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I ordered the shrimp cocktail as well as the seabass.  The shrimp cocktail came out first, and my goodness, it was one nasty mess.  Apparently the British concept of a shrimp cocktail is a small cup full of Thousand Island dressing, with some shrimp mixed in it.  I ate it out of politeness, but given the way it tasted, I may as well have guzzled a bottle of Thousand Island dressing without bothering to waste the shrimp.

The seabass was a more pleasant surprise.  Instead of a filet, as one would expect in the U.S., it came as a whole fish, which gave me a lot more to work with.  It was decent, but it wasn't quite enough to save Costa's from an Eric rating of "Overrated by Zagat."

After lunch, I walked down to the main thoroughfare of Notting Hill.  Having very vague recollections of the film, I couldn't quite tell if I saw anything I should have recognized, but to be sure, the architecture was nice, and the neighborhood was very peaceful (with the exception of the extensive construction all around -- apparently the water lines were being rerouted).  A few pictures:

I walked around Notting Hill for about an hour before hopping back on the Tube and heading over to the not-so-aptly named British Museum. 

Anything but dedicated to British history, the museum instead houses one of the world's great collections of international historical and cultural artifacts.

These photos do no justice to the museum's spectacular domed Reading Room:

The museum is also home to the famous Rosetta Stone...

various hieroglyphics...

mummies...

...and an assortment of ancient art that I won't even pretend to classify.
 

After checking out the British Museum, I found myself needing some food to compensate for the subpar lunch... so I ended up going to Wagamama again (there are branches all over the city), this time ordering the ebi gyoza and signature Wagamama ramen.  A second round in as many days may sound like a little much, but this place is good enough to merit it.  Tasty stuff.

Following second lunch, I hit the road again.  Walking around town, you notice a lot of interesting little sights, such as socialist bookstores...

America's contribution to London's world cuisines...

and some very commanding storefronts.

Next on the agenda: the National Portrait Gallery and National Gallery.  Ishaan, Bernie, and I had taken a brief look inside the latter on Sunday, but it was time for a more thorough perusal.  No pictures were allowed in either, but I can summarize the contents of the National Portraits in three words: Old White People.  The National Gallery folks, meanwhile, were a little overzealous in kicking everyone out at about 5:55 PM.

I was supposed to meet up with Ishaan at Leicester Square at 8:15, so I had some time to kill; I decided to head down to Covent Garden for some shopping.  To my dismay, however, my arrival at Covent Garden at 6:15 was met by the sight of a lot of empty storefronts, and a few straggling storekeepers closing up shop.  Apparently, business hours in London don't go past 6:00 PM or earlier (when does anyone have time to buy stuff in this country?).  This gave me a couple hours to just wander, during which I found an open store that was an almost-familiar sight:

Stanfords travel bookstore was really quite fabulous -- three stories of travel books spanning every nook and cranny of the globe.  I learned that Tuvalu (the top country on my dream destination list) only gets about 1,000 tourists a year.  I better go visit there before it gets submerged by the icecap-melting onslaught of global warming.. 

8:15 finally arrived, and Ishaan and I headed over to one of his favorite restaurants: Jindalle, a Korean place not far from Leicester Square.  The bubbly waitress served up a British version of Korean tofu soup with seafood -- not as spicy as I would have liked, but excellent nonetheless. 

After dinner, the blistering cold outside sent us homeward bound.  Day 3 had come to a close.

Map of London