Of the non-touristy London outing, the visit to Rugby High Street and yet another scrumptious buffet in Coventry

Be warned...this too is going to be a long post with lots of photographs :) Naturally, since we've done three outings in three days ... Rugby High Street, London and Coventry. After three fun-filled days, yesterday was our laze-around-at-home day and today too...except today we are at least thinking of going for a walk later :)

So, on 17th we visited the Rugby High Street again. The main agenda was to eat an All-Day English breakfast. Other than that we had decided to walk around a bit, explore some shops outside the Clock Towers Market and generally take it easy.

This day we reached the High Street a little earlier than lunch time. So we explored a little bit around the market before venturing to eat. What I like about this town, and perhaps it is similar in other towns in this country, that regardless of the size of the town some major retails chains will have outlets in the town. Another thing that I appreciate is small parks right in the middle of a busy area or islands with flowers in it and such touches that help to beautify the place. Here are some photographs.

I also like that they preserve old buildings and make them usable from the inside.

After walking about a little bit we started feeling hungry and went to The Lawrence Sheriff again since we were told that they serve the most delicious All-Day English Breakfast in town. We had originally decided to order one Fish-n-Chips and one All-Day English Breakfast but Fish-n-Chips weren't available. So we ordered All-Day English Breakfast for both of us. On the menu they had written - Bacon, Sausage, Egg, Baked Beans and Fries. So I thought this would be a good, filling meal. Was I in for a surprise or what ? When the waitress brought our plates, I was shocked. Each plate had TWO bacons strips TWO fat sausages TWO fried eggs and one big bowl full of baked beans and a large order of fries ! 'There's my lunch and dinner combined', I thought. For TH it was a 'good, filling meal'. As for me, I put my head down and plodded on. About half-way through I thought of giving up but then decided to take a break instead. That is when we clicked this photograph.

About 40 minutes after our order arrived, I finally finished everything on my plate :D Oh and I forgot to mention, I had also ordered coffee with the meal !

After such a heavy meal it was absolutely imperative that we walk some...or a lot... more. So we explored more areas around High Street and discovered this.

By this time it was ten past five and shops were beginning to wind up and we too decided to head back home since we had a London trip the next day.

London, the third time round, was a blast from the word go. Sunny weather was predicted and we made plans accordingly but had a back-up plan to explore indoor venues if the weather changed abruptly. Luckily it didn't rain at all, but sunny it wasn't. Not till noon at least. On reaching London we immediately took the tube to Hampstead. The station is very cute on the outside and tiny on the inside. The area adjoining it is the Hampstead High Street.

From there we had to walk a bit to reach the Parliament Hill. It is a nice, clean, green hill in the Hampstead area, which in turn is home to the rich (and the famous?) of London. Walking around in these lanes is such a pleasure that TH and I didn't mind one bit when we got a little lost. It only meant more of an opportunity to see this beautiful area. The houses are larger, better kept and have larger gardens with a variety of flowers and plants. Although this is supposed to be the 'posh' area, the houses aren't ultra-modern. They are still the old style, quaint houses and that looks so good actually. These are some street views on our way to Parliament Hill via E Heath Road.

Actually what I said earlier is quite an understatement. Parliament Hill isn't a hill so much as it is a whole hilly area. There are several ponds, walkways, small park-like demarcated areas on it. It also has a small canteen style restaurant. It is extremely beautiful. From where we entered there was a pond with ducks swimming around. They're apparently used to visitors and don't waddle off till you go quite close to them. There are several pathways but we stuck to the one that would take us straight to the top. The whole walk is lovely, but the final hundred metres as you approach the top are the most beautiful. On the top of the hill they have installed a metal plaque with an etching on which they have marked the London buildings that you can see from there. The view from the top is just amazing. You can nearly see the whole of London. On our way to the top and over there too we accosted many people...regulars who had come for a jog or to walk their dogs, some school-going girls each with a dog on a leash, some kids with their parents. Most of all I loved watching this floppy eared dog who was running around with abandon and digging here and there furiously and enjoying it. He seemed very happy :)

It was terribly windy on top of the Parliament Hill. After spending some time there, and quickly calling to thank our dear friend AB who had recommended we visit this place, we started walking down towards the other side from where we decided to take a bus to Camden Town. Here are some photographs taken while walking down the hill.

We walked down to the bottom of the hill where we found some maps of the Parliament Hill as well as maps of the area around. as we were walking down the hill, very rapidly, black clouds gathered and it seemed that it would rain any moment. From the most reliable Google Maps we found out that we had to take bus C2 to Camden Town. So we walked out of the gate closest to the bus stop. We were a bit worried that it would start raining, even though we did have coats that would protect us very well against the rains. The bus stop was actually only half a minute away, across the street. We went there and almost immediately the bus came. It was a double-decker :) The timing was so amazing that it started raining the very minute we hopped on the bus. Since it was the starting point of the bus, it was empty. We rushed to the upper deck and sat on the front-most seats. What fun the journey was ! Here are some images of rain-soaked streets of London.

As we got off the bus, we realised it was nearly 3 and we hadn't eaten yet. So wandered a bit on Camden Street looking at menus of different eateries (yes, each restaurant displays menus with prices just outside their restaurant), deciding where to eat. Finally we decided to have hot pizza made in a wood-fired oven at an Italian joint run by two young (and good-looking and charming-bordering-on-flirting) brothers. Their small 'ristorante' was called Chicco's and had interesting decor...they had put up posters of Hollywood films that had Italian heroes. Our 'Ferrari' (mozzarella and salami) pizza was delicious and hot and just what we needed when it still drizzling outside.

With warm food in our tummies, we proceeded to the 2 minute away Camden Market. It is a whole different experience ! It has such an eclectic vibe - there are shops selling Gothic stuff, body piercing and tattoo shops, clothes, other random stuff...on one shop I even saw written 'Amsterdam in London' ! Some shops have murals or paintings on their buildings. One part is nearly Pune's or Mumbai's Fashion Street...complete with bargaining !

From there we went to Camden Lock...Camden Lock, or Hampstead Road Locks is a twin, manually operated, lock on the Regent's Canal in Camden Town, London Borough of Camden (source: Wiki)...which is again 2 minutes walking distance away. There's a canal with boats and along the canal-side or lock-side, as they call it, there is a khau-galli...where you get global cuisine. We reached there around 4:30 and were quite full after eating the pizza. So we couldn't eat there. The canal is nice and water-buses are operated on it from there to an area called Little Venice. We decided to take the water-bus to Little Venice. Since it was nearly 5 by that time, the water-bus would only run one way. It worked just fine for us. The ride was quite charming and the views on both sides of the canal are wonderful. Along the canal we see stately houses with manicured lawns and landscaped gardens or churches and in the canal we see permanently moored boats where people stay and decorate the boats in quirky styles. It is a fun melange.

After a leisurely ride that lasted 50 minutes, we arrived at the Little Venice water-bus stop. That area too is charming. There is a small island-ish thing with interesting trees that appear to be blowing away with the wind. Our boat-driver was the sweetest person. When we were hopping on the water-bus, TH was taking my photograph and this guy came by, stood behind TH and started making weird faces and I couldn't help but laugh very loudly ! On getting off the water-bus we asked him in which direction the nearest tube station was and he gave detailed directions. Then we walked towards the Paddington tube station and took a small detour to look at some interesting buildings. Later when we arrived at Paddington station, we suddenly saw the boat-driver coming from the opposite direction. He recognised us and stopped and gave us further specific advice ! :)

We were nearly towards the end of our time in London and we still wanted to visit the bookshop at the Royal Court theatre. So we quickly went to Sloane's Square tube station. as we stepped out, a beautiful view greeted us. Trees with Magnolia flowers in bloom !

After a brief visit to the bookshop, we quickly went to Euston to return to Rugby.

Day-before yesterday C had taken an off and he took us to Coventry. It is an interesting town with a long and rich history. The most famous one is about lady Godiva who belonged to Coventry. She was a good ruler and loved by the people but her husband was an oppressive ruler. Once in time of drought people could not pay taxes. they had nothing to eat. Lady Godiva felt sorry at their plight and pleaded with her husband to waive off the taxes. He refused. She kept badgering him. He finally set a condition thinking she wouldn't be able to comply. If she would ride a horse stark naked in the main street of the town, he would waive off the taxes. Lady Godiva took it up and rode a horse in the main street start naked. But such was the respect for her that not a single person looked up when she was riding in the main street in that state.

We had gone to Coventry primarily to have lunch at the super delicious Cosmo that serves an array of Asian food. Photography is prohibited. So there aren't any photographs of the awesome food and the large variety. There were at least 15 varieties of starters and as many mains and about 10 deserts to choose from. So after a sumptuous lunch, we decided to explore the City Centre. S's mom, C and I decided to pop-in at the world renowned Swedish furniture store Ikea that I had heard a lot about but never seen. S's dad and TH decided to walk about the City Centre. After some awesome window shopping at Ikea, the three of us joined them for some more walking about the City Centre. Since this was the third day in a row for TH and I when we had walked so much, by evening our feet were killing us. But we had had another great day out so we weren't complaining :) I leave you with some photographs.