6.4.09: Hello London | New York Social Diary

Hello London

The New York skyline from our terminal at Newark Airport. 7:35 PM. Photo: JH.

London Morning. We flew over departing New York from Newark yesterday morning on Virgin Atlantic arriving at London Heathrow at little after 8 pm. Someone told me that the day flight was easier jet-lag-wise, although if you start as early as we did (getting up at 5 to be at the airport at 6:30) and go to bed as late as we do (filing NYSD before), there isn’t much difference.

Our driver, an Indian fellow who relies entirely on the GPS had some difficulty finding our way as his GPS wasn’t working very well and he didn’t seem to know the names of any of the main thoroughfares. We arrived at our destination -- the wonderful Stafford Hotel on St. James’s Place (off St. James’s Street just off Piccadilly) at about ten o’clock. After checking into our rooms and partly unpacking, we made the ten-minute walk over to Green’s restaurant on nearby Duke Street. They were near closing (at 11) and so we ordered scrambled eggs, Scottish smoked salmon (which always tastes better over here than in New York -- for reasons that I cannot explain but no doubt many can), and that was the night. By midnight it was seven o’clock in New York and I was exhausted.

The nearly deserted Green's restaurant on Duke Street, London, 10:45 last night.

DPC's vodka on the rocks (one shot and they ain't kidding).

Our delicious supper of salad, scrambled eggs, and Scottish smoked salmon.

We’re here to cover the opening of the Olympia International Fine Art and Antiques Summer Fair which opens today. Some readers will remember that we covered last year’s opening. There are a lot of Americans who come over for this, but more on all that tomorrow.

London seemed rather quiet on arrival although I had to remind myself that it was late on a weekday evening, and like New York on any Wednesday night by eleven or so, things have let up pretty much except for certain parts of town.

The girls (don't ask us who) escape the paparazzi in front of the Royal Academy and NYSD too ...

The scene in front of the Royal Academy. 11:05 PM.

After our quick supper, we walked up to Piccadilly to see people leaving the Royal Academy where there must have been an opening. A couple of young women got into a Mercedes with a driver and immediately they were set upon by about a dozen paparazzi. It was a surreal scene, like a movie, where the flashes splash and beam, are gone and the process repeats over and over.

We waited (across the road) to see if we could get a look at who those girls might be. No luck, as the car pulled away it was too dark to see inside, and so it was back to our hotel with JH getting some London night shots along the way.

The flower boxes on the sidewalk in front of the D. R. Harris pharmacy on St. James's Street.

The courtyard of the Stafford Hotel under the 3/4 moon on St. James's Place, just steps from the Green Park that leads to the Wellington Arch and Hyde Park Corner. 11:15 PM.