Weekends in London

Keeping in mind that London hotels will cost you your shirt, the relatively low-priced Cavendish is an appealing option to some travelers. It does have a lovely backyard, a generous breakfast spread, and the closest access to the British Museum. An older couple owns it, and when we finally met the motherly Mrs. Edwards on our last day, we liked her quite a bit. Unfortunately, we had already gotten a surly welcome from someone we presume to be her son on our first day.

It is located near the university, and the rooms do feel a bit like dormitories. We ended up in the attic up several sets of stairs and across a long hallway. There was a single bathroom located on a lower landing and a shower on our floor. The one other room on our floor was housing eight German students. This, I believe, was to our detriment. In the morning, they lined up for their showers and took 2 hours – 15 minutes exactly per German. This problem, as well as the grimy quality of the bathroom, including some hairs that were never cleaned from the shower throughout our stay, was the big negative of our visit. It was our first real experiment with shared facilities, and we will most likely pay for en-suite bathrooms from here on out.

The hotel is an easy walk to the British Museum, 10 minutes to the nearest Tube stop, and about 20 minutes from the 7 Dials. It was very convenient for catching the tube back to Gatwick airport.

Overall, I cannot pan the Cavendish. We did not thoroughly enjoy our stay, but that is entirely due to our own preferences and perhaps even our room. I trust the reviewers at Eurocheapo.com, and they led us to wonderful hotels on the rest of our European trip. I was very surprised to be disappointed by Hotel Cavendish. We have generally stuck to a standard of having our own bathroom, and the choice to go without was a big mistake for us. Perhaps for other people this would not be an issue.

What a find!

We stumbled upon Designer Sandwiches when looking for a bite to eat in Covent Garden. I walked past the restaurant and got a really good feeling from it. My mate wanted to check out the next restaurant down the road, and I feel fortunate that it was closed. Designer Sandwiches was a real find.

This eclectically decorated restaurant is located on 27 Endell Street, just near the 7 Dials. The walls are covered with various Indian memorabilia, from record album covers to magazine clippings. It's quite a fun place, feeling a bit like a British hippie spent some time down in Goa and came back to start a restaurant. The Indian sitar soundtrack adds to that sense. There are only a few tables in this hideaway restaurant, but carry-away is also a possibility.

The restaurant seems to be owned and operated by a couple. The British woman who ushered us to our seats had a motherly way about her, and seemed genuinely excited about our visit. We made small talk about visiting London. She was very enthusiastic about the menu. So were we! It consisted of a variety of soups, sandwiches, salads, and jacket potatoes. No ordinary jacket potatoes, these! The one we ordered was filled with a delicious curry. I had a curry chicken sandwich, filled also with channa, on a delicious flatbread recommended by the owner. Her husband worked behind the counter, making the food. The mango lassi was quite refreshing as well. The sandwiches all looked quite wonderful and creative. And the recommended dessert of Kulfi, Indian ice cream, was well worth my lactose reaction.

I would definitely go back here and I was surprised that this delightful little place wasn't listed in any of my guidebooks, including Cheap Eats London.

Jerry Springer - The Opera, a name that needs no explanation, had me in tears laughing from the moment it started to its melo-comedic ending. This play would never go over in America, and perhaps that's why we loved it. It was absolutely as shocking as the true Jerry Springer show, and we kept turning to each other wondering if we'd really just seen/heard that.

If you have ever seen the Jerry Springer show, this play should strike your funny bone, unless you're the type to go on the show. It skewers everything about middle America, from its obsession with religion to its doe-eyed belief in everything it sees on television. The waddling white-trash mammas, wannabe strippers, KKK members, and trannies are all represented in this comedic opera version of the show.

The songs are very catchy and take a note from famous Broadway songs. It was so great, we bought the soundtrack. Now we can sing along in the car to "Mama Gimme Smack on the A**hole" and "Talk to the Hand." We can play the CD in a desperate attempt to give our friends a taste of this awesome musical. Most of all, we can remember that we were there. Ha ha.

No, seriously, it's an amazingly funny show that you won't regret. It's fun, funny, and appropriate for the whole over-18 part of the family. However, you might have to suffer through a Shakespearean tragedy just to regain your sense of taste and culture afterwards.

The Cambridge Theater provides opera glasses for a pound, located at each seat. We were glad for this in our upper balcony seats.

As soon as you step off the tube into Camden, you have entered an alternative world. A man dressed as a punk rocker wears a signboard advertising the famous shoe--Doc Maartens--and goths, punks, and freaks of all sorts are evident around you, making their way towards the markets. Camden has a number of pubs, clubs, and stores that cater to the wilder walks of life. American goths flock here to buy club clothing that they could never find at home, and what's more, no one else will ever show up in the same outfit.

The following markets are all located in Camden and are open most days of the week. Camden Canal is only open on weekends.

• Camden Locks
• Camden Stables
• Camden Canal
• Camden Buck St.
• Inverness Street
• Main Street

The first market you will come across is like a flea market, selling T-shirts, CDs, funky clothing, and boots. Shop carefully, and shop around, as most stores offer the same merchandise as those around them. Here I found some inexpensive T-shirts (for London).

Walking up the main street, you come to the Camden Stables, where Cyberdog is located. This store is a tourist attraction in its own right, its interior decor reminiscent of a space-ship. The clothing is very pricey but very unique and cool clubwear. For those of us with a depreciating currency, the sale rack is fantastic. This is their main store. Note: no photography is allowed.

For goths, the most famous store is the Black Rose, which sells very traditional goth finery. It is located in the Stables. I found their merchandise dated, but some people still wear this style. For other styles in goth fashion, check out Darkside on the main street. Prices are high, but London offers the best goth shopping in the world. There is also an Illig store tucked into one of the markets, provided that Illig is still in business.

Along High Street, many stores offer the ubiquitous Doc Maarten in every possible color, along with the other big shoe brands, Swears and New Rocks.

For more goth shopping tips, this site is awesome. I used it to plan my trip to London.

Eating and drinking in London is an expensive proposition. Even a cheap noodle lunch cost us US$20 per person. Drinks are disgustingly expensive. At Denim, we paid the equivalent of US$14 for each drink. You can imagine we nursed them for as long as possible. There was no public drunkenness in Britain's capital for these two girls. We simply couldn't afford it.

That said, dining in London is much better than previously reported. It improved on both of our previous experiences. In the main, we stuck to Asian cuisines as we do at home, from Japanese noodle shops to Indian food. However, our stopover in a chippie showed me that British food can be quite tasty!

As a result, I highly suggest visiting the terrific grocery stores and making your own meals. We visited an upscale, organic grocery store in the Knightsbridge district, and dined on fine cheeses and breads, accompanied by wine, and finishing with pastry. This cost me the equivalent of $20 for the both of us.

But you do want to try some of the fantastic Indian food that London is known for, not to mention Fish and Chips. So check out the following restaurants. Some we found through Time Out's Cheap Eats book, and a few we found on our own.