A Lady in London

I often get emails from new readers of my blog asking why I haven’t traveled to Morocco. With the long list of cities and countries on the sidebar, the absence of places like Marrakech and Fez seems like a glaring oversight.

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I had lovely weather in Hamburg last week. My al fresco dining on the Aussen Alster lake made me long for more outdoor meals. Thankfully it was so warm in London on Monday that my dinner meeting with Red Carnation Hotels and London Hotels Insight took place outside on the Montague Hotel restaurant’s Terrace and Wood Deck.

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London is famous for theater. From big name musicals in the West End to experimental plays at Sadler’s Wells, the city has no shortage of theatrical entertainment. The shows that sell out the most quickly are the ones in which celebrities play the leading roles. Which is why I’m glad I bought tickets to see Kevin Spacey in Richard III at the Old Vic theater in London months ago.

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Everyone loves Hamburg. Most of my friends have been there on business, and they all come back raving about the beautiful parts of the city they explore between meetings. After hearing about my friends’ travels for the millionth time, I finally decided to go on my own Hamburg travels to see for myself.

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Summer came early to London this year. There was fantastic weather in April and early May. Things have gone downhill a bit since then, though. In fact, it’s hard to remember a day in the past few weeks that hasn’t brought a few downpours. As such, it was with a bit of trepidation that I traveled to Kew Gardens for a day out last weekend.

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There is a meme spreading through the travel blog world: dig up 7 links to posts that have been lost or forgotten and bring them back to life. Then tag up to five other travel bloggers and have them do the same.

The trend was started by Tripbase.com, and has taken the travel blogging world by storm. The original rules had seven categories into which posts should fit, but given that I don’t want to be just like everybody else, I’m going to create my own categories and use those instead.

I was recently tagged. Here are my 7 links of travel:

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Last week I wrote about a hidden gem in London. But London isn’t the only place in Britain with great new places to discover. On Wednesday I traveled by train up to northern England to a place called the Eden Valley in Cumbria.

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There aren’t many hidden gems in London. News about new places spreads so quickly that it’s difficult to come up with something that most Londoners don’t know about. But then someone told me about Teanamu Teahouse in Notting Hill.

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Iceland’s rugged natural scenery and geothermal mysteries are what attract most visitors. Reykjavik is often overlooked as a destination, serving merely as an arrival and departure point for travel to far-flung glaciers, geysers, and geothermal gems. But the capital city deserves a visit in its own right, and I intended to explore it on my trip to Iceland.

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Iceland is wild. There are few other places on Earth with as many active volcanoes, bubbling hot springs, spouting geysers, and glistening glaciers as the small island nation in the Atlantic. The famous natural monuments of the Golden Circle in Iceland feature each of these phenomena.

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I have been to a lot of Bistro du Vins recently. From the wine and perfume pairing event at the Clerkenwell location to the great dinner at the Bristol branch, I feel like I’m becoming a regular. In fact, last week I was invited to the opening of the brand new Bistro du Vin in Soho.

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I have a fear of fragrance. While my friends agonize over finding the perfect summer scent, I wear whatever came in the tiny sample vial the last time I bought something at Sephora. It’s not that I don’t care. I’m just a bit intimidated. But add wine to the mix, and my timidity drops exponentially in terms of the number of red fruits and tannins. When I got invited to a wine and perfume pairing in London this week, I was excited.

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I love the Fourth of July in London. Sometimes, however, calling the holiday “American Independence Day” and celebrating with Pimm’s makes my inner American desire a proper Fourth of July celebration. So when the JW Steakhouse at Grosvenor House, a JW Marriott Hotel in Mayfair, invited me to try their Fourth of July menu, I couldn’t resist a chance to eat a real American steak in an American-style atmosphere on America’s birthday.

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There’s nothing like a traditional English summer event to get me excited about celebrating American Independence Day. Actually, that’s completely untrue. But I do like traditional English events, and if one happens to fall on Fourth of July weekend, so be it. This year, like every year, the event happened to be the Henley Royal Regatta.

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It’s not often that I eat dinner at a nightclub. If my evening plans involve clubbing, I usually have dinner elsewhere, then head to the club for dancing. In fact, I don’t think I knew that any clubs in London had restaurants. But then I got invited to have dinner at The Cuckoo Club in Mayfair.

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