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In August 2005, one young Londoner became upset at having bought an unforgiveably mediocre breakfast at a gastropub. He spoke to his friends about the disappointing meal. They said it was difficult to get a proper English breakfast at a fair price. So he teamed up with his friends and created a website, the London Review of Breakfasts. So far, 70 reviewers have anonymously reviewed breakfasts. To keep things honest, they write under pen names, such as Chris P. Bacon and Ed Benedict, and they pay their own way. The site has become popular, naturally. Its authors recently scored a book deal. Today we ask the site's editor "Malcom Eggs" about his tips on finding a good breakfast in London.… What's your advice to Americans who want to eat a tasty, authentic, and affordable breakfast in London? You should go to a greasy spoon café—somewhere with plastic chairs and tea in mugs and lots of builders in luminous jackets. They won't do the best food, gastronomically speaking, but that's the truest British breakfast you'll find, and so much of eating is about having the right thing in the right place. Is there a mistake that American visitors typically make when it comes to breakfast? The Americans and the British are, of course, divided by a common language. One of my regular American readers is always e-mailing with questions about British breakfast items that get mentioned: "baps" (or large, soft, flattish bread rolls) were a recent confusion. Also, British cafés are far less tolerant of customising the menu than American diners. You might get away with asking for your bacon crispy, or changing mushrooms for tomatoes, but unless you're completely convinced of your waiter's professionalism, don't ask for both. Please recommend a few breakfast places in central London, convenient to the main sightseeing spots. • You haven't really been to London unless you've gone to a proper, no-nonsense greasy spoon café and Diana's Diner in Covent Garden is such a perfect example of such a place that one of our reviewers, Cher E Jamm, said, "It made me want to fall to my knees and weep hot tears of joy." She's not usually at all emotional. The food isn't gourmet by any means but it's all about the experience. These places are where the true London happens. (39 Endell St.) • We haven't yet reviewed it, but the new Saatchi Gallery on King's Rd (in the Duke of York's HQ Building) has an attached restaurant that does a pretty amazing plate of food. It's a splendid place to set yourself up before wandering around the gallery, scratching your head about lots of very challenging modern art. It's an amazing building, and when it's sunny, it's fun to sit outside and watch the chic types wander past in expensive silk scarves. (Sloane Square, Saatchi-Gallery.co.uk.) • Simpsons-in-the-Strand is a good way to combine history with your breakfast, being about 180 years old and a former haunt of Charles Dickens, Sherlock Holmes, and of course yours truly. This is where I came to agree on a book deal earlier this year and we completely forgot about the book and spent the whole time discussing the breakfast. We thought it was huge, but I think it was pretty normal or even a little small by American standards. Reviewing it in 2006, our man Blake Pudding said the kedgeree was "gooey and beautifully spiced like a kind of Anglo-Indian risotto." (100 Strand, simpsonsinthestrand.co.uk) The London Review of Breakfasts' design is a homage to the London Review of Books and discusses hot beans and grilled tomatoes with the love that literary reviewers speak of W.H. Auden and Kingsley Amis. So it's suitable that the site's editors will publish a book themselves, writing about breakfast as a whole, not just eating out in London. It's due out in 2011. Maybe the London Review of Books will review it. MORE ON LONDON New ceramics gallery at The V&A; What's better than Buckingham Palace? Where to eat and sleep in London? (50+ comments) MORE BLOGS ON FOOD Eater (now a national blog network) Fifty Bucks A Week Endless Simmer

Moscow and St. Petersburg are about to join the ranks of major European and Asian cities linked by high-speed rail service. Russian Railways has purchased Siemens' cutting-edge trains—dubbed Sapsan, Russian for a peregrine falcon—at a cost of $52 million each. Instead of a traditional locomotive, the Sapsan has electric motors attached to wheels all along the train cars. It's also been modified to contend with notoriously frigid Russian winters. In a high-profile test run in St. Petersburg last week, the Sapsan got as high as 150 mph; its average speed along the approximately 400 mile route will be 107 mph. The service, which debuts in December, cuts the trip to Moscow to 3 hours and 45 minutes, about 45 minutes faster than now. Tentative plans call for service between Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod from March 2010 and between St. Petersburg and Helsinki, Finland, from September 2010. There are even rumors that the Sapsan will reach the Black Sea resort town of Sochi—host of the 2014 Olympics and one of Putin's pet projects. But the Sapsan loses steam when you consider that the high-speed AVE train is more than an hour speedier as it zips between Madrid and Barcelona, a distance comparable with St. Petersburg to Moscow. Outdated tracks hold back the Sapsan (which may not come as a surprise in a country known for epic, erratic train journeys in sleeper cars). Business Week described Russia's investment in Siemens' trains as making "about as much sense as driving a Ferrari on a dirt road." The U.S. suffers a similar problem: a lack of investment in train tracks that restricts even the Acela, our only available high-speed train option, which also maxes out at 150 mph. Siemens has its eye on the billions in stimulus money designated for high-speed train travel and hopes to sell the U.S. these same trains, according to New York Times. Find out more about how high-speed trains measure up around the globe—and how their prices compare to air travel—in our report, The Fastest Trains on the Track.

Bertrand Delanoë will probably go down in Paris history as "The Fun Mayor." Under his leadership, the city has launched Paris Plages and the Velib' bike-sharing program. The city has also begun Nuit Blanche, an annual celebration of contemporary art. Nuit blanche means sleepless night, so you won't be surprised to learn that the event takes place in the wee hours. This Saturday (Oct. 3), installations will be open for free. Public viewing begins at 7 p.m. But most of the hundreds of thousands of visitors will opt for after-Midnight art. Curious minds and culture vultures will be packing the streets until close at 7 a.m. This eighth edition of the Nuit Blanche festival will be centered around three neighborhoods in Paris. Châtelet-Marais and the Latin Quarter are to be expected, but 2009 also features an extraordinary trail through the 19th arrondissement. This northeastern side of the city, which houses more working artists than any other, will host a smattering of sites in and around the Parc des Buttes Chaumont. This wild and hilly landscape, which long ago inspired surrealists like André Breton, will filled with light installations (and probably a few libations) until the sun comes up. Download the full program in English, if you like. Practical Info: For the night of Nuit Blanche, the Paris Métro (subway) line 14 will be running all night. Line 11 (which runs northeast from the center toward the Parc des Buttes Chaumont) will also run all night, except for stations at République and Belleville. All other lines will close around 2 a.m. Taxis will be almost impossible to find, so plan to walk, bike, or use the Métro. MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL Our Affordable Paris series