London and Spain

Monday morning initiated phase 3 of the trip - London! I'd decided to stop off in London on the return home so I could make a side trip to Santander to visit friends and colleagues as long ago promised. In a passing conversation, I'd once told Paul that I hated London, so he was determined, in a day, to change my impression of one of his favorite cities. I'll have to say that he succeeded. My last trip to London was a whirlwind in not great weather chasing two very dear but very tall and fast moving friends through the city. This time was far more leisurely. And it was actually sunny! We started off the morning with a breakfast picnic in Hyde Park and continued on to the Natural History Museum. He had gotten tickets of a special exhibition of wildlife photography that was fabulous. It is an annual competition with a dozen or so different categories, and the photos are stunning. Plus the presentation is really nicely done such that the room is dimly lit, and the photos are strikingly backlit so the colors pop and everything is sharp. That also makes them really easy to photograph, so I got some nice images of my favorite ones. The winner of the whole exhibition was a great shot of leafcutter ants captured from through the leaf so you see just the silhouettes of the ants with a few peeking through a hole they've removed from the leaf - their little hairs glowing from the light behind the leaf. Simple and gorgeous. After the exhibit, we made a pass through a few of the permanent exhibits to satisfy my geek needs and saw the taxidermied jerboa they have in the mammals collection. I have yet to see a jerboa mounted in true posture, and this was the worst of them all. I may have to write a letter of complaint :)

On from the museum, we caught the tube to Westminster and walked across the river to the Thames river walk. There weren't as many mimes and street performers this time as when I was there last, and we apparently missed the Mime Convention by about 6 weeks. Disappointing. But the river was lovely, and it was a splendid walk with a stop for meat pies - mine was steak in a red wine gravy with just a hint of Stilton. Mmmm, good food. Yes, I know I write a lot about food, because that's one of the greatest things in life, and dinner was no exception! After a stop for pints of English ale in a truly authentic pub, we made our way to an amazing north African restaurant that is a favorite old haunt of Paul's. With good reason. The atmosphere was beautifully decorated and cozy, and the staff were lively and fun with great North African/Middle Eastern music playing in the background. Suddenly, in the middle of dinner, the lights went down and the music went up, and the whole staff were dancing joyously between the tables. Turns out it was someone's birthday. And they took their sweet time celebrating. After a couple of warm up songs, a cake with candles made its way to one of the tables, and the strikingly beautiful hostess pulled a lucky man from his seat for a quick dance before returning him to his dinner companions. Great fun. And the meal ranked up there as one of the very best ever - starters of chicken livers with smooth hummous, pomegranate seeds a walnuts, delicately fried little triangles of cheese wrapped up in pastry with an apricot paste, and my favorite was the savory pidgeon pastry gently dusted with cinnamon and powdered sugar over slices of fresh tomato and orange. Followed by the best lamb tagine ever that fell away in heavenly tenderness. I'm now inspired to perfect my culinary skills with that dish.

Following in the food pilgrimage, I made my way solo from London onward to Spain where I was picked up at the airport and whisked away to yet another fantastic dinner. Croquettes! I'd forgotten how lovely are the Spanish croquettes. And chorizo, jamon, and cecina. A heavenly trio of meats. On Thursday, Marian, Federica, and I drove up into the Picos de Europa for a stroll through some of a old farm villages with the white peaked mountains looming over. Lunch was the long awaited cocido. It's a stew made with chickpea and cabbage that has about 6 different kinds of meat including hunks of pork, fat, chorizo, and morcilla (blood sausage) that was sooooo yummy. And coma inducing for the long drive back down the mountains to Santander - fortunately I was not driving, and the narrow windy road with nets to stop the falling rocks was enough to keep Federica white knuckled and awake. Friday things had to turn away from food and fun and back to work as I visited the lab and gave a talk for the institute. It was in part to bookend a great collaboration that will soon result in what we hope to be a really nice publication - with more work to be done on future potential projects, I think my stomach and I will have to return to Spain for longer next time.

These trips get more and more surreal with each one as it feels like I've been gone far longer than I have while I'm away, but it seems like a dream and I never left by the time I'm home again. Unfortunately, there's not another on the immediate horizon, so the itch will just have to build for awhile as I'm grounded back in reality.