More London Time

Convent Garden

One can spend a whole week in London and not get the full fill of the city. Below are some of the highlights from my last trip.

Covent Garden

Nearby is the location of the first performance of Punch and Judy puppet show.

The famous Westminster Abbey

London Eye

We didn’t visit it but admired it from afar.

Another big ben photo op.

Visit to Paddington Station
Paddington is getting a lot of press lately due to his upcoming movie.

It is hard to see but “Miso Hungry”

We took a walk to the gorgeous views at The Regent’s Park to bask in the sun.

Houseboats

Later we ate the Persian restaurant Sadaf.

I loved my lamb biryani.

Honey Cocoa Cake

We walked by this place and all of its delightful sweets.

And yummy looking prepared foods.

Part of a day was spent at the Science Museum which is located in a complex of museums that includes the Natural History Museum (which we skipped due to long lines).

The science museum was nice but next time we will definitely visit the natural history museum instead.

Abra-abra-cadabra

Last October I had a blast visiting the Abracadabra Superstore in NYC. I just heard about it from a couple different friends. A friend I was visiting New York with wanted to see if she could find a halloween costume there. I wasn’t in the market for a costume but I had a great time looking at all the costumes and halloween decorations.

First we started in the “meat case” of body parts. I love the creepy clown arm!

Next up was the electric chair! It really seemed life-like.

Wandering around the store there are more things to see and every prop you may need.

Even more fun to see is all the costumes that are available to purchase.

If you are in the city, I suggest you stop in for a visit.

Agra

Most people visit Agra as a day trip from Delhi or as part of the golden triangle tour of (Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur). We stopped in Agra for 2 nights as part of our extended golden triangle tour. On our way we stopped at some rest stops and purchased interesting oregano cookies (above).
Lunch today was at the interesting hotel Bundelkhand Riverside with exotic toilet paper.

We helped ourselves to a buffet meal.

After another lengthy car ride we end up at the train station in Jhansi. Cows can do what ever they want in India. This cow wants to walk back and forth between the trains. No one is concerned that it will accidentally get hit or anything.

Our itinerary says first class. We look forward to relaxing in comfort for our long ride only to find that below is what first class looks like. It is crowded, dirty, and loud. The upside is that it was air conditioning, they serve you a meal, and it is relatively safe – even for female solo travelers.

We are very happy to arrive at our 4 star hotel. We had a nice meal at the hotel restaurant at the top floor. I thoroughly enjoyed my butter chicken and wine.

The hotel was pretty busy. There was a private party going on in the courtyard. It might have been a wedding or a conference.

The next morning we woke up to visit the Taj Mahal for the second time (post about it is here).
After spending some time negotiating a price for a marble plate at a local vendor, we ended up at I’timād-ud-Daulah’s tomb or what is affectionately called the baby taj.

We ended our tour of Agra with a visit to the Agra Fort.

Asheville Breweries Part 2

Before leaving Asheville we made a couple more stops to try some more brews. First we went back to Wicked Weed brewery to get a flight. The downstairs tasting room was not open yet so we only got to choose from the selection we could get at the bar upstairs. I got to try a wide variety of their beers.

Brazil Caipirinha Ale

I took back a growler of one of the session beers.

Lastly we stopped off at Lexington Avenue Brewery (LAB). Again we found out that Jude Law had also visited this place a day or so earlier. Such a shame we kept missing him. It was a nice establishment with good mood lighting. In the evenings you can see musical acts here.

We walked around a bit to get one last look at this great city that we got to enjoy for a few days. It has been a great trip. We have added Asheville, NC to our must return list.
See you soon Asheville…