England Day 9: Medieval Towers and Halibut with Flowers

I had a bit of an ambitious schedule planned for today. I wanted to hit St. Paul's Cathedral, the U.S.S. Belfast, and the Tower of London before dinner at Gordon Ramsay's. When Mike woke up, he was tired from the day before and asked that we narrow the schedule down a bit. The Tower of London was at the top of my list so we decided just to visit there and save the others for another visit. Upon checkin, the apartment owners gave us a map of the surrounding area and there was a pathway along the waterfront to the Tower Bridge. We decided to walk it rather than take the tube.

As we walked across Tower Bridge, we could see the U.S.S. Belfast docked close by.

And the Tower was waiting for us at the end of the bridge.

Upon reaching the Tower, we walked by Traitors' Gate which used to be an underwater gate. Most prisoners passed through this gate when entering the Tower.

We were hungry so we decided to have some fish and chips before going in the Tower. Mike ordered some mulled wine for the first time. We had seen this all over London and didn't know quite what it was. It's warm red wine with cinnamon, sugar, and some other added flavors. We were sold on it immediately.

We had to fight the birds to make sure we got our share.

The Tower offers tours every hour by yeomen and one was starting just as we entered. But the tour seemed very large and we didn't think we'd be able to hear the guide very well. So we set off on our own.

We entered the Medieval Palace, built in the 13th century, where medieval kings and queens stayed whenever they visited the Tower. There is a recreation of King Edward's bedchamber.

From the Medieval Palace, we entered the Wall Walk which runs along the outside perimeter of the entire grounds. You can enter each of the outside towers from this walkway. The towers held exhibits on weaponry, royal beasts, and other similar items from the medieval times. Down below is a courtyard.

We then made our way to the Crown Jewels which are under guard at all times. A moving walkway takes you through the Crown Jewels exhibits.

After exiting, there was some sort of guard changing ceremony going on .

Our last visit at the Tower was to the torture chamber. This was actually a big disappointment. There were four or five examples of torture equipment used but not much else to the exhibit.

We left the Tower and went across the street to the gift shop. I was excited to find an opal necklace there that matched my opal ring from Cozumel. I love to buy locally made jewelry from the various places we visit and it was unexpected to find something so perfect. It was made in Scotland rather than England but, hey, that's still the UK so it counts in my book.

We walked back across Tower Bridge and found a little bar stashed away underneath called The Vault. They advertised mulled wine. We were thirsty and it was cold so we stopped in. That was the best mulled wine!

We headed back to the apartment to get ready for our big night out at Gordon Ramsay's. I had made reservations months in advance and we were very excited about our first ever visit to a three-star Michelin restaurant. We had to travel to an area called Chelsea so we hopped on the tube and when we got off we were in the middle of what looked like a Christmas village. There were little white lights strung up in all the trees around the square. Three story apartment homes lined the streets and everyone rushed around all bundled up in their wool coats. We started off in the direction of the restaurant, with Mike in his new dress shoes, only to discover that it was much further than I had anticipated. Mike and his feet were not too happy with me but we finally made it. We were seated next to a couple and their two young daughters. I was astonished that there would be children dining at a restaurant like this but I came to learn over the course of the meal that these were "foodie" children who were extremely well-behaved and discussed each course with their parents.

We decided on the three course dinner menu, which came with many little extras, and glasses of Ayala champagne. The event started with three amuse bouches--a parmesan mousse, a quail egg inside a scotch egg, and seaweed wrapped caviar. Each of us had our own personal waiter who would explain each dish to us in great detail. I don't remember mine but MIke's was a French guy with an accent that made it difficult to understand him. For the first course, I had pan-fried sea scallops with applies, walnuts, and a celery and cider emulsion. Mike had a large ravioli stuffed with lobster, langoustine, and salmon in a light bisque then topped with Oscietra caviar. Both dishes were fantastic! We had the same main course which was halibut topped with crab sitting on top of cauliflower couscous. Our personal waiters poured around it a finger lime and ras el hanout infused broth. Ras el hanout is a spice from Africa but we couldn't find much spice or taste in this dish. It was beautiful but bland. The whiteness of the fish and cauliflower was offset by colorful, edible flowers swimming in the surrounding broth. After this, we were served a mango and jasmine parfait in a tall glass with glass straws. I assume this was a palate cleanser and it was cool and refreshing. Finally, for dessert, I had a coconut soufflé and Mike had a chocolate and blood orange cigar with cardamom ice cream. Both of these dishes were delicious. At the end of the meal, our last complimentary treat arrived--petit fours of chocolate, rosewater, and strawberry ice cream served on dry ice. These were fairly unmemorable except for the rosewater which we felt was like tasting perfume. In the end, it was a great evening and we enjoyed our time there. The food was good but not the best meal I've ever had. Service was excellent for most of the evening until we had to wait almost 30 minutes for our check after we told them were done for the evening. I would consider returning but I certainly wouldn't recommend the halibut.

While out on smoke breaks during our meal, Mike made friends with the doorman so he called a cab for us to take us back to the tube station. The doorman was very interested in U.S. gun laws and how we can walk into a store and purchase a gun. Such a privilege does not exist in England. We returned home for the evening and fell asleep on the couches. Mike woke up later on and played photographer some more.

Early morning light.