London River Cruises

The best thing about London is that its on the way to Amsterdam.-My Brother Don

I write about a few travel related topics, and I have these plans of seeing more of the world one of these days. More of London in particular. So I get the occasional travel catalog. Oddly these travel brochures are seldom just tours of Britain or London-they are more often Grand Tours that trek the whole of Europe. With just the occasional stop over in London before you head off to Budapest or Cairo.

I don't know why I get most of the travel catalogs that I get. I am not like Hyacinth Bucket-pronounced Bouquet-and request every catalog on record for the QEII or African Safaris. Though if I win the lotto it would be fun to request a few. As it is I have signed up for a couple of contests here and there, and I think that is how my name has found its way onto these mailing lists.

My most recent catalog is for Viking River Cruises in Europe, Russia, and China. A fairly broad area to be taking river cruises to my way of thinking. Most of these river cruises are in the four to six thousand dollar range and seem to last about 10 to 16 days. If Viking River Cruises wants to give me and the wife a nice Cruise somewhere I'd be happy to write a few blog posts about it. Otherwise it will just be fun to look at the pictures.

Of course, my London thoughts tend to wander to Cruises on the Thames in London. My own London Cruising experience was a three and half hour ride down to Hampton Court, which was about three hours longer than we expected it to be. That was one way. It was an interesting experience though. We also took a short trip from one side of the Thames to the other at one point and got a bit of commentary on the London buildings lining the river.

The more serious London River Cruises offer diners and bars and lots of windows for seeing all of the wonders of London floating by. Below are some of the London River Cruise Companies that Google and Rough Guide like. Though to be honest, Google just likes the names.

Canal and River Cruises-London canal and river boat trip cruise, Private narrow boat charter for your exclusive use. The views provide a whole new perspective on the magnificient City of London

Crown River Cruises-Crown River Cruises offers luxurious cruises supplying meals and entertainment and also provides circular cruises for sightseeing.

City Cruises-City Cruises operates sightseeing cruises and evening dinner & dance cruises on London's River Thames all year round.

Viking River Cruises-Just hang out in London until the Grand Adventure of a long river cruise begins. The kind of stuff that dreams are made of.

Bateaux London-Offering fine food, breathtaking river views, live entertainment and professional service, a Thames lunch or dinner cruise provides the perfect indulgence.

Thames River Services-A visit to London is incomplete without a cruise along the Thames, either as an introduction to the many sights and scenes to be enjoyed during your stay or as a treasured memory of your visit. All year round, our boat service leaves regularly from Westminster Pier.

London River Cruises-London River Cruises can pick your guests up from any of the piers in or around the London area and take you to your destination while enjoying a drink crusing along the River Thames

Cookery Mastermind Competition- £100 Prize

It's always fun to enter contests and think about what you'll do with the £100 prize. The Cookery Mastermind Competition is a bit of fun and doesn't really take much of a mastermind.

I like the layout and general feel of the Allrecipes site, and a quick search found me a nice recipe for a Great British Fry Up-so who could ask for more than that? It's one of those spots I can wander around and look at stuff and say, yeah, I might want to cook up one of those.

To celebrate the launch of Allrecipes in the UK, we and our friends at Waitrose are offering one lucky reader the chance to win £100 worth of grocery vouchers – giving you the chance to spend your money on what you really want this month. There seems to be about 300 Waitroses in London-just thought I'd mention it as it is a blog about London.

Allrecipes.co.uk is the UK’s 1st online cooking community to provide a forum for UK food enthusiasts to inform, connect and inspire each another. UK foods have often been under appreciated and here is a showcase for all those foods we love.

All Recipes UK|Ireland provides access to thousands of real food ideas created by real people. Not only can you save money by not eating out you can know that what you’re cooking is top nosh with personal reviews from fellow foodies.

To prove yourself as the UK’s Cookery Mastermind you will need to do the following:

1. Find the answers to the 5 questions listed below

2. Take the first letter of each answer to make a secret code word-that's is Cookery Mastermind bit

3. If your answer is correct you could stand a chance of winning a bumper weeks grocery shopping-that's the £100 worth of grocery voucher


1. What type of cheese is needed to make Nanmurat's legendary salad? Hint Here

2. Rarebit is commonly associated with which country? Hint Here

3. Polly Welby's heavenly chocolate mousse does not include which poultry product? Hint Here

4. The traditional dish Eton Mess originate from which country? Hint Here

5. Edie Moon's strawberry salad is both sweet and ? Hint Here

Right, have the answer? Enter it at Cookery Mastermind Competition. Good luck

The London Silly Nannies

Now that American Football is back in full swing I thought I should take a moment to reflect of that Great London Football Team-The Silly Nannies. This less than manly team showed up in Season 4 of Family Guy-a show will little love for anything British. Family Guy has been aired on BBC 3 and I wonder how the London audience feels about it. It's a silly show with a lot of American Baby Boomer references-do they have a British version of Family Guy? The guy who played Onslow on Keeping Up Appearances would be a good fit for the part.

A few of my friends are absolutely crazy about Family Guy and can quote entire episodes. It's the kind of love that should only be reserved for shows like Star Trek or Monty Python. Well, it's not that great, but then, it's not all that bad either. Except for the London Silly Nannies.

Beatles Best Band Ever-According to Oasis Guitarist

The Beatles getting the nod as the best band of all time if kind of fun. That it comes from Oasis songwriter/guitarist Noel Gallagher is great-seeing as Oasis is the best band of all time according NME. These are more people that think Radiohead is among the top ten bands of all time, which pretty much baffles me. But I will cast my vote for The Beatles being the Best Band of All Time.

The rest of the lists are kind of up for grabs as far as I'm concerned. And it should be noted that The Beatles are on the move up and might overtake Oasis one of these days.

For example I had never heard the name of The LA's-of There She Goes Again fame-a song I liked much better when preformed by Sixpence None The Richer. And The Specials? Well, I never heard of them at all. But then ska was never really my thing.

The Rolling Stones still have some London clout as well, since London's Victoria and Albert Museum announced Tuesday that it bought the original artwork for The Rolling Stones' famous "lips" logo for £51,375. The Brits are all great, but I might have been tempted to put The Ramones in there instead of The Specials.

Noel Gallagher’s Top 10 Bands of All Time

1. The Beatles
2. The Rolling Stones
3. The Who
4. Sex Pistols
5. The Kinks
6. The La's
7. Pink Floyd
8. The Bee Gees
9. The Specials
10. (Peter Green's) Fleetwood Mac

NME Readers' Top Ten Best Bands of All Time

1. Oasis
2. The Beatles
3. Nirvana
4. Led Zeppelin
5. The Jimi Hendrix Experience
6. The Rolling Stones
7. The Who
8. The Clash
9. Radiohead
10. Pink Floyd

London Best UK City-Well, Duh

"Tourism is key to the capital's economy and it's vital that we remain ahead of the competition attracting visitors from around the world all year round."-London Mayor Boris Johnson

London has been named as the UK's best city to visit by the readers of Conde Nast Traveller magazine.

Beating off competition for destinations such as Edinburgh and Bath, London reached the top spot due to the standard of its cultural attractions, nightlife and restaurants. Though it is not the cleanest-Durham-not the friendliest-Glasgow, people still preferred London this year.

London does get a bit more US press than any of the other UK cities on the list. The Fox show Bones had it's season opener set in London and they talked about how it was good luck to see the bridge open on the Tower Bridge. Which I had not heard before-but it was a cute bit for the story as the bridge opened behind them when they weren't looking.

London is often the back drop of great movies and TV Shows. What kid didn't grow with Mary Poppins floating over the rooftops of London or take a flight with Peter Pan flying by Big Ben on his way to Never Never Land? From Sherlock Holmes to Dr Who, London always seems to be where the action is.

Of course, the real world London and all the countless London Attractions make for a great trip. Not that I wouldn't take a side trip to any or all of the other Top Ten UK Cities, one of my regrets from our last trip was that we didn't made a trip to Liverpool and visit all those Beatles sites. Of course, London has it's own share of things to do with the Beatles. Just one more reason London is best.

TOP 10 UK CITIES

1. London
2. Edinburgh
3. Liverpool
4. Durham
5. Glasgow
6. Oxford
7. Bath
8. Manchester
9. Leeds
10. Cambridge

Books for Cooks London

Books for Cooks was founded in 1983 by Heidi Lascelles. At that time, the whole venture must have seemed highly improbable. British cooking was a standing joke the world over, with London a highly unlikely location for a cook book store. Heidi was neither a trained cook nor professional bookseller.-Books for Cooks website.

One of my favorite films is Notting Hill, in which Hugh Grant owns a bookstore which sells nothing but Travel Books. It's the kind of Long Tail choice that seems unlikely to succeed in the Brick and Morton world, and Hugh's character was not rich or famous. Still, it did introduce lots of people outside of London to Knotting Hill's famous bookshops.

Across the road from The Travel Bookshop is Books for Cooks, another one note shop that seems to be doing very well with it's all cookbooks all the time programing.

I'm a sucker for books and I have to admit that I have soft spot for cookbooks. Most of the ones I buy are large and glossy and filled with beautiful photos. The handful of real cookbooks I own have battle won stains from time sitting on a kitchen counter while its owner zipped back and forth from cook pot to cookbook in mild to extreme confusion.

Which is where a stop at a Books for Cooks workshop would have come in handy. This bookstore teaches you how to cook, as well as selling you books on cooking. The list of workshops is pretty impressive. Everything from how to Taste Wine to how to Cook with Recipes. Truffle and Chocolate Making, that would be the one for me. I do love to make Truffles and I am always on the lookout for one more recipe to try.

The other bit that sets Books for Cooks apart from other bookstores is it's Test Kitchen, where great smells waft out to fill the shop and inspire the would be foodie to greatness. Of course, I would be more likely just to eat the samples and not really try to make them myself. I do love a good bookshop, and the hunt for just the right book is a great way to spend a couple of hours.

Books for Cooks 4 Blenheim Crescent, Notting Hill, London, W11 1NN

The OXO Tower-London

"That's the Oxo Tower, of Oxo bullion fame." The man guiding our boat across the Thames told us. But since we were a bunch of tourists from America, none of us had ever heard of Oxo.

The building was originally constructed as a power station for the Post Office, built towards the end of the 19th century. It was subsequently acquired by the Liebig Extract of Meat Company, manufacturers of Oxo beef stock cubes, for conversion into a cold store.

The London building was largely rebuilt to an Art Deco design by company architect Albert Moore between 1928 and 1929. Much of the original power station was demolished, but the river facing facade was retained and extended. Liebig wanted to include a tower featuring illuminated signs advertising the OXO name.

The Oxo Tower Restaurant is a bit pricey, as should be expected in a proper London eatery. Three courses £33.00 for lunch, while most dinners seem to be in the £20.00 neighborhood. As with a lot of London Attractions, there is a 360 degree view to be had online.
It looks like a nice enough place and the view certainly seems worth seeing.

London is a great town for recycling, and old power plants and post offices seem to always be on their way to being new businesses of one sort or another. The OXO tower with its nice tic-tac-toe logo and sharp art deco lines is a very nice building that houses art exhibitions and flats as well as a restaurant.

So when a tour guide points out the Oxo Tower to you, nod knowongly when he talks about Oxo Stock Cubes.

Oxo Tower Wharf, Bargehouse Street, South Bank, London, SE1 9PH