Posts by ChelsieRae
Travel Day, Amsterdam
Today was a bit of a travel day so we don’t have too much to post. We woke up at 6:00 a.m. which was early considering that we got to bed around 2:00 a.m. last night after our great dinner and nighttime sightseeing adventure. By 6:30 a.m. we were on the tube and by 7:00, we were already at King’s Cross St. Pancras Station ready to board our Eurostar train to Brussels, Belgium. If you are wondering why we left so early, let me remind you of our previous trips to London where we nearly missed a train ride to France and a flight at Heathrow because of the Tube. Generally it is incredibly reliable…except for when you are trying to get somewhere on-time. Luck was on our side this time and we actually got to the train station in time to enjoy a nice breakfast. We were a little tired so we mostly slept on the train, barely even waking up as we passed through the Chunnel and Lille, France. After a quick 2 hour layover in Brussels, Belgium where we enjoyed some take-away lunch outside the train station, we were on our way to the Netherlands.
We arrived in Amsterdam to some very heavy rain that only lasted a few minutes. After a short taxi ride, we checked in at our apartment which is literally right on one of the main canals (Keizersgraght). Oscar was waiting for us to show us around the apartment and just like Andrew’s family, he was from Indonesia. He was also nice enough to tip us off to the good Indonesian food in the area. After a long day of travel, we were quite tired, but headed to the local supermarket, Albert Klein, anyway to grab some groceries for the week. We of course picked up all the Dutch staples…smoked salmon, dill, nutella, and De Ruijter chocolate sprinkles. :) Once back to the apartment, Andrew proceed to blow out the circuit trying to make toast…twice. It took him a while, but he finally found the fuse box (outside the apartment) to right the situation. After a quick snack of apples and Nutella. We are ready for bed. Tomorrow will be much more eventful, we promise.
Cheers,
Chelsie & Andrew
The Amsterdam Centraal Train Station
Canal with the Munttoren in the background
Apartment Living Room
Apartment Kitchen and Loft
Apartment Bedroom
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Shopping & Amazing Food
Today we had a great day…not a lot on the agenda except shopping, eating, and enjoying ourselves. We started the day at Tom Tom where we enjoyed coffee and poached eggs on toast. Then we walked about a mile over to Harrod’s for some jewelry shopping. Unfortunately, I didn’t find anything I liked, but that was fine because next we headed over to Liberty of London, another high-end department store and I found the most beautiful scarf that Andrew was nice enough to buy for me. After that we headed to lunch at Mother Mash where we had some amazing bangers (sausages) and mash (potatoes). What a treat!
After that we headed to St. James’s park to see the Horse Guards Parade where the Olympic beach volleyball tournaments took place. While they had most of that side of the park blocked off, we were able to enjoy some local wildlife (squirrels and pigeons) and beautiful flowers there. When it started to rain, we took shelter under a tree and just relaxed for a while listening to the rain and watching people run through the park. It was a good rest since we had done miles of walking while we were shopping earlier.
More than a month ago, as soon as I knew the dates of our trip, I immediately booked reservations at a restaurant called Dinner by Heston Blumenthal here in London. It is rated the 9th best restaurant in the world and I couldn’t resist such a tempting treat. Tonight was the night of our reservation. After we had finished shopping, we came back to the hotel and got ready to go. After a quick taxi ride we arrived at the Mandarin Oriental hotel where the restaurant is. It was a beautiful, warm, and inviting space and the service was top notch. As good as the service was though it was the food that was the real show stopper. The inspiration for all the menu items at Dinner come from historic British cooking with a modern twist and it delivered in all respects. Everything was amazing. I started with Meat Fruit which turned out to be and a yummy chicken liver mousse encased in a tangerine-flavored gel that was made to look like an actual tangerine. Just beautiful! Andrew had a delicious saffron rice dish with calf tail called “Rice and Flesh.” For our main courses I had the Cod with Mussels and Cider Sauce and Andrew had Powdered Duck Breast with fennel. We also ordered some delicious carrots with caraway as a side dish and I can say without a doubt that those were the best carrots I have ever eaten. We finished up the meal with an indescribable yeasted cake with a spit-roasted pineapple that took 30 minutes to make. Again, it’s hard to describe, but think of the best doughnut you have ever eaten and then imagine something that tastes 100 times better. We also ordered the post dessert ice cream where they came by with a cart and made us tableside ice cream using liquid nitrogen. They also let us pick from some unusual, but tasty toppings. Andrew had the chocolate hazelnuts and I had sugar-coated fennel seeds and homemade apple “pop rocks.” Overall I would describe the food as exquisite. This was probably the closest I’ll ever get to feel what it’s like to be a judge on Top Chef. It definitely earns a spot in the top 5 meals we have ever eaten.
Although it was late when we got out of the restaurant, we just couldn’t resist one last nighttime stroll along the Thames taking in the sights of the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, and Big Ben all lit up at night. As my previous boss Lael would say, “we just had to lay eyes on them” one more time. Tomorrow we leave bright and early for Amsterdam to continue the adventure.
Cheers,
Chelsie & Andrew
Flat White from Tom Tom
Poached eggs on toast from Tom Tom
Bangers and Mash at Mother Mash
Sitting in St. James’s Park
Pigeon in St. James’s Park
Sitting under a tree in the rain
Ready for a great dinner at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
Meat Fruit
Meat Fruit
Me with Cod in Cider Sauce
Andrew’s Entree…duck breast with fennel
Our server making tableside ice cream
“Just like magic”
Night shot of Westminster Abbey
Our Once-in-a-Lifetime Olympic Experience
We keep saying to ourselves that we can’t believe we’ve been in London for less than 48 hours. We have experienced so much that it feels like we’ve been here a week already. Today we pretty much only did one really cool thing. As we announced yesterday, we got last-minute tickets to the Olympic goal medal men’s basketball game. As soon as we got up we wasted no time getting some takeaway (that means to-go in British) croissants and coffee from Tom Tom. We then headed to The Tube so we could pickup our tickets from the Will Call center clear across town. Even though we were a few hours early, we decided to go to the arena right away because it was another 45-minute Tube ride away and we have heard lots of warnings here about the public transport getting really congested right before Olympic events start. It turned out to be a really great idea to show up early. We breezed through security, had time to buy some official Olympic merchandise, and ate a pretty tasty lunch at Pizza Express (the restaurant is more upscale than it sounds).
Even though we had found the tickets at the last minute, the seats weren’t bad at all. We were in the first row of one of the higher sections so we had nobody sitting in front of us. You can see our view in the pictures below. There were lots of celebrities in attendance including David Beckham, Jesse Eisenberg, and even Arnold Schwartzenegger who scored a seat right next to the Mayor of London. Both the Spanish and American fans had lots of enthusiasm and the costumes were downright entertaining. The guys with American flag jumpsuits, elbow-length stars and stripes evening gloves, and clown wigs were my favorite. NBA jerseys and cardboard cutouts of Kobe’s head were also popular ways to show support. If you didn’t watch the game on TV, Spain put up a great fight and it was neck and neck right up until the very end where we overtook them and won by 7 points (107 to 100). Just like at a basketball games back home, between periods and time outs, they kept the crowd entertained with dancing, jump rope acrobatics, and even this funny bongo cam where when the camera comes to you, you are supposed to pretend like you are playing the bongo drums. It was quite hilarious really. Immediately following the game, the medal ceremony took place…USA for Gold, Spain for Silver, and Russia for Bronze. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to see our flag raised and our national anthem being played for all to hear. Seeing it on TV just doesn’t do the experience justice. It was truly indescribable and something we will never ever forget. It would have been extra nice though if some of our basketball guys knew the actual words. I saw lots of lip synching that didn’t quite match up.
After the game, we sat on a small grass area right outside the stadium and watched all the people come streaming out. We had some more celebrity sightings and got to see the Russian basketball team walking to their vans. It was fun to see all the different types of people from around the world. Since we still weren’t too excited about getting on the hot and crowded Tube, we hitched a ride back into town on a boat and found a highly-rated trendy Mexican restaurant where we had some pretty tasty street tacos. I know what you’re thinking…Mexican in London? We thought the same thing. It definitely didn’t beat the tacos back home, but it was authentic, hit the spot, and was close by so we considered it a win. Finally we headed back to our hotel room so we could catch the Closing Ceremony live on BBC. Overall it was an amazing day. Again, we still can’t believe it’s only been a day and a half since we got here. Rio 2016 anyone?
Cheers,
Chelsie & Andrew
P.S. Andrew added a google maps widget to the right hand side of the page so you can generally see where we are at any given moment. If it always seems like we’re in the same place, that’s because we’re sleeping most of the time you guys would be checking the blog. Enjoy!
Our Olympic Tickets
North Greenwich Arena where the game took place
Outside the entrance to the arena
We’re ready for the big game
Creating anticipation before the USA vs. Spain match-up (the white lights at the bottom left are monitors manned by Olympic Officials and statisticians)
The tip-off
It was definitely a packed house
The big win…go Team USA!!
The medal ceremony
Enjoying some people watching after the game
UPDATE: We scored tickets to the Gold Medal Men’s Basketball Match USA vs. Spain!!!
We are so excited we can hardly stand it. We just scored tickets to the gold medal Men’s Basketball match tomorrow…USA vs. Spain. We checked one last time for affordable available tickets right before we went to bed and what do you know, some magically appeared on CoSport’s website. Looks like we know what our plans for tomorrow will be. Tom Tom for breakfast, to the will call office, and then on to see an official Olympic event. Go team USA!!!
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