nye in london

Marco and I spent NYE down in London.  My cousin Andrew and his girlfriend Emma were so kind as to offer up their guest bedroom for us to crash in and we were able to bring Henry along.  They had plans that night to attend a friends dinner party but we got to their apartment early evening so the four of us could hang out for a bit and have a few drinks.

Since it was a last minute idea, Marco and I found ourselves calling around to restaurants (GOOP's London recommendations) a couple days prior being offered only the late reservations.  We landed 10 pm reservations at La Poule au Pot.

Acting like true blue locals we bused / trained / walked our way to the restaurant and had a very nice dinner.  We started with soup and a slice of cheese quiche.  Then salmon in hollandaise for me and rabbit for him.  We rang in the new year during dinner with the entire restaurant and me fancy-french-red-wine-in-hand (loudly) starting the countdown at 15 seconds 'til.  (heeeey new iphone 5 with the most reliable/correct time of the restaurant.)

After dinner we wandered through Chelsea, Belgravia, and Knightsbridge heading to a pub we wanted to check out, Grenadier.  Pub was closed, so we headed back towards the train station and called it a night. 

On our journey home we learned that the Brits like to party JUST as hard as the Americans on NYE, witnessing puke laden train cars and drinking in public aplenty.  Groups of mates swinging champs bottles around the train and ladies looking a little haggard from their night, walking barefoot from their stilettos failing them.

It was nice to wake up the next morning without a hangover.  We enjoyed some coffee with Andrew and Emma (thanks to them a Nespresso machine is on my wants list).  Then we drove around London for a bit to enjoy the sights, taking advantage of the empty roads.

We wish everyone a happy and healthy new year!  We are looking forward to what 2013 may bring.