I've only walked into two wine shops so far - an Oddbins near Kew and the local Waitrose grocery store - but man, there is some interesting stuff lurking around here. My only complaint is that the UK seems to heavily tax sparkling wines; the same Segura Viudas cava reserva that cost $6 in California is £6.39 here in London. Not fair! If I hadn't already purchased an entire case of other wines from Majestic, I would certainly have tried Grahm's "Ptomaine des Blagueurs" at £3.99 (it's a French grenache with bizarre labelling to get around EU laws), etc. I've even spotted the Australian liqeur muscat that Dan, Matthew, and I enjoyed so much when we were here last November.
Anyhow, I'm not sure what I'm doing today, and that's fine. I think I'm going to just sit around reading until I get the itch to get up and move somewhere else. Yesterday, I bought a year's membership to Kew, so I can always hop the train there and then spend an hour or two walking around the gardens. Hampstead Heath is also very close by, so perhaps I'll check out the bathing ponds (it looks like it'll be warm enough to swim again today!). Who knows? It sure is nice to have the free time...
I'm also slowly getting ready to take off for Tbilisi on Monday. Yikes! I'm excited but also vaguely concerned that it's going to be a fiasco of some sort or another. Will the tour operator try to hire me prostitutes? Will I have spent $2,400 only to get virtually nothing in return? Will it be physically incredibly uncomfortable? Or will it in fact turn out to be one of the most remarkable trips I've made? I can't wait to see the run-down Black Sea resort of Batumi, actually, and its botanical gardens and tea and citrus plantations... but right now, I'm more concerned that I won't even be able to get a visa at the airport!
