11/17/10

    Wednesday was an absolutely lazy day, Sean and I slept in super late, I was grumpy from a horrible sleep, and we had nothing special planned for the day.  We hung around the hotel playing on our laptops.  Sean was doing work most of the day and I was trying to research activities and events in the West London area.  We are trying to figure out how we will make friends!  Later in the evening we walked down to Putney High Street and did a little shopping.  I got a new skirt and sweater and Sean got a new pair of jeans. So exciting eh?

We have been lucky enough to get the wing backs
 by the fire at the White Horse.

   We have eaten at a lot of different pubs this past week.  I love the names of them; The Spotted Horse, The White Horse, The George IV, Packhorse and Talbot, Prince of Wales, etc etc etc.  There's a pub on every corner so it's not hard to find some cheap food and a pint.  Most of the places we've visited are very nice indeed!  There's a few differences from U.S. pubs that I've noticed.  A lot of places don't have bar stools but instead we have been seeing lots of comfy leather couches and big chairs.  I don't know if that's common to all places but it seems like Sean and I have been randomly picking the ones that do!  There's a lot of fires which is always yummy.  The other night when we got back to the hotel I realized that I still smelled like a woodsy camp fire.  A lot of places allow dogs and even children during the early hours of the evening.  We have been sampling the different pies and of course eating our weight in chips.  So far my favorite meal, beer, and atmosphere has been at the White Horse.  Sean and I both had some great Belgium  Trappist beer (I saved the silly beer label to paint later), potted ox tongue and pig ear appetizer, and then the wild mushroom, spinach and goat cheese pie. Soooo good and I think I make a version of my own at home.  Well maybe not the ox tongue part.....

One of the great bars on the Chiswick
High Road

   The weather here has been typical London weather, or so I'm told.  Rain, clouds, MAYBE a little sun poking through, then more rain.  Most of the time it has been cloudy and when it rains it's usually just a light rain.  I'm very curious to see what the winter is like here since everyone is warning us but I don't think anything can surprize me after Rochester and Dunkirk winters.  Sean and I have both been shopping for  new winter coats hoping for something a little more stylish, something the young professionals around here wear.  We have been doing a  lot of poeple watching while sitting at all these pubs so we've been taking notes and pointing out what we like.  It's funny how UGG boots are still rearing their ugly heads here. Although you never seem them worn with mini mini skirts, so they don't bother me as much.  However, I shouldn't be talking since I did pack my purple crocs (they only left the room twice, and that was down to the lounge).  I love how a lot of the girls are wearing cute shorts with wool stockings and then shorter boots.  They all look like something out of an Anthropologie catalogue.  Boots boots boots no gym shoes!