Thurday Night Out

Here's a pic as I left work yesterday afternoon ... at 5pm. Yes, that's right, I know it looks far later in the evening than that.

After leaving work, catching the crowded tubes home (although less crowded than my morning trip, because I gather Londoners tend to work till about 6 /6:30pm), dropping my laptop off at the hotel and skipping Gym to watch Episode 10 of Grey's Anatomy (there was a looong line at the Concierge Desk to get the Gym Key, okay? But I paid for it later as you will see) I headed to Covent Garden Station to meet The Divine Miss M and two of her friends (midnightgem and Fligela).

It was at this point on the crowded tube (cause of delays) that I paid for skipping Gym. At Covent Garden there are lifts that take up up to street level, although as you can imagine when there are so many people queuing for the lift it's a rather lengthy waiting experience and I was already a little late (can't guestimate travel times very well here). So I followed a very few people who chose to take the stairs ... and as they warn you just before you start, there are 193 stairs. It is the never-ending spiral staircase of hell ... and I did it in high heels!

Anyhoo, I finally got to the street, admittedly breathless, and found The Divine Miss M. The four of us proceeded to the nearest Wagamama's for dinner.

Quite an interesting dining out experience. You sit on these long wooden benches next to random strangers and get served your dinner as it's ready. Which means nothing comes at once. In fact your "sides" (can't be called starters for this exact reason) generally seem to arrive mid-meal. I had their Yasai Katsu Curry (slices of sweet potato, aubergine and butternut squash deep-fried in panko breadcrumbs, served with a light curry sauce and sticky white rice) and tasted their Ebi Katsu (deep-fried black tiger prawns in panko breadcrumbs. served with a spicy red chilli and garlic sauce, garnished with a wedge of lime) and their Gyoza (five steamed, grilled chicken dumplings filled with cabbage, Chinese leaf, Chinese chives and water chestnut, served with a chilli, garlic, sesame and soy sauce). Also tried their Plum Wine :) Was an interesting meal and mine had faqr more ricve than I knew what to do with. But otherwise very tasty :)

After dinner we wandered towards the Thames for a drink at Gordon's Wine Bar, the oldest Wine Bar in London (or so they claim). Here I enjoyed a glass of Chilean Wine ... picked specifically because I enjoyed it so much with Varen at The Bell Pepper. It was a completely crowded little place, but a nice vibe none the less.

Let me just point out right here that my feet are absolutely dying after all this walking (and the 193 steps) and standing around all night.

After our glass, we headed for a look over the Thames at night. That's a view of St Paul's Cathedral in the pic.

We also passed a truly hysterical sign that I had to take a photo of for all the folks living in Johannesburg ... a bit blurry without the flash, but otherwise I fell like too much of a tourist ;) Beware, thieves operate in this area.