Thursday, August 28, 2025

Today’s Weather

We slept in a bit, not getting up until around 9A. Disappointed that we didn’t get a chance to sample the “Clermont Breakfast Yorkshire Pudding” at breakfast, but still enjoyed a nice start to the day.

Our morning activity was the iconic British Museum. 
 

I had, of course, done some research pre-trip and had a plan that would take us to 10-12 “must see” artifacts, but for some reason I couldn’t pull up the information when needed and, as such, we were a bit directionless during our visit. The place is HUGE, and so much of it seems like the typical “display case full of pots and arrowheads” that I tend to find boring. Fortunately, as a result of listening to scores of episodes of The British History Podcast, we were aware of the treasures found at Sutton Hoo and found the gallery where they were located. That was interesting. However, our overall stay was just under two hours, with us leaving at 1140A. While walking to Underground station we looked for lunch options but, finding none, we made our way over to Canary Wharf hoping to find something before touring the London Museum Docklands.

The walk to the museum is right along a canal, teeming with rental boats.



Although the day was a bit gray it was “summer weather” to many and we saw several rentals out. There were mundane boats, but also things like the Spa Boat, the BBQ Boat, and a rubber duck boat.

The restaurant options around the museum were all much too fancy (and too much food) for our tastes, so we opted to simply get something at the museum’s snack bar. The options there turned out to be extremely limited, however, so we ended up sharing a (very disappointing) tomato and cheese croissant and a bag of crisps. It wasn’t filling, but it took the edge off.

The museum itself was pretty interesting, but after 2 hours our feet were sore and our brains starting to turn to mush, so we did a speed run through the last few galleries before heading back to the hotel, stopping off at a Sainsbury Local by the hotel to pickup some Oreo Gingerbread biscuits and drinks to enjoy in our room as we relaxed before dinner.

Dinner was at Flat Iron (Southbank), a popular chain that offers a limited menu (one specific type of steak) and extremely reasonable prices. Although there was one closer to the hotel, we were unable to get a reservation there and therefore ended up walking across the river on the Golden Jubilee Bridge to the store at The Royal Festival Hall.






Upon entry, you’re given popcorn while you peruse the menu. We both had the Flat Iron Steak, a green salad, and Homemade Beef Dripping Chips – plus a 375ml of wine, each. I got a peppercorn sauce on the side, but it did not improve things so left it alone. The food wasn’t the world’s greatest, but we enjoyed the meal. With the bill they gave us two little cleavers (sized as if for a charm bracelet) that could be exchanged for a mini ice cream cone, but we pocketed those and instead stopped at Amorino upon returning to the hotel.