A Pub Crawl in London

Having not been entirely defeated by my airport experience in London last weekend, I decided to have another go. Lesson learned, I opted for the 5 hour train ride this time (just in case it snowed again). Amidst the site and museum packed three days, the most memorable site-seeing was a very ambitious Pub Crawl. According to Frommer and his infamous guidebooks this was "The World's Greatest Pub Crawl," including 27 stops in all the boroughs of London Town. We made it to about 5.
We started off at "Wilson's Pub" to watch the Ireland v. Wales Rugby match on Kinnerton Street in Knightsbridge. After having a double Whiskey on the rocks it was off to "The Nag's Head," a truly antique and quaint pub, adorned with old skies and skates hanging from the rafters. There was a huddle of men standing about us all wearing maroon and navy striped ties. Having had two whiskey drinks at this point, we decided it was a good idea to inquire about the matching cravates. It just so happened that they were the queens guardsmen! Amazing. After we recovered from the tie-wearing heroes, we were off to "Grenadier," also known as the hardest pub to find in the world. It was on Wilton's Row, off of Wilton's Crescent, off of Wilton's Place, etc. It was tucked in a wooded area on a dead-end street and was almost entirely concealed by vines draped across its facade. We cheersed our third stop with ales and ciders and then made our way over the Hyde Park Corner tube stop to head to Piccaddilly where more adventures awaited. We traversed Piccaddilly to find the "Red Lion" only to discover it was closed. It claimed to be good ol' Dickens' hangout spot. Our spirits still high we headed over to "Dog & Duck" where we found an arrow pointing upstairs labeled "Ladies" and an arrow pointing downstairs labeled "Gents." The concept of a segregated pub wasn't too appealing, so off we went for 10pm Chinese Food on Gerrard Street. Never have I needed greasy chinese food more. It was delectable.
Despite having made it to only 1/5th of the World's Greatest Pub Crawl, the ones we did find were magnificent and allowed for an amazing overview of the different areas of London. It is one of the best ways to experience a city... even though it gets more and more challening to follow the map as the drinking continues...

Amanda