BACKBACKBACK!!!

8/23/14

I'M BACK IN EUROPE YAAAAALLLLLLLL!

Just as a disclaimer I'm probably jet lagged as hell.  I feel alright now, but probably in a few days I will look back and this whole day will be a big giant blur.  Please forgive grammar and spelling mistakes.

Despite being delayed in Raleigh an hour due to "electrical issues" aka "lets turn the plane off and then on again to see if it works" the flight was not too bad.  We watched an amazing sunset over Virginia while we drank cosmos from the Grey Goose airplane bottles I brought (#strategery), and I think I got 3.5-4 hours of sleep - so I felt pretty good upon landing here in Londontown.

It's weird being back.  It feels like no time has passed and I keep thinking I should be meeting up with my friends.  It's got me in a bit of a weird mood.  We've taken it easy today just because its been a long day.  It took us a couple hours to get off the plane, through customs, and on the Tube to get to our hotel.  Once we got rid of our luggage, life was much better.  Sidenote, my check bag was only 30 lbs! That's a lot of leftover weight for wine!

First we checked out Portobello Market & Notting Hill.  I did this in January while I was abroad, but it was fun to do a second time when I wasn't completely miserable and homesick.  I drooled a lot over all the antique brass, copper, and silver - does that make me an old lady?  Omg I am about to fall asleep as I type this (sidenote).

Tried typing some more.  Nada.  Nap time brb.

Okay, took my nap, now where were we?

Portobello.  We walked around the Notting Hill area for a little while but we were getting hungry (aka Mother was about to keel over) so we made our way to Covent Garden for lunch.  There we SO MANY PEOPLE but somehow we found a really nice Italian restaurant on the second floor for Covent Garden, so we had a great view while we ate our delicious food.  It helped me recharge my battery some, but Mother was still really tired so we walked in a couple shops around that area including Barbour, Joules, and Ted Baker, before going back to the hotel to take the aforementioned nap.

For dinner we went to a Spanish restuarant I found, Barrafina, for the second (or third) best meal of my life.  I suppose the best meal of my life was the one on the Eiffel Tower where Kyle proposed to me (HERE), after that it was Le Jardin de Sens in Montpellier with Daddy (HERE), and then Barrafina in London.  It was just fantastic.  It was teeny, with maybe only 20 seats around a bar, and a long queue.  We waited about an hour to get a seat (impressive, considering we got there at 6:00) and it was worth it.  I think I would've waited 2.5 hours to eat there.  To start, I had an incredible wine (Vilosell 2011 Tomas Cuisine in case you were wondering).  It is funny how crazy I get when I get a wine I love.  I just freak out basically.  We ordered Jamón ham, a heritage tomato salad, langoustine stuffed squid, Morcilla ibérica with quail eggs, and a zucchini flower all to share.  The ham was really spectacular and they sliced it from the leg right in front of us, the tomatoes were ridiculously flavorful and fresh, I can't even describe how good the squid was, by the time we got the ibérica (blood sausage) and zucchini flower I really was pretty tipsy, but all I remember is a blur of deliciousness.  We tried to order duck hearts which were a special, but they'd run out by the time we order them and out waitress recommened the flower instead which was sort of sweet and filled with a light cheese - killer.  To end the meal I had a great sherry (Hidalgo Alameda cream sherry) that was not too sweet, and was perfectly nutty with the Santiago tart (almond tart with dried fruit) I got for dessert.  It was one of the most delicious, most fun meals I've ever had.  Our waiter and waitress were incredibly nice and helpful, the atmosphere was great, it was the perfect first real meal in Europe.

By the time we left, I'd had a glass of cava, and probably 4-5 glasses of wine, so I was mostly drunk to say the least, and then we HAD to stop in the Princess Louise bar for a pint of beer before bed (Louise - I want you to know we were very rowdy in your pub).  Needless to say I had a little headache in the morning.

Slicing the jamón