for good measure, the crawl was done!

Feeling suprisingly well on Sunday morning, I met with Jess and Nat for brunch of the much anticipated eggs benedict at the Glow Lounge. A chance to say goodbye for now to Nat, who has been a great provider of floor space, crazy travel ideas, a great travel companion, and someone who is up for anything, during my time in the UK. Love your work, Miss Nat!

Irish Pubcrawl

Liz and Cathal arrived for a long weekend in London, and I met up with them after work on Friday night. We traveled on the tube to Arsenal, to meet up with Sandra and Rowena for a yummy dinner and a few drinks.

Yesterday, Liz, Cathal and I embarked on another attempt at the Monopoly Pub Crawl. We started a little later than the instructions specified, but at a decent hour, and started to make our way around to all the stops.

Having done this before, I still managed to get lost with a couple of the changes - we seemed to take ages and ages to find Fenchurch Street Station, only to find that the pub was closed.

A half pint at each pub before moving on to the next one, we did quite well, despite the freezing wind at every change. Stopping for the match and a much needed food stop, The Castle is still one of my favourite pubs on the crawl. Sandra and Rowena joined us here, where we saw Ireland win, and caught up on the missed pint from earlier!

Moving along in the bitter wind, we managed to stop off so that Sandra and Rowena could try their luck getting to Hogwart's at King's Cross Station.

Getting dark now, we continued through the instructions. More crusty pubs, and through to little tucked away pubs. By closing time for pubs, we had managed to complete the first half of the route, almost to the same point of my first attempt. Not bad.

Our location at this time was perfect to join Jenny at Strawberry Moons, for her leaving drinks. After lining up for a little too long in the guest list line, we eventually got in and hit the dancefloor.

Bit of a large day!! Just trying to return some of the hospitality I have always received in Ireland when I have gone to visit!

(More photos.)

Pubs, Celebs and Brunch

One of the last things I still had yet to show Katie was the dingy London pub world - so on Friday night after work Charles, Nat, Kimberley and I took her out for a few too many pints in the city. One of the crusty pubs from the Monopoly pub crawl, and then another we just happened upon...and then into a club in the city. Mission accomplished!!

The next morning, feeling very seedy, Katie dragged me off to the last remaining things she wanted to see. The must take photo crossing the pedestrian crossing in Abbey Road, then into Hamleys Toy Store for Katie to make a bear from the Bear Factory. A couple of photos in the tube, we then went along to Madame Tussaud's. Feeling quite dodgy, I certainly hadn't dressed for a dinner date with George Clooney!! Hee hee!

I have had no real desire to go along to this before, but it was actually heaps of fun! Where else do you get an opportunity to hang out with Madge, squeeze Robbie's bum, realise that Prince William is way too tall for you, and punch Little Johnny in the nose without getting arrested!!?? Gold!

Half the time we didn't know who was real in the room, and who was made of wax. We actually stood and waited for a wax figure to take a photo for a little longer than was right! How embarrassing! Hee hee.

After the high of mucking about and getting our funny photos, we then went into The Chamber - LIVE! not really having a clue what it was.... And being scared to death!!! I have never been so frightened in all my life!! Katie and I were actually clinging to each other with terror!! We cowered behind a couple, of which the guy was also hanging back from entering each room...so it must have been scary!!

Needless to say, the figures in this room were real, and jumped out at you, grabbed you, and ran at you in the dark. One of them hovered behind me for ages. I have never been so scared!!

Ahhhhh - Tom and Katie!! Hee hee. (More photos)

Yesterday Katie and I had brunch in Little Venice, which is two stops away from home, at Cafe LaVille, and then headed to Notting Hill for the Portobello Market.
After cupcakes and hot chocolate to die for at the Hummingbird Bakery (thanks for the tip, Melpo!!), we headed home to get ready for the tube ordeal to Heathrow - some of the lines were down for "engineering work". Always the way when you want to go anywhere. A true London experience to end Katie's trip.

Thanks so much for coming over to the other side of the world to visit me, Katie! I had so much fun. Very proud of you for making the trip on your own, and so didn't want you to go! (And I hope you are joking about the plane being bogged!! You should be in Hong Kong for your last change by now....)

Monopoly Pub Crawl: Part 2

Yesterday the second half of the Monopoly Pub Crawl that I started in October was attempted, and conquered! Albeit over two days, a month apart!

Jenny, Nat, Kimberley, Craig and I gathered at The Blue Posts, which is the Piccadilly stop from last time. It was closed for the first attempt, and we had to wait till 12noon for it to be open for this half of the crawl. No worries, and a half pint later, we followed the route past the Pall Mall pub (which we managed last time) back to The Lord Moon of the Mall for Whitehall.

The Sherlock Holmes for Northumberland Avenue, while terrorising some French tourists ("what is this crawl??"), before meeting up with Cam and Caitlin at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese for the Fleet Street half pint (after a wee and pint stop at the Walkabout! It's the unreliable District Line to be blamed for that!!).

Heather joined us here at The Strand, at The Wellington, before we walked on in the cold and now dark to find The Marquess of Anglesey for the Bow Street half pint. I must admit, it was a lot easier walking from pub to pub a month ago - nowhere near as cold as it was yesterday! Brrr! Perfect day to be inside pubs, though!

Charles, Jenny and Liz joined (or re-joined) the group at The Chandos, which was the Trafalgar Square half pint location - and lucky for us that we had Heather along for that change, or we would still be looking for it!! A stop for food was finally needed for those of us who had been crawling since daylight, and of course, Leicester Square had plenty of fast options for us.

Walking through the busy theatre crowd, we were pointed in the right direction for the next pub, The Comedy for Coventry, by Charles before he left the group. I believe Jenny and Liz disappeared at this point too - shame, cos Jenny could have been a Hall of Famer, if she had have stuck yesterday out! Tsk tsk! Piker!

A quick stop between pubs for samosas didn't do us any favours, and the Regent Street stop saw Kimberley, Nat and Craig bow out to some heavy drunkeness.

The last two standing, Cam and I managed to find and finish half pints (I think Cam had downed full pints since joining us way back in the day) at the Marlborough Street, and Bond Street pub, after discovering that the Vine Street stop was covered in scaffolding. Last stop was a little pub off Oxford Street called The Woodstock, with some friendly chats with the not-so-local locals. (More photos.)

We made it to the tube in time for our ride home on the Bakerloo line after completing the Crawl! So over two days, and with a month between, I have had a half pint in all Monopoly pub stops (oooh, except for the Vine Street one - but not for a lack of trying!!) all over London. Surely we can perfect this crawl - I put up the challenge to anyone to do better!!

Mourning my youth

The email invitation read...

I have a scary birthday coming up, and given that turning 28 kinda means that you are a "grown up", and you sort of need to take things more seriously, at least a little bit, I think I should see it in in style. A least mark such a coming of age with some immature binge drinking and subsequent oblivion.

So I am planning on doing something appropriately silly on the 22nd of October, which is a Saturday.

The mission will be, should you be game, 26 pints in 26 pubs all over London (I am sure we can squeeze in another 2 pints in there somewhere!), at the Monopoly board locations. You will need a Zone 1-2 railcard, and your strongest stomach!

So yesterday morning, a very hungover Jenny and I (full rested, and ready to go!!), set out for Elephant and Castle tube station bright and sparky for the start of our Monopoly Pub Crawl.

Following the instructions for the original route, we set off to The George in Old Kent Road where we joined about four other groups waiting for the pub to open at 11am.

Taking heed to the advice on the website, my consumption of half pints began here, before we caught a bus across Tower Bridge in search of Fenchurch Street Station. Thankfully several other groups knew where to go and we got to follow them to find the pub here.

After finding ourselves walking in urine smelling subways to cross the street, we finally found The Aldgate Exchange, which was the stop for Whitechapel Road. A tube ride away was Liverpool Street Station, where the destination was The Hamilton Hall. Gorgeous inside, this pub used to be a ballroom. After a quick detour at the golden arches for a much needed double cheesy, we were on a bus to the Angel Islington area.

Charlotte joined the crawl at this pub, who caught up on the count with a full pint. Brilliant!

The Castle on Pentonville Road, which was stop number six, was a very nice pub. A half pint of that yummy Belgian white beer, and some Monopoly game props for later (naughty!!), we walked up to King's Cross Station, where the assigned pub had had a name change. Very confusing there for a minute!!

Next was The Rocket on Euston Road, where Jes joined the crew. A half pint later we were on the tube to find Marylebone Station (I can pronounce that now, after being in London for 8 months! Hee hee!), and a very crusty pub there in the station.

Getting a little lost following the instructions for the next stop, we eventually found The Rose and Crown for the Park Lane half pint.

Finding the Mayfair pub among the little alleyways in the heart of London, Renee and Rachael joined us for the crawl at The Grapes.

The pub for Piccadilly was closed when we found it, it was obvious we were not engaging in the time stressing that was required for all the stops. As it was starting to get dark, we found The Red Lion for our next installment.

Here, at the Pall Mall square on the board, we managed to terrorise some poor unfortuante English lads who were doing a baby version of what we were doing, before we hit the streets again.

Spotting the The Lord Moon of the Mall for our Whitehall stop, the allure of the golden arches across the road was all too tempting. We made another cheesy stop, and I think being in that over lit environment was my downfall.

Crossing back to the pub, where Nata and her friend Tash were waiting to join us, I had reached the "no more beer for me" stage. Stumps were called here, at stop number 14 on the instructions. But that was only 6 full pints - can that be right!!?? (More photos)

There will have to be a Part 2, to reconvene at Whitehall, very soon.

I had such a fun day! And it was such a great way to get around and see London, even if it was through beer goggles towards the end!