There are many more people visiting now than then – in some places, you have to fight your way through crowds on the sidewalks and looking at the attractions.
(above) The British Museum on a rainy day
In 2015, the air is better and the Thames is cleaner.
It may be that there are still old hotels where the sheets feel damp and cool all night long but there are plenty of up-to-date hotels with nice dry bedding and even with small fridges and coffee-makers in the rooms.
When I was there the first time, it was still necessary in my hotel to put a shilling in the metre to get some hot water. (The tub was located between two floors and guests came up from one floor and down from the other to bathe.) You got enough luke-warm water with your shilling to cover the bottom of the tub but that was enough because as soon as you got in, you could sense people on the landing, awaiting their turn.
Today, you can take a beautiful bath or shower in a non-stick tub with grab-bars and fragrant soap and finish off with big fluffy towels.
Of all the changes, it may be the food that is most different. Food in England used to be a bad joke, a stereotype that was, unfortunately, all too real.
In the hotel in the bad old days, breakfast was offered, to be delivered to one’s room, up until 9:00 a.m. No matter what time you ordered it for – 8:00 or 8:30 or 8:45 a.m. – it was plunked down outside your door at 6:30 a.m.
No matter that you had ordered a soft-boiled egg, bacon and coffee, what you got was a cooled-off hard-boiled egg, hard cold toast, greasy sausage and tea.
I clearly remember the first restaurant we went into for lunch. The gravy on the mashed potatoes was cold with congealed fat on top. The peas were canned. After that, we did most of our eating in pubs where the food was hearty and usually pretty good.
And now? Now, I expect London has become one of the great culinary centres of the world. It abounds in restaurants, large and small, fancy joints and neighbourhood diners, brasseries, wine bars and yes, still the pubs.
We had wonderful food from pastries and croissants and breakfast sandwiches from bakeries in the morning to superior bangers (sausages) and mash at the café at Churchill’s Museum. We had several mouth-watering courses at Jamie Oliver’s Italian in Piccadilly Circus. We also had a more casual pre-theatre encounter with Jamie’s cuisine at one of his pop-up diners. Great food and lots of fun.
(all three above) At Jamie's Pop-up Diner
Many restaurants offer a nostalgic Sunday roast on their menus but we’re assured it’s not the grey tough overdone beef of a generation ago. As most menus insist, the food is free-range, organic, humanely raised. I had a traditional English breakfast with sunny-side up eggs. The yolks were so golden as to be almost orange. Best eggs ever.
The food is superbly cooked, sublimely served, and altogether delightful to share and eat. Bon appétit!
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