Has anyone heard of London Southend Airport? I doubt it.
*Note that the following blog does not represent a travel guide in any way. While there are indeed selected tourist and restaurant recommendations, this was not a “cram London into a 3-day weekend” adventure, for better or worse.
Friday, December 6 was a holiday, celebrating the anniversary of the Spanish Constitution of 1978, which followed the Franco rein. A long weekend is called a “Puente” (literally meaning “bridge”) and we celebrated the Puente with a trip to London. Our Thursday afternoon flight was on Easy Jet, into Southend Airport, just 40 miles east of central London, then travelled by train and tube to our destination. During the weekend, we met no one in London, including several natives, who had heard of this airport; it is certainly small in size but with no lines and an easy walk to the gate. In fact, our cab driver for the return trip to Southend had never been there. Full disclosure–our train/tube shuttle into London took about 2 hours (still, likely less than the experience of rush hour traffic) and the return trip by cab took an hour and 15 minutes. So, Heathrow and Gatwick are closer, but not necessarily cheaper options for intra-Europe travel…
We stayed with our wonderful friends Vic, Dan, & Daniel Prendergast in St. John’s Wood, and after a quick hello and an essential burrito (we have found no good Mexican food in BCN), we headed to Matilda at the Cambridge Theater. This is an absolutely amazing (“brilliant”) show for all ages; even a 12 year-old boy enjoyed it. Great catchy songs and humor throughout. “Naughty” and “When I Grow Up” are stuck in my head, largely because the girls have not stopped singing/dancing these songs and watching them on youtube.
Speaking of tubes, on Friday, we took the tube to Winter Wonderland, a fair in Hyde Park with surprisingly good roller coasters and the rope ladder that seems simple but is actually close to impossible to ascend and ring the bell at the top to win the prize.
We joined our relatives for lunch and a visit to cousin Alex Fowler’s art show in Chelsea; what a splendid coincidence that we could see his pictures during the trip. A few years back, Alex had stayed with us in San Francisco, where he painted scenes of the city. Some of these, along with pictures of Italy and Jerusalem were on display. His work: alexanderfowler
With cousins Alex and Nico at the show.
Cousin Mindy and Stuart took us on a stroll through Chelsea, and we saw some entertaining window displays at the Peter Jones/John Lewis store.
Then the obligatory visit to Harrods left us a bit poorer after an in-house magician “tricked us” into buying his box of secrets…and Ella found her namesake.
On Saturday, we visited the London Zoo.
MEM with Daniel Prendergast
…then it was showtime again, the pantomime, Jack and the Beanstalk, at the Lyric Hammersmith, with our friends the Nelsons and Prendergasts. While it didn’t really compare to Matilda, it was enjoyable in its own right and quite funny.
Considering our tasty last supper, we came away from London with a great Mexican dining recommendation (really two, if you include the Chipotle food from the first evening). Lockhart Restaurant, which officially serves “southwestern” food, also pleased us (at least until morning) with scrumptious margaritas, in the company of friends, the Scotts, Pliners, Podells, and Prendergasts.
After that Hard Day’s Night, we took a walk across Abbey Road and squeezed in a visit to the Natural History Museum with enormous crowds to see the dinosaur show. J.P. and Emma Pliner then sent us off to Southend Airport after hosting lunch and a tour of their amazing big screen/media room.
Is the Pata-Gucci sale still going on? I need a new jacket!
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