Up for air

(Aileen)
After several weeks of grey skies and pouring rain, the sun finally came up for air, and it’s timing could not have been any better for it was quite the event filled weekend in and around London. We were quite spoilt for choice. On this weekend alone there were the Wimbledon finals, Stage 1 of the Tour De France (first ever time in the UK), British Grand Prix, the Live Earth concert, plus I’m sure a whole bunch of other events.

On Saturday, we opted to take our newly acquired picnic basket on it’s inaugural event out, plus a dose of Shakespeare in Regent’s Open Air Theatre. We started Saturday morning bright and early with an hour of tennis. From the tennis courts we walked over to Northcote Rd to pick up supplies for the weekend. From there it was back to the flat to pop the wine in the freezer for a quick chill, pack all the picnic goodies, check that tube was up and running, a quick shower, and then we were off.

It was our first visit to Regent’s Park and we were pleasantly surprised. It was quite beautiful in that manicured-English-garden kind of way, with a rose garden, and other little manicured sections throughout. We found a nice little open space of green near the theatre to plunck down and tuck in some cheese, salami, olives and wine.

Fifteen minutes before the show we lazily strolled over to the open air theatre. It was a perfect day for an outdoor show. Not too hot, not too cold. Blue skies and sunshine, but with enough fluffly clouds to offer intermittent respite from the UV rays.

One thing we really appreciate about the UK (and Europe in general) is it’s liberal approach to the consumption of alcohol outdoors. In NYC one can get arrested for consuming alcohol outdoors, which is extremely unfair for a well-behaved majority of people who would appreciate nothing more that to have a sip of refreshing wine in the sunshine. We had 1 bottle of French rose with our picnic. During the show we had our second bottle, a tasty Riesling.

So picture this – an open air theatre surrounded by lush gardens, a bottle of Riesling, a great performance of A Midsummer Night’s dream, sunshine - Aaaahh. Dreamy indeed.

Note: It is worth stating at this point that we were extremely pleased with our picnic bag’s performance. Food stayed fresh, wine stayed cool, all equipment conveniently tucked away in their specialised compartments. Thank you John Lewis.

After the show we headed home for a balcony BBQ (shrimp, squid and pork sausages from our fave butcher Dove), the first jug of Pimms for the year (for me) and some apple cider for Ed. We wiled time away on the balcony eating, drinking and listening to the iPod until the sun went down.

Some pics from the day (L-R): Roses in Regent's Park, Ed with picnic munchies, me, Trusty picnic "basket", Fairies, Ed with jug of Pimms

For complete pics of our day in Regent's park, visit the album by clicking on "England - Regent's Park" on the 2007 Smallzone travel page.

On Sunday we woke up with small alcohol-induced headaches, and much too late for our planned catch-Tour-de-France-at-London-Tower Bridge activity. With the assistance of some Tylenol, a strong cup of coffee and 3 slices each of white toast, I rallied the energy to head out, hope on 2 trains to Tunbridge Wells, a Kent town, and one that happened to be on the Tour de France route. I arrived to find a huge crowd gathered, and 10 minutes to spare before the cyclists came zipping by in a 45-second blur. Ed had wisely stayed in the hood and had a lazy day at Starbucks. We later met up at Le Bouchon (our friendly neighbourhood French brassiere) for a couple pints of beer to watch Federer and Nadal duke it out, before heading back home to enjoy a steak dinner prepared by Ed, accompanied by a Rosso di Montalcino we had picked up in Tuscany. A scrumptious end to the weekend.

Tour de France zipping by Tunbridge Wells: