Covent Garden, Tralfagar Square and the Grand Connaught Rooms

Jacqui led the way into Covent Garden.

Covent Garden today is an outdoor market and favorite tourist attraction, filled with produce, shops, restaurants and teeming with energy.

But Covent Garden tied to London's history is really too much to describe because it dates all the way back to the 1st century A.D., when London was occupied by the Romans and known as "Londinium." That's according to Covent Garden's official Website, where a timeline from then to now puts it all in perspective.

This covered area is a central feature of the outdoor market

After graduation on Tuesday morning back in March, that's where our little group headed to find a lunch-worthy restaurant. We had the afternoon to sight-see while marking time until the evening's celebratory dinner at the Grand Connaught rooms. Our group, as described in a previous post, consisted of my friend and fellow-graduate Steve, his sister Jacqui, their dad, David, and step-mom, Margaret. Circumstances worked out that another friend and fellow-graduate, Patty and her husband, Diego, were also able to join us, which made for a very interesting lunch.

Clockwise: Deigo, Patty, Margaret, Jacqui, Steve and David

Patty and Deigo are originally from Ecuador, but now living in Germany where he is working on his Ph.D. in economics and is very interested in game theory. So our discussion touched on that (because I asked him to explain it), whether (wo)man is rational, and what exactly was in the desert that Steve and Jacqui ordered. The dessert was called a trifle, and one of the ingredients was jelly, Jell-O or gelatin. We never really did get that figured out because Steve and Jacqui had empty dishes before the discussion got that far.

Also in Covent Garden, the historic landmark below is St. Paul's Church (not St. Paul's Cathedral). It dates back to the early 1600s.



St. Paul's Church is known also as the "actors church" because of its historic

assocation with the theatre.

The afternoon took us next to Tralfagar Square, which commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar and the British Naval victory over Napoleon. It's also where London welcomes the new year.



A statue of Horatio Alger, who commanded the British fleet at the Battle

of Trafalgar, tops the verticle monument. The figure on the horse is George IV.

After a brief visit to the National Portrait Gallery, we headed to off to the Grand Connaught Rooms for dinner -- in a London taxi.

Let me just say this about that: Good grief! Mr. Toad and his wild ride have nothing on London taxi drivers.

Graduation dinner at the Grand Connaught rooms was lovely and swanky, and I learned that a British dessert called a "custard" is nothing like American custard but more like an apple crisp and is absolutely delicious.

Outside the Grand Connaught Rooms



A gorgeous venue and a delicious meal

The previous post tells of graduation at the Barbican Centre and the first part of the day.