The London Chocolate Tour

Today, I did another chocolate tour - different one from before - with Funzing, courtesy of Walking in London. Earlier start, nuts.. well, I was to bed early, though. And with food already bought in, yesterday, I had time to grab something before I headed out.

I was early, which was just as well - the bus was diverted, and with all its twisting and turning, it took longer than it should have. Still, it dropped me at Green Park Station, which was where I needed to be. I was first there - just. Now, of course, I have bad memories of here - as I told the guide, when he arrived, Helen and I were stood just down from where we were today, for 45 minutes, one day last year, waiting for an Underground Treasure Hunt that never happened.. only to be marked as no-shows! We did eventually get a refund, but I won't be booking that again. He said he knows the guy, and that yes, they do tend to meet exactly where we were standing. O well..

Today's walk, I have to tell you, was much more successful. 29 of us in the group, and there have been complaints on Funzing about the large group size, but I didn't honestly find it a problem. He's a former trader in cocoa, he told us, so he knows something about it - and at our first stop, he regaled us with facts. Did you know that most of the world's cocoa comes from Ghana? Or that the inventor of the world's first chocolate bar was Fry's?

Right! Lesson over. After that, it was a day of pure chocaholic's heaven. We hit five stores, getting a free chocolate at each, and 10% off any purchases made on the spot. First to the Queen's chocolatiers, Charbonnel et Walker, in the Royal Arcade. They gave us a lovely, mild sea salt truffle.. but despite the Royal warrant, I wasn't tempted to buy anything.

Next on the list was Queen's choc shop #2, Prestat - which looks like a chocolate box itself, all pink and navy! Located in the Prince's Arcade, they do some unusual flavours, like sake, and a gin truffle that packs a helluva punch. I can testify - I bought one, for £1 (before discount). The one they gave us for free was a regular truffle. If you want to copy the Queen, BTW, these are cheaper than the last place.

#3 - Godiva. Trays were made available with some sort of white chocolate concoction, filled with biscuity stuff - nice, but no dice. I didn't purchase.

#4 was Paul A. Young - we had to go in in two separate groups, and while I waited, I lamented the fact that I've moved out of Soho - I miss it! Here, we were treated to a lecture on how they make the chocolates - on the premises - and offered one of any flavour on the table. Just the one! (I had champagne again.)

Our progress to the next stop was somewhat impeded by the celebration of Chinese New Year - I could see why my bus had been diverted, they closed the whole of Shaftesbury Avenue! As we turned off, I could see my old office building - a sign on it from Tower Demolition. Sad.. We finally made it through to the shop voted as #1 of the world's best chocolatiers - the British-owned Hotel Chocolat! Excellent, I'm quite a good customer of theirs.. anyway, as we browsed, we not only got a free chocolate (champagne truffle again, it's quite popular), but also a free sample of delicious salted caramel hot chocolate (I got two, as they weren't being taken) and a teeny scoop of the thickest ice cream. Ooh yeah.. recommended. As is the tour. Apparently you can now get a 50% discount on their tours, from having already been on one.. hmm, I don't remember that when I was with them before!

Well, with all the shananigans on Shaftesbury Avenue, I quite fancied a Chinese for dinner. So I returned to Chinatown.. where I found myself in a crush of people. Terrible - for future reference, avoid Chinese New Year like the plague. All it was was clanging, noise, an impossible crush, and scared and upset-looking children caught up in it. I was just trying to get through to New Loon Fung - unfortunately, there was a procession, involving a dragon whose job seemed to be to threaten every doorway on Gerrard Street. And when I got there, it was threatening.. New Loon Fung. Spectacular. Well, I waited several minutes until it moved next door, and I could try to get in.. when I saw the queue, stretching up the stairs, I said sod it, and headed for home.

The bus that came was the #55 - and as I sat on it, I reflected that it goes past the office, and there's a Chinese there! So I dragged my weary bones to Old Street Chinese, where I was shown to a table and given a menu - lots of large photos, just to be helpful. I chose - the server passed as I had just chosen, but moved on. I waited.

Pity I hadn't caught her then - she never came back! Seriously, it's years since I had such bad service. Only four tables occupied in the place - including mine; the room was practically empty, and there were two servers - apart from the guy behind the bar - whose sole conversation was obsessed with the fact that the table near me had had a problem with their order (he said "white", the server took it to be something else). They just couldn't stop arguing about it, to the extent that they forgot all about me. As I finally gave up, put on my coat and left, they didn't even notice. Jeez, I won't be back.. got a sandwich in Tesco's, which was delicious, and a fraction of what I'd have paid there.

Tomorrow, I'm back to Showstopper! at the Lyric. (Durnit, another I could've walked to, last year!) No problem seeing this more than once, they base every night's show on audience suggestions (roughly), so it is a different show every night..

On Tuesday, I'm back with North London Friends for A Passage to India, at the Park. Last time I was with them, someone asked me whether I was coming to this, and I said no.. it's hard to keep track, though!

On Wednesday, Up in the Cheap Seats is headed to Picnic at Hanging Rock - nice and close, in the Barbican. I remember this as quite a disturbing film - will be interested to see the stage version.

On Thursday, Up in the Cheap Seats again, for Beats on Pointe. Unfortunately, this is in the Peacock, rather than the closer Sadler's Wells. Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend.

On the 26th, I'm off to see Jake Bugg at the Palladium (yes, another that used to be walking distance..) Honestly, I'd never heard of him, but he sounded ok on YouTube.

On the 27th, an opera in Sanskrit..! without subtitles. Satyagraha is at the Coliseum, and is about Gandhi. So I should figure it out. Gosh, it's ages since I've been there..

On the 28th, Summer and Smoke (Tennessee Williams) at the Almeida. Does include actual cigarette smoke, and a gunshot. North London Friends are going, but charging extra, so I'm going solo. Performance sold out now..

On the 1st, back with Up in the Cheap Seats at the Bridge Theatre, for what I hear is a stunning performance of Julius Caesar. You get the choice of being part of the crowd - I'm not. Modern setting.

On the 2nd, back with North London Friends, at Hampstead Theatre, for Acceptance.

On the 3rd, Up in the Cheap Seats, and Beginning, at the Ambassadors Theatre. For once, not an official ticket for this - got better value with What's on Stage!

On the 4th, I found another Southwark tour - excellent! The "Family Friendly Liberty of the Clink" tour is run by Walking in London.. therefore Funzing.. and Londonist is involved somewhere too. Hard to keep track of everyone involved in walks.

On the 5th, London European Club is headed to Monologue Slam, an actors' showcase at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East.

On the 6th, Up in the Cheap Seats is at Sadler's Wells for a performance by Ballet British Colombia.

On the 7th, Let's Do This is off to a jazz evening at Two Temple Place. Beautiful venue - should be a lovely evening.

On the 8th, Walking Victorian London is running a walk around Il Quartiere - Tales from Italian Clerkenwell. Excellent - I've had my eye on that for a while. Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend again.

And on the 12th, London Dramatic Arts is at Caroline, or Change, at Hampstead Theatre. As usual, too expensive for me, and I got my own ticket, at about half the price. She's only down as going with one unnamed guest - maybe she won't go at all!

Ghosts and Executions Tour

Ah, autumn. For me, primarily of interest is Hallowe'en - the perfect excuse to indulge in things spooky. And it started last night, with a Ghosts and Executions tour - advertised by London for a Tenner or Less, and booked, therefore, through Funzing.

I was a bit worried after having had to rush home early the night before, with a sick stomach - but I was much improved yesterday, and no such emergencies arose. Curiously, although Funzing said I didn't need to print anything out, London for a Tenner or Less said I did - so I did, for safety. It was a late enough start that I could take buses all the way, so I availed of that cool Hopper fare again - all hail our wonderful mayor, again! The route with less walking involved the 344 to Elephant & Castle and the 100 from there - it was to stop just past our meeting point, at Exit 2 of St. Paul's Station (beside Caffe Nero).

A delightfully easy journey - I was glad I'd left enough time though, it usually takes a bit longer than estimated. And it was nice and dark well before I got there. Sure enough, I alighted just past where I needed to be, and as I walked back, saw a crowd of people standing near the Tube entrance - and saw the "Mystery Walks" sign that the guide had said he'd bring. (He does have a website, but it's really underdeveloped - you're better off looking on Funzing.)

So much for not needing to print anything - despite having all our names, he insisted on having a voucher! (Mind you, with his thick Cockney accent, it took me four goes to figure out what he was talking about.) He was happy with my confirmation email - well, he'd have had to be! I didn't mention that Funzing had specifically said we didn't have to print anything. When another couple arrived, he mentioned Groupon - I guess those would be the vouchers in question. In fact, I just checked, and they're cheaper there - bugger!

Anyway, there were five of us with him in total - as he said, it was nice to have a small group. Two more had been supposed to come, but didn't show, despite him waiting nearly 10 minutes past time, and didn't contact him - don't you just hate that? I know stuff happens, but the fact that they didn't let him know they weren't coming inconvenienced not only him, but the five of us who were also waiting to get going..

A nice full moon set us on our way. Now, I had covered a lot of this ground previously, but the guide was a knowledgeable one, and did tell me some things I hadn't known before. We went at a decent pace - brisk, but not too much so, and he was very conscientious about not going too fast for people, and for that matter, about never crossing unless the pedestrian light was green. He'd also brought laminated articles, complete with pictures, and a tablet to show us more photos.

He stopped at Amen Corner, beside where the clergy of St. Paul's live in Amen Court, to give us some history.. while he was talking, we had the interesting distraction of a pizza delivery man on a motorbike, who was a bit phased by the barrier across the lane. After a bit of inspection, he lifted it, looked at it very dubiously as he passed under, made his delivery, and dutifully lowered it again after himself as he left..

Upon entering the church of St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe for a look at what is reputedly the oldest bell in London, we were greeted by gorgeous singing. Our guide left the ghostly talk for outside though - apparently the Church doesn't approve. Now, one of the interesting facts that he imparted to us is that the reason for all the little alleys around St. Paul's is that the height of the surrounding buildings was limited so as not to block the view of St. Paul's - well, they got around that by creating lots of little alleyways that you could see it from - so you can be sure of seeing it from every alleyway in the area!

More photos here.

I had to laugh when I got a message halfway through that the event had been cancelled - typical of London for a Tenner or Less, who seem to be trying to hide the hundreds of events they're posting, after the fact. Probably trying to stay under the radar, as Meetup doesn't consider themselves a commercial entity. I laughed again later when London for a Tenner or Less emailed me to say they hoped I'd enjoyed the (cancelled) event, and would I like to leave a review..

St. Bride's and the church of St. Bartholomew the Great featured, as they have done before, and with good reason - both historical and picturesque, and the latter with its own ghost. Interestingly, as we stopped at the William Wallace memorial, I noticed Scottish flags and flowers - apparently, they were left on the anniversary of his execution, a few weeks ago.

My only quibble with the content came right at the end, when we made the obligatory stop at Greyfriars Church, where Queen Isabella is buried, and which she's supposed to haunt. Now, this guy claims to be a historical consultant, who's worked on many documentaries - so why oh why did he tell us that she was married to her father-in-law, Edward I, when in actual fact she was married to Edward II? What was that nonsense about her only surviving her husband by three days? And what was that about Jane Grey being buried there? Maybe I got the wrong person. Maybe he should read up on his royalty - I don't think it's his strong suit.

So, good walk, despite the fact that I'd heard a good bit of it before - occupational hazard. And a pity about that annoying mistake at the end. But he's a good tour guide, all told. And so home.. I'd forgotten how impressive St. Paul's actually is (I really don't get into town enough these days):

That's a 17 at the stop. By the time I got there, it had left, and I was to discover that it would have done me as well as the 15 that Google Maps had advised me to take. Never mind, a 15 wasn't long in coming. I got off at Monument, back around the corner, and was just in time for a 344 to take me all the way home. Nice one! Too late to blog though, with me in Guildford today.

Tonight? Best thing Meetup is suggesting is a Korean Music Festival at the British Museum. Yes, I was at a Korean concert before, it was very nice, and this sounds interesting. Advertised by London Art, Comedy and Culture Lovers, who charge £3, so I'd go on my own, as usual. However, I've had a long week, could do with a decent meal, need to do a shop, and the weather is miserable. So I think I'll pass.

Tomorrow, Helen is coming to town and we're doing the annual Open House, where buildings are open to the public, for one weekend only, that aren't normally open. All we have to do is decide which of the hundreds of buildings available we want to visit! At least the weather's supposed to improve..