Eat, Drink, and be Merry!

One of my best friends, Shonda, came into town in March for business and was able to extended her stay for a nice weekend visit on either side of the trip. YES! We had a wonderful time. We hung out at the house watched "B" movies like Alligator, Lake Placid, and Snakes on a Plane.

We also went out to a London club with some of my friends from the Shell project, and took a walk down Bond street to look at all the posh stores. While we were window shopping it started to rain (what a surprise) and so we went to my favorite pub in London, The Mews.

http://www.mewsofmayfair.com/home.asp

One of the best things about living in London has been traveling to Scotland and tasting the different whiskys available. Unfortunately its making my taste more discerning and I prefer the nicer whiskys now - which means I'm going to be spending more money on our bar at home!

At the Mews they have a wonderful 30 year Macallen which I absolutely love and since Shonda is a whisky drinker too, I had to take her so she could enjoy it. We started with the 30 year then decided to try the 18 so we could taste the difference. Just a note...don't go high to low when you are drinking whisky, the 18 year isn't bad but after the 30 it tasted like lighter fluid (or what I assume it would taste like!).

Another night Me, Sammy and Shonda all went to at Clos Maggiore which had both excellent service and food. http://www.closmaggiore.com/v1/default.aspx.

Shonda and I also went to another of my favorite restaurants in London, La Pont de la Tour http://www.danddlondon.com/restaurants/le_pont/home where we had lobster and enjoyed an excellent view of the Tower Bridge.

And on the weekend before she left we actually did a little site seeing. We went to Stratford upon Avon to visit Shakespeare's home. http://www.stratford-upon-avon.co.uk/

Me and Shonda in Stratford

Keeping in line with my normal habit of not getting out of the house (or hotel if I'm on vacation) early we arrived in Stratford at around 2pm. Thankfully Shonda isn't an early riser either and was down with the leisurely schedule!

We visited Shakespeare's house...

Me and Sammy at Shakespeare's house

After visiting Shakespeare's house we walked around town and had a look at some of the medieval houses, which surprisingly enough, are still lived in.

Crooked House

We walked around for a little while then popped into a cafe which had a really interesting interior. I especially liked the staircase. The food wasn't bad but the service left much to be desired. So we skipped desert, walked around town a little more, then left to go back to London.