Canterbury!

We were incredibly busy this weekend! Friday night we went to a restaurant / bar / club called Cactus Blue on Fulham Road. It’s quite a swanky place; I’ve wanted to go for a while because I heard they serve the best margaritas in London. If you don’t know, it’s really difficult to get any Mexican food over here, much less good Mexican food! Cactus Blue turned out not even to be Mexican, but the food was really good. Andrew and I ordered four Spanish tapas: Alaskan Crab and Prawn Dim Sums; Grilled Chicken and Mango Quesadilla; Panfried Ginger Tiger Prawns; and Seared Fillet Steak Teriyaki. Just so you know, their tapas are really quite small, and that was barely enough food for Andrew and me; if Andrew hadn’t had a very large, late lunch, it wouldn’t have been enough. We should have ordered two tapas and split an entrée. I definitely recommend the restaurant, though. The margaritas were typical for London, but the food and atmosphere were great. There’s even a little elevator that takes you drinks up from the bar to the upper floors! Apparently, there’s a club on the lowest floor, and a cute little martini bar on the topmost floor with a roaring fire in the fireplace.

Saturday morning we got up and went to Fulham to register with estate agents there. We were supposed to have done it last weekend, but Hadley got sick (she’s completely recovered now). We walked all around Fulham and registered with at least 12 different estate agents. Most of them said that it might be difficult find a place that will allow dogs, which we knew, but we’re looking two months in advance, so hopefully that will give us plenty of time to find something. In fact, I received a call this morning from one of the agents; she found a flat that has a large private garden, two double bedrooms, a large living room, large kitchen, is three to four minutes from the tube station, and is much cheaper than what we’re paying now! I’m supposed to go view it tomorrow, so we’ll see then what her definition of “large” is!


Saturday night the Beth and Rino Nori hosted a Going Away Party for the Beards. Brad and Jill moved here from Birmingham, Alabama, three years ago and are now packing up to head home to the States. They’re moving to New York City, where I’m sure they’ll have a blast. They’ll be able to get anything they want at any hour again (a luxury that doesn’t exist here, as everything closes around six). We’re really going to miss them, though! Beth cooked a fabulous dinner, and Rino played Sinatra’s “New York” when they came in the door. Beth and Rino’s flat is absolutely adorable, they have a precious teeny, tiny, not-fat-at-all cat named Candy, who is one of the most friendly cats I’ve ever seen. We had a really great time and want to thank Beth and Rino opening their home to all of us!

Brad and Jill - Guests of Honor

The Group

Getting the guys to pose for a picture is quite difficult!
Pictured above: Tim, Jeremy, Rino, Brad, and Andrew

Pictured above: Kelly, Christi, Katy, Beth, and Jill

Getting the girls together was much easier, but what is Rino doing?!

Yesterday Andrew and I tagged along with the Beards as they marked another place off their list. We took a day trip to Canterbury, the culmination of Chaucer’s pilgrims’ journey in the Canterbury tales. We visited the cathedral where Thomas Beckett was murdered and saw the place where his tomb, which was destroyed years ago, formerly rested. We also visited the Canterbury Tales Museum, which was absolutely hilarious, and wandered around the streets of Canterbury, which, despite the Subways, Starbucks, and Café Nero’s, doesn’t look like it’s changed all that much since Chaucer’s time.

Around Canterbury

The Canterbury Tales Museum

The Cathedral

Needless to say, when Andrew and I finally arrived home last night, we were exhausted. It had been a busy, but great, weekend full of great food, great friends, and great adventures!