If you are going to kill the animal, it seems only polite to use the whole thing.

Saturday, after the parkrun (EW ran a good race. GW ran 28 flat a new PB, still trying to break 28) and  hockey match (nil-nil tough match Alice played brilliantly) we caught the £5 train to London at 13:30.

"Free" hotel room and cookie at the Double Tree.

A room with a view, and a real bed for Alice

The jumbled London skyline

First stop...

Harrods!

The Egyptian escalator.

Crowd communication.

Louboutain frenzy

They're on sale! 

35 days until my birthday...

Alice with an icon.

Then on to dinner.  We walked through Chinatown as the Year of the Dragon begins...

...to our restaurant St John Hotel.  There is security everywhere in London, this restaurant was no exception.  I am not allowed to take your picture. 

So I took one of Alice and Eric.

St John Hotel is the second restaurant opened by Fergus Henderson, the author of Nose to Tail Eating: A Kind of British Cooking.  He champions use of the whole beast, to be polite. Dad and Anne met him at a food convention and pronounced him as charming as his books.

Beetroot salad with egg.  What have these chicks been eating??

My sole tasted like a windy wonderful salty beach day.

Ox cheeks, celeriac, pickled walnut

Russian vodka and lemon sorbet

Madeleines... like my daddy made...

 Our dinner was simply wonderful.

Done eating so can I open my present and not spill food on it?

Our table was just in front of the kitchen.

Eric watches the action.

The restaurant has 50 seats.

We walked back to our hotel passing some familiar London sites.

Does not at all capture the size and complexity of Westminister Abby

The Eye.

Big Ben 

Back in the land of wifi.  Through the wonders of the interweb and a 99¢ app TuneIn, we listened to Bob Harris call the end of the Duke- Fla State game. Of  last second 3-pointer-to-win-shot by FSU, Carl said it best:   Ugh.

Carl had a good run at the Harvard Challenge.  Fred is mostly recovered from injury. Harvard won.
Bedwards.  (=_=)