The Husband and I like our libations. Yes, we sometimes base meals on what we feel like drinking. And yes, I have had wine with a piece of bread and considered it a well-rounded meal. (Fruit, carbohydrates…. Jesus would agree….)
On our honeymoon in Europe we had a really hard time with the pubs. Which was weird, since we are all too familiar with drinking.
But you don’t sit at the bar in London. Not many places have actual bar stools at the bar and the bartenders don’t care to talk to you. When we travel we like to make friends with the bartenders to learn where to really go in their city. We consider bartenders to be the best tour guides.
So we were lost in London. After many pints and Pimm’s Cups, we realized it was the social interaction we were lacking.
Pimm’s Cup and a pint of Stella. Our first drinks in London.
We spent many drinks talking to each other. But really, we can only entertain each other so much, even on our honeymoon. And then we found Porter’s.
The sign in the bathroom. So cute. http://www.porters.uk.com
We stayed at a lovely hotel in Covent Garden, and it was so close to Porter’s. We happened to find it one day after many hours spent sightseeing. We noticed the bar had stools at it. So we went in and sat down.
After we got over the funny looks by the bartenders, we finally got them to serve us. At the bar. Then they started to talk. We learned so much about London from Lucian and Nathan, the bartenders. But we were tired and wanted to go back to the hotel. So they told us to stop by the next night.
Well. We stopped by. And we learned about the different hours that London pubs were open, and serving alcohol. Our new BFFs Lucian and Nathan explained that former Prime Minister Tony Blair had changed the laws (blah blah) which meant that they had to close at a particular time based on when they opened and the license they had. Anyway…. these laws don’t apply if the pub is closed. So…..
They closed at 10 PM and kept us there. I mean, locked the doors, turned off the open sign, covered the windows, and got us drunk. I mean drunk as a skunk. No idea how we found our hotel drunk. Time-travel drunk.
And it was one of our favorite experiences in Europe.
We had cider…
This one was “borrowed” from next door, because the bartenders said I just had to try it.
And we had cyder….
Cyder.
And I had red wine. And white wine. Probably blush wine too. And spotted dick and cake. And anything else they shoved our way.
And pink drinks.
I have no idea. Things started to get fuzzy about here…..
And then they started doing shots.
We did shots. And we never do shots. And they did shots with us.
And the bartenders got drunk.
He pulls off wasted way better than I do. Or maybe he skipped the cyder….
And the Husband had a great time. Drinking. A lot.
Cheers Husband.
And then the bartenders decided to send their boss down the dumbwaiter. Seriously.
Sending their boss to the basement. In the dumbwaiter. At 2 AM. I hope they still have their jobs…
Around this time we left. After we tried to learn British accents. After I smoked British cigarettes. After the bartenders told us how much Europe loves Obama. After we drank every option the bar had to offer and had free spotted dick.
We finally found our way to our hotel.
And didn’t leave until 5 PM the next day.
One of the best days of our honeymoon.