London in Summer - 17 to 24 Jun, 2017

This was a record hot summer. The BBC reported the warmest June in 20 years. The noon temperatures were in excess of 30 degC for most of the days of the week, and was 34 degC on wed June 21!! (To see how hot it was, look to the end of the blog.) Lucky for us, the average temperatures cooled, and dropped to mid-20s from thursday.

Besides the hot, hot summer, in the weeks preceding our holiday, Manchester and London suffered separate terrorists attacks (May 22 and June 3), and as if nothing worst could happened, West London's Grenfell tower fire (June 14) killed almost 80 people.  Then, when we were finally in the City, just past sunday midnight, there was another attack by lone driver running down worshipers coming out of a Finsbury Park mosque in East London (June 19).

Brexit talks with the EU kicked off on monday June 19, hours after the Finsbury Park attack.

In the midst of so much turbulence, we quietly went about doing the things vacationers do --- visit our favorites London restaurants, walk the nearby parks, enjoy the musicals and plays, and visit the museums and galleries.

We booked to watch "The Book of Mormons" and "Kinky Boots", two very current and popular musicals.  "Mormons" was a musical comedy satire, and "Kinky" explores gender themes with great costumes and dance moves.  We also watched a timeless classic play by Agatha Christie (1890-1976), "The Mousetrap".   This was a famous whodunnit murder mystery which opened in London's West End 65 years ago (in 1952).

"The Mousetrap" at St.Martin's Theater

Drinks counter inside the theater

At the end of the play, the lead actor request the audience not disclose the ending for the play. It's incredible that after all these years, one cannot find the ending for the whodunnit anywhere, not on the internet or anywhere.   Perhaps they twist the ending from time to time to keep it fresh!?  A very clever idea indeed!

London is famous for its parks, and we liked Hyde Park very much for its woodiness and well-kept forest paths, but the hot scorching sun was a real negative.  (There were massive forest fires in Portugal from the same dry and hot weather -- and we were there recently from May 21-27 !).  For Regent's Park, we went to catch the roses -- but the weather was withering hot that day!

Tracking one of our walks in Hyde Park

Next, our favorite restaurants....

The Clove Club, East London

Michelin star chef Isaac McHale is the Head in a team of 3 chefs.  It's listed as one of the World's top 50 restaurants.  Chef McHale hails from the Orkneys in Scotland, and spent 14 years as a fish monger. Probably because of this chef's bias, the menu offerings is focused on British produce and is heavy on fish and vegetables.   The Clove Club is located at the Shoreditch Town Hall at 380 Old Street in East London.

Bookings are so hot, that for dinner reservations, upfront deposits are required.  Luckily for us, we were there for lunch.

Appetizers - crab tarts, fried chicken and haggis.

Hay Smoke Trout Tartare, Jersey Royal Potato Soup & Sansho Leaf

Raw Orkney Scallop, Hazelnut, Clementine & Manjimup Truffle

A palate changer

Roasted Cornish Turbot, Green Peppercorn Hollandaise & Spinach

Loin of Old Spot Pork, Apricot, Frigatelli Pepper & Blood Pudding

One of the 3 chefs

Wild Fennel Granita, Ewe's Milk Mouse & Strawberries

Loquat Sorbet, Loquat Kernel Cream & Puffed Amaranth

Coffee and our desserts

Barrafina, Soho

Barrafina is a very popular tapas restaurant and bar along Dean Street.  No bookings are accepted for parties less than 8 pax, so we tried to be as early as possible.  It opens at 5pm.  We had to sit on stools facing a bar.     We were warned that queues are commonplace for later diners.

There are two other Barrafina restaurants in London - in Adelaide Street and Drury Lane in Covent Garden.

Spanish peppers and olives

Fried anchovies

Ham Croquetas

Gambas al Ajillo

Octopus with Capers

We had two glasses of Cava Pares Balta Brut Penedes to accompany us.

After dinner we popped over to watch the highly acclaimed Broadway musical comedy, "Book of Mormons" after dinner.

Social Eating House, Soho

This is another Jason Atherton restaurant. The address is No. 58, Poland Street, Soho.  We had previously eaten at his Pollen Street Special in Pollen St.

Some choose dining at the bar

Crab. Wine accompanying: Redoma Branco, Niepoort, Douro, Portugal 2012

Foie gras, summer veg, ginger and dashi. Wine accompanying: Sauvignon Blanc "Apasionado" Roeda, Spaint 2014

Turbot fish, white asparagus, green sauce, oyster. Wine accompanying: Pinot Blanc, Orsi Vinyard, Skylark Mendocino county 2016

Lamb, baby gem, cured topside, Seirass. Wine accompanying:Barbaresco, Montestefano, LaCa NOva, Piemonte 2013

Sprrel, yoghurt, apple. 

Milk tart, ginger wine, fromage frais. Wine accompanying: Umathum Beerenauslese, Burgenland 2015

Toasting our champion!

Gold Mine, Bayswater

The restaurant is at 102 Queensway, Paddington in Bayswater.  We were told that the Four Seasons chef had come out to set up Gold Mine.  It's famous of its roast duck.   Apparently the ducks come from Ireland, and are particularly juicy because of this.

Queensway, Bayswater

Hot and sour soup

Kailan fried with ginger

Roast duck - the specialty of the house

Hong siu tofu in "claypot"

Wall picture of picturesque river scene.

In addition to coming to Bayswater for Chinese food, we also had dim sum in Gerrard St. Chinatown.

Mandarin Gardens, Bayswater

We wanted a quick dinner after returning from Leicester day trip, and before running off to watch "The Mousetrap", and our "favorite" lobster noodle restaurant came to mind.

The lobster noodle -- you can hardly see the noodles, and the generous offering of lobster makes this dish our favorite when here in London!

We recall a even better lobster noodle we have savoured (and remember fondly) - in Aussie chinatown at the end of Kent Street, Sydney.

Meal is not complete without this hot & sour soup!

Frenchie Covent Gardens, Henrietta Street

The restaurant is on Henrietta Street, a stone's throw away from the market at Covent Garden.

Ricotta Tortellini, smoked eel and elder flower

Cornish scallops carpaccio, olive crumble, tomato and smoked Greek yogurt

Pork crackling, Granny Smith apple and sage

Portland crab, squid ink cracker, lemon and lovage

Falafel, sesame seed aubergine and confit lemon

The friendly French-speaking manager and staff

Elwy valley lamb, Merguez, Califlower, Apricots,Verbana and Vadouvan

Duck foie gras, pickled girolles, cherries  and pine nuts

We had two white chardonay - Macon village Blanc du Grappin (light), and Ochota Barrels Southern Australia (heavy), and two red blends - Claus Preisinger from Austria (light), and La Marfee, Les Gamines (heavy) from Languedoc, France

Frenchie was Pat's favorite restaurant on this holiday.

The Wolseley

As usual, on every London visit, we would visit The Wolseley for our first day breakfast. It has become a family tradition of sorts.

The full breakfast with poached eggs

Their toast goes very well with jams and butter.

Harrod's Food Market

Harrod's Oyster bar and Selfridges' salted beef sandwiches are also mandated by our London holiday traditions.

Oyster bar

Sancerre

Fresh un-shuck oysters

We had 2 trays of 3 French and 3 English oysters, or 12 oysters in total!

Slurp!

After the oysters appetizers, we followed up with some delicious steaks...

First have to order the steak cut....200g of Wagyu Ribeye

Making the cut as ordered.

The steak is handed over the counter for grilling..

The steak is cooked on the hot fire grill at back.

My Wagyu Ribeye, medium-rare done

My side orders -- salads

Museums and National Gallery

There are so many fine museums in London.  We managed to visit the British Museum, Natural History Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, and the National Gallery, and Portrait Gallery. The following iconic art pieces showcases what a great collection they have:

Sunflowers 1888 by Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890).  

Van Gogh's Chair, 1888 by Vincent van Gogh.  

The Water-Lily Pond, 1899 by Claude Monet (1840-1926).  This is one of Monet's most famous pieces.

Dutch Boats in a Gale (The Bridgewater Sea Piece) 1801 by Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851).  

I had a print of this masterpiece hanging in my work offices for many years. It was a print I had bought from the museum previously.

Perseus turning Phineas and his Followers to Stone, 1680 by Luca Giordana (1634-1705).  

I had thought this is fascinating art piece, because how did the artist capture Medusa's Gorgon head turning man into stone!  Incredible!

The Virgin in Prayer, 1640-50 by Sassoferrato (1609-1685). 

The face portraits is so serene and beautifully done.  I can gaze at it for hours.

Cardinal de Richelieu, 1633-40 by Philippe de Champagne (1602-1674).  

Richelieu was a real character from Alexandre Dumas's tale of Three Musketeers. Richelieu was portrayed as the chief antagonist in Dumas' story, and was a real Chief Minister in the Court of France.

Then came John Wesley's portrait in the National Portrait Gallery..............

John Wesley (1703-1791), by Nathaniel Hone 1766.  

Wesley was the founder of Methodism. I was initially surprised to see his portrait in the National Portrait Gallery.   But on reflecting a bit more, it was probably because he was not just a clergyman but also an important social reformer of his time.

Wesley with his brother Charles Wesley (1707-1788) and George Whitefield (1717-1770), were the early leaders of Methodism.  It was not another church they started.  The early Methodists were a ministry within the Anglican Church. They started the "Holy Club", a society formed for the purpose of study and the pursuit of a devout Christian life. Their nickname "Methodist" came from their observance of strict adherence to the worship and discipline of the prayers.

John Wesley remained with the established Church of England throughout his life, insisting that the Methodist movement lay well within its tradition.  He died an Anglican priest.

Wesley's travel with a group of Moravians during an especially turbulent storm at sea, where they were reading Martin Luther's Preface to the Epistle to the Romans, convinced him with a strong emotional awareness of the love of Christ displayed in freely forgiving his sins and granting him eternal life. This encounter had a profound effect on John Wesley and would influence his ministry and writings.

On May 24, 1738, "In the evening, I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."

Aldersgate's site commemoration at Barbican Center on Old Wall St.

We visited the site of Wesley's "strangely warmed" experience at Aldersdate.  The houses are gone now and there is a huge bronze "scroll" commemorating the event, sited next to the old London Walls, and the Museum of London, as part of the Barbican Center buildings.

It was George Whitefield that got Wesley to start outdoor preaching to the masses. It was an idea Wesley once resisted. But it proved very successful and John Wesley soon became the leader of the leader of the movement.  It was reported that he averaged more than 8,000 miles of travel a year, mostly on horse back.  In the early days, most country churches were for the better well-off people as they have to pay for their family pews in the chapels and small churches they worship.  The poor and uneducated masses had to remain outside the church buildings during worship services!   Wesley was also very concerned about people's health, and he advocated healthy practices for all his parishioners. John Wesley embraced the Arminian doctrines which is a diversification of Protestant Calvinist Christianity.

Accordingly had John Wesley not reached out to the poor and unchurched masses of industrial England, the all inclusive message of God's love and grace and engaging them in worship, missions and service to God and each other, the country may have suffered the fate of their next door neighbor -- the French Revolution (1789-1799)!  This is speculation of course, but thinking about it -- it's not that far-fetched.   It was said that, at the time of John Wesley's death he was probably the best known and best loved man in England.  He was an important social reformer in his day.  (Courtesy of Google: John Wesley's legacy.)

It is interesting that John Wesley had his mother Susanna Wesley (1669-1742) buried in Bunhill Fields, which is right across road from Wesley Chapel. His study looked out directly into Bunhill Fields.  Susanna Wesley had a profound impact on young John's religious upbringing, and continued to influence him as he led the Methodist movement.

Charles Wesley memorial at back of Wesley Chapel on City Road

We also visited Bunhill Fields, and saw the graves of prominent personalities like John Bunyan ("The Pilgrims' Progress"), Daniel Defoe ("Robinson Crusoe"), William Blake (famous poet), and of course Susanna Wesley. The burial grounds were for the Protestant Nonconformists or the Dissenters, people who are not in the mainstream Anglican faith and therefore could not be buried in church burial grounds. When the cemetery closed in 1854, it had 120,000 interments on the burial grounds.  It is now part of the Finsbury Square Conservation Area.

Coincidentally, we also found Charles Wesley's grave memorial in Marylebone, while walking towards Regent's Park to see flowers.

Charles Wesley monument in Marylebone

While John was a great speaker and prolific writer, Charles was credited with writing more than 6,000 hymns during his life time.

On our first sunday Jun 18, we attended worship service at Wesley Chapel. The chapel is at City Road in East London.

The Rev Jennifer Potter delivering the message of peace, suffering and love, in the heat of the West London Grenfell Tower disaster..

The worship service in progress. The Singapore flag is up there too.

The UMC choir from Texas USA were present to present their choral pieces during the worship.

Peter was our appointed guide around Wesley Chapel, John Wesley's house, etc.

The basement museum of Wesley and other Methodist Church documents and artifacts.

Visiting King Richard III's museum in Leicester

The visit was a last minute idea. We wanted to do something new, to discover a part of England outside of London, and the idea of the recent discovery of the last Plantagenet King of England buried underneath the tarmac of a car park, came to the top of mind.  Coincidence or not, the city's football club Leicester City FC won the English Premier League title 2015-2016 after King Richard's remains were re-interred with proper ceremony in 2015!

Leicester is about 140-km north of London, and now for some history....

The Plantagenet dynasty started by William The Conqueror (1028-1087) when he led his Norman army who defeated and killed the last Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson (1022-1066), at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. King Richard III's death and defeat  at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 ended the Plantagenet reign of England.  The Plantagenets for almost 420 years ruled over a rich kingdom, and at its height controlled England and almost half of France -- which probably explains why the French fought the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) to kick the English out!

King Richard III

The Two Princes Edward and Richard in the Tower, 1483 by Sir John Everett Millais, 1878, part of the Royal Holloway picture collection

King Richard was infamously regarded as having been involved in the disappearance of the "two princes in the Tower", who were the heirs of his older brother King Edward IV. Tradition has it that Richard had them declared as illegitimate, and hence ensured his own succession to the throne.

The story was told in William Shakespeare's play "King Richard III".  Shakespeare's account of Richard's actions in the play only added to Richard III's infamy.  It was speculated that since Elisabeth I (1533-1603) was the Queen (Tudor) of the land at the time and it would have served Shakespeare (1564-1616) well to discredit the dead Plantagenet king!

Battle of Bosworth Field (Courtesy of Google)

King Richard III (1452-1485) was the last English king to die in battle. King Henry(Tudor) VII was the victor at Bosworth Field.  Because King Richard's body had to be publicly displayed to prove that the King was dead, when the time came for burial, the body had already badly decomposed in the August heat.   Also, when the remains were released to be buried, it was at first rumored to have been unceremoniously thrown into the River Soar.  The records state that the body was carried through the streets and buried in church of Greyfriars "without any pompe or solemne funeral".

It had now been established that the body was hurriedly buried in a crude grave (too small for the body) in the choir of the Greyfriars monastery.  Because the choir was accessible only by the Greyfriars monks, the remains were kept safe from looters.   King Henry VII paid for a marble and alabaster monument to mark Richard III's grave in 1495.

The Franciscan Greyfriars were dissolved by King Henry VIII in 1538 and the buildings decayed and were eventually demolished.   Other landmarks previously erected to indicate the proximity of the grave eventually disappeared - with the last, Blue Boar Inn demolished in 1836.

Therefore the search for King Richard's body was an monumentally impossible task (apparently a member of the search team commented that he will "eat his hat" if they find Richard III, and he had to eat his hat later - series of the "hat eating" photos at the museum annex.)

Before we go to the story for the search, let's look at the Battle of Bosworth Field in the context of English medieval history....

Battle of Bosworth Field marked the end of the English War of the Roses (1455-1485).   The conflict was between rivals branches of the royal House of Plantagenet -- House of Lancaster (red rose) vs. House of York (white rose).

The War of the Roses came quickly after the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453), which was fought between the English Plantagenet Kings and the French House of Valois.   Valois had prevailed.  The loss of the English territories in France must have been a major blow, and led to the spread of "discontent" within the English ruling hierarchy.  The War of the Roses was probably an inevitable consequence of that.

Courtesy of Google: Emblems of the combatants in the War of Roses. Henry VII (Lancaster) combined the roses after turning victorious over the Richard III (York).

Now back to the search for the grave site.   The archaeological project undertaken by the University of Leicester led by very passionate group of people took 7 years, and culminated in the finding of King Richard's remains in 2015.   The researchers found that after the Greyfriars Monastery was demolished, and the land carved up into different plots, the area where the choir stood, first became the mansion and gardens of the Mayor of Leicester Robert Herrick.  Herrick had in his gardens, a stone pillar 3-feet high with the words "Here lies the Body of Richard III, Some Time King of England".  Christopher Wren (father of the famous architect) wrote to say the monument was visible in 1612. But by 1844 it had disappeared.

In 1740 a part of the property came to a Roger Ruding, who had inherited it and sought to realize its value by running a road through the property and sub-dividing it further (this was then called the New Street development).  By 1900s there was a school and playgrounds, and the L-shaped New Street and Social Services car park. The car park was built in 1944.  (Source: Mike Pitts 2015's "Digging for Richard III - How Archaeology Found The King".)

It was in the Social Services car park that the grave of King Richard was located.  It was said that a particular lot on the car park was marked with faded white painted capital "R", indicating it was reserved for clients of the center!  Intuitively the "R" could have stood for "Rex" meaning King or Royal..??   The King's grave was found underneath this spot.

Courtesy of Google

There were earlier digs, but the 2015 actual dig took 3 weeks because that was what the permit allowed. Permit required because it involves the recovery of human remains.  The skeleton, which had missing both feet (can speculate?), were eventually re-interred in Leicester Cathedral (full name is The Cathedral Church of St Martin, Leicester.)

Journey to Leicester on the Midlands East train.

The Museum & Visitor Center Entrance

Richard III was the last Plantagenet King of England and his coat of arms had distinctive white boars.

The actual grave dug in 1485 where the bones of Richard III were found. 

The grave and adjacent spots are now covered by this viewing glass. It's part of museum "floor" built over the former car park.

This is a graphic illustration of how deep the bones were found under the social services carpark

The actual bones were recovered from the car park above, and re-interred in the nearby Leicester Cathedral....

Leicester Cathedral

The bronze statue of King Richard

The life-size bronze statue was was made for Leicester in 1980 by James Butler. The statue shows  young King Richard in light body armour, as if he was dancing a jig with a tamborine (crown). It was originally located in Castle Green, but relocated to the Leicester Cathedral grounds when the King Richard project came about.

King Richard's remains lies below this Kilkenny marble tomb stone inside Leicester Cathedral.

The task of making the tomb stone fell on Michael Ibsen, a Canadian-born migrant to England.  Ibsen is a 12th-generation descendant of King Richard's elder sister, Anne of York (1439-1476).

A poem dedicated to King Richard by Carol Ann Duffy, who was appointed Britain's Poet Laureate in 2009. 

Not only did the finding of King Richard III bring tourists from all over England and the world to Leicester, it also brought football glory to the City.  

At this point, we must mention that the Richard III Society (previously "The Fellowship of the White Boar") formed by group of amateur but enthusiastic historians in 1924, helped with the project.  The Society has particular interest in the life and times of King Richard III.  Their motivation was a belief that history had not dealt fairly with the King's posthumous reputation and they wanted to encourage and promote a more balanced view.  It boasts of an international membership of several thousands.

HOT, HOT, HOT!

Coming back to the very hot London summer, a group of Exeter school students traded their school pants for skirts (see photo below). This was because they wanted to show their school how ridiculous that they were insisting on conforming to wear their uniforms inspite of the heat.... was 34 degC on wednesday June 20.  Such bravado!