Night out in London

While Lexi was in The Netherlands for a soccer tournament at the American school in The Hague, Chris and I headed to London for a night out with two blokes visiting here from Houston for work. With Ryan at school in Nashville, I just realized that puts our family of four in 3 different countries at the moment.

Cocktails

Our buddy Rocky is well acquainted with the London scene and knew just where to take us. We started with drinks on the rooftop bar at Trafalgar Hotel. We were blessed to have a pleasant evening, not too cold, not too hot, just perfect to sit on the top of a building with the London Eye and Trafalgar Square in view. There is also artistic landscaping at the rooftop bar. For what you pay for the overpriced drinks and the cover charge, they better provide a nice ambience.

Rooftop Bar

I had a refreshing summery drink loaded with crushed ice, a rarity here, and mandarin orange, lychee and vodka. Yumm. I had to snap a photo of my drink next to the delicate tray of nuts and olives and the plant-in-a-bowl table decoration.

Fancy drinks and snacks

Happy couple

Dinner

We next headed to dinner at a Belgian restaurant in the Covent Garden area called Belgo's. Specialty of the house is mussels and Belgian beer. I had a pot of Thai Green Mussels steamed in green chili, lemongrass, lime and coconut (isn't that a song?) Excellent flavor. Then you dip bread in the sauce at the bottom of the pot to complete the culinary experience. Wonderful.

Enjoying our mussel pots

Belgium is known for its beers and the beer menu is longer than the food menu. The beers made by monks are pointed out on the menu. The Chimay Rouge is one of the beers made by Trappist monks within monastery walls. I had a light fruity beer called Floris Kriek. The wait staff all dress up as monks to add to the fun.

Belgian Beers

Those ambitious Belgians are ALSO known for their chocolate. We couldn't pass up sharing two desserts: 1) white chocolate mousse wrapped in dark chocolate with passion fruit sauce. 2) Brussels style waffle with vanilla ice cream, Chantilly cream, and chocolate sauce. Are you getting hungry?

I am so ready for a trip to Belgium now!

CellarDoor Finale

Finally, we stopped off for an after-dinner drink at a "little bar" Rocky knows about called CellarDoor. It's one of those places that you would walk right past if you didn't know it was there. The entrance is a tunnel opening on the sidewalk leading down to a staircase. You go down the stairs and surprisingly you find yourself in a bar right under the street. The address is actually number Zero on Aldwych Street.

I downloaded these pictures from the internet because mine didn't come out very good.

CellarDoor Bar entrance

The place was probably a public toilet in a previous life. It's a small intimate space with a bar on one end and a small stage at the other. Mirrored walls deceptively make you think there's plenty of room to wander around and then you realize you're looking at yourself in a mirror. Somehow a live cabaret show was going on with performers wandering through the crowd.

Interior of CellarDoor

Rocky told me I had to check out the bathrooms while there. When I saw that the doors to the toilets were clear glass, I said never mind! But Chris showed me that when you close the door and lock it, a light transforms the door so you can no longer see through it. Clever!

9/11 Anniversary

Even in London, the 10 year anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attack on the United States was commemorated. Among the almost 3,000 victims in the tragedy were 67 Britons, the largest number from a country outside of the USA.

Prince Charles laying wreath

There is a 9/11 Memorial Garden in Grosvenor Square near the US Embassy in London. A memorial service was held there this last Sunday on the 10 year anniversary. White roses were left for each of the 67 victims. I didn't even know the Memorial Garden was there. I will have to stop by it some time. These pictures are all from the internet as I did not attend the services.

Young relatives of victims laying roses

67 white roses

US ambassador Louis Susman, Prince Charles, Prime Minister David Cameron

Sadly, some protesters organized a noisy demonstration next to the service and brazenly set fire to a US flag during the moment of silence.

There was also a memorial service at the beautiful St. Paul's Cathedral:

St. Paul's Cathedral

Even at Lexi's local English club soccer game that day, a moment of silence was held prior to kickoff. Very touching.

Brazil / Ghana Futbol Game

The really good Brazil soccer team was in London playing a "friendly", a game that doesn't affect a team's league standings. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to see them play, even if it was on a school night. What a party it was!

Originally, Brazil was scheduled to play a friendly in Cairo, Egypt, but it was deemed not safe due to the political unrest there. So a last minute change had them playing against Ghana instead in London at the Fulham stadium known as the Craven Cottage.

The excitement began well before the game. Lexi was wearing a scarf from a previous Brazil match. As we walked in to Pizza Express for dinner, the guy seating us noticed the scarf and started talking to us in Portuguese. We had to explain we were only supporters, not Brazilian.

As we made our way to the stadium the crowds were colorfully decked out in their team's colors.

Brazil fan

Ghana fans

Confused fans?

This Brazil fan was having his picture taken with anyone apparently. He had a replica of the World Cup trophy and was wearing a shirt signed by one of the players.

We sat in the section at one end of the field designated for the Brazilian supporters. This is where the fans had huge drums and loud horns. People were chanting and gyrating to the drum beats. The crowd in our section stood up the entire game. On the opposite side of the field were the die-hard Ghana fans and they were just as boisterous. It was definitely an upbeat atmosphere.

Ronaldinho

Before the game

At half-time we were treated(?) to scantily-clad female Brazilian dancers with huge headdresses doing a samba dance to yet more drummers on the field. It was not your typical half-time entertainment. But then again, this was not your typical English Premier League soccer game.

Final score Brazil 1 Ghana 0