Brown Girl in London

October 27

posted by RC @ 4:26 AM 0 comments

The Aftermath

Well, Nella's gone back to Canada and it's just HD & I again in London. She left on Friday - the way the departures at Heathrow is set-up it didnn't allow for alot of time together before she had to go through security. It was a quick, sad good-bye.

The last two weeks were just awesome. To me it felt like it was non-stop, a whirlwind of things going on. As soon as I got home from work we'd be off sightseeing or doing other things. We did so much walking my legs sometimes felt like jelly, but what great exercise?

Anyway, where I left off on our adventures...

On the weekend (Oct 14) we went to Oxford to visit Supa and attend of one his parties. We left Saturday afternoon and took the coach up, always a nice relaxing ride. Except for Nella who sat on her seatbelt a little too hard and got bruised up. Anyway, the party was fun, as usual. We mostly stuck together and Nella made friends with a French boy named Fahd. On Sunday we did a mini pub crawl with Supa who took us to a few different ones on the way to catch the bus to London - I slept the whole way home. A pleasant weekend and I'm glad we got to show Nella another area besides London.

On Monday after work Nella & I went to visit Kensington Palace. It's been the home of various members of monarchy since 1689 when it was bought by King William III and Queen Mary II, including since then, Queen Victoria and Princess Diana. Some minor royalty still lives in the part of the palace that was off limits. We kept trying to look for them but didn't see anybody. There were exhibits of clothing over the ages, whole rooms decorated the way they would have been when the King was entertaining, Queen Victoria's bedroom she slept in until she was 18, (when she became Queen and moved to Buckingham), and a display of photographs taken of Princess Di by Mario Testino when she was selling off some of her dresses for charity after she split with Prince Charles. I'm glad I saw that, I thought the photos were beautiful. The tour was pretty good because they gave us audio guides to walk around with and we could listen to an explanation of what we're seeing. It makes you stop and really examine what you're looking at instead of just glancing by and missing the details. Once done with the inside we walked around palace and took so pics of the gates. Then down a street of massive and gorgeous houses that I think were all embassies or consulates or something official. Nella took some pictures of the Russian one at the end of the street and the security guards signalled to me that there were no photos allowed. Oops.

Then we went to Oxford Circus to go to the souvenir shop and stopped at Starbucks for a Mocha with whipped cream.

Tuesday - another day of walking. This time I took Nella to the Victoria & Albert museum (South Kensington tube) and we walked and walked and walked around it. It's very low-lit so the pics didn't come out too great but at least we were able to take some. Anyway, the V&A was quite nice, it's so calm inside. Much more hush-hush than the British Museum. So, this one was founded in 1852, very old and mixes the old and the new. There was an exhibit of Leonardo da Vinci's work, I'm not sure exactly what work, but we didn't go to check it out since it was 10 quid. Instead we checked out ancient India, the impressive Islam wing, evolution of fashion, the cartoons of Raphael - huge paintings depicting the Acts of St. Peter & St. Paul, and just a myriad of other things. We amused ourselves with pretending to jump on a bed, pirouetting in a ballroom, and pretending we were head sculptures. Once we were all museumed out we met HD at Harrods and Nella did her souvenir shopping. For dinner we went back to Finsbury Park and went to Nando's.

Wednesday - Another walking tour of London by the Thames. This time to the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. We took pictures and split a sandwich from the French cafe by the water. Then on the tube to St. Paul's Cathedral - designed by Christopher Wren who also adapted Kensington Palace for the monarch in the 1600s. St. Paul's is magnificent - this beautiful, massive, old structure - stained glass windows, statues, memorials. I lit a candle for 30p. HD met us there and after we were done we walked across the Millenium Bridge. It's the first pedestrian crossing bridge built over the Thames in a century. The bridge connects St. Paul's with the Tate Modern so once over we all went in for a quick walk around. Then to Covent Garden, found a bar that sold only Dutch beer so we each tried a fruit flavoured one - I got apple - and then home to chill.

Thursday - Nella packed during the day and when I got home we just did a bit more souvenir shopping down at Oxford Circus. In the evening the three of us went to Leicester Square and had dinner at the Vietnamese restaurant on Wardour St (but I don't know the name of it). Then to All Bar One where we stayed until about 11, got on the tube, went home, and stayed up as late as we could before turning in for Nella's last night at the flat.

Friday - Heathrow airport at 10:30am and Nella through the departure gates and into security after 11am. And that was it - HD & I made our way back to the tube for the hour long journey back to FP (I fell asleep again) and just spent the rest of the day doing nothing.

posted by RC @ 9:21 AM 0 comments

Continuation of N's visit

That's what they say here. Not "on the weekend" but "at the weekend" but I'm not sure if that is only in reference to the coming weekend or it can be used for the past weekend?

Well, whatever - this past weekend, Nella, HD and I had a blast. HD and I were off on Friday so our weekend started early on Thursday night. When I got home from work on Thursday Nella and I left to go to the South Bank by the river. I didn't take my camera again so I have no shots. It was a beautiful day, a little chilly in the shade with the breeze, but still sunny and bright. We got off at Waterloo and walked to South Bank and walked along the Thames Pathway towards to the London Eye and Westminster Bridge. From there you can see Westminster Palace and Big Ben across the Thames. We crossed the road and went to Westminster then we walked along the opposite side of the Thames. At Northumberland we turned left and made our way to Trafalgar Square and from there we walked all the way up St. Martin's Lane into Covent Garden right to the centre of this area, the Seven Dials. Then we went to Leicester Square and went back home. For dinner that night we tried another restaurant in FP called Pappagone's Pizza and Pasta. It was okay - the best place we've tried so far is Miso, a new Japanese restaurant.

Friday we chilled out around the house and then partook in the English tradition of afternoon tea - at the Ritz. Needless to say the Ritz is pure swank - elegant, very gold, very old, and quite an interesting place. Tea Time is an expensive touristy thing to do, but if you want to treat someone, say your best friend, then you should definitely go. We got some fun pics and I'll post them soon - they're a little dark because HD and Nella don't like the offensive 3-flash bulb of my camera. Anyway, that was a good time. After that we went back to the flat, changed, and went out again with some folks we met at one of those birthday shindigs last month. That was okay - we met up at a bar called the Pitcher and Piano down by Charing Cross station and then to the Zoo Bar club at Leicester Square. Clearly, the three of us are not clubbers, because we left around 12:30am, which is like soooo early in clubland. Unfortunately, we missed 2 night buses and had to stand around in Piccadilly Circus for about an hour before we got on one. But I got some good pics of an older drunk gentleman offering his prayers over HD and Nella.

Okay, gotta go - will finish this later! Only 3 days left - taking N to do some shopping at Harrods - time to gather her souvenirs and gifts.

posted by RC @ 8:07 AM 1 comments

Nella's visit so far

It's Day 4 of Nella's visit and I'm only working half days at work, so there's not alot of time for updates on my blog. It's also been pretty busy at work so the few hours I am here it's actually spent doing work. :)

It goes without saying that it's been fantastic having Nella here with us - but I'll say it anyway.

Quickly, because I have to leave in 10 minutes - here's what we've been up to.

Saturday night - HD & I pick N up at Heathrow. She gets her first tube ride and it's a long one. Go back to flat and we just chilled and ordered pizza.

Sunday - we went to Harrods to check it out. Found even more rooms that I didn't know existed. It was cool - didn't buy anything - well N bought some chocolate and HD got her fudge. We walked around there for an hour or so and then outside on Brompton Road. This is Chelsea area so the area is much more swank than Finsbury Park!
In the evening we went to Red Rita and introduced her to our pub! We had dinner there and then went home.

Monday - worked from 9-1. Went home and N & I went to Tesco so she saw some of Stroud Green. Home and we made lasagna and it was a nice day weather-wise so we sat outside and talked and talked until HD came home and then the three of us talked until they saw a mouse in the backyard and HD ran inside and Nella jumped on top of the chair. I didn't see it hence no freak-out but we went inside after that. After dinner we went to the Barbican, a cool arts place in east central London, and saw The Devil Wears Prada. The venue is very cool but the movie was okay, I liked everyone except Anne Hathaway who was the main character and really can't act. Got back to the flat around 11:30 and went to bed!

Tuesday - worked from 9-1. Went home and I took N to the library to return some books, so she saw some of our section of Seven Sisters Road. Then we got on the tube and went to Green Park station and walked to Buckingham Palace through the park. N took some pictures of the guards and castle, etc. HD met us in the park afterwards and we walked around the area - saw St. James Palace (or what's left of it) and then we walked up Pall Mall to Trafalgar Square. It was early still, around 4:30pm and the National Gallery was open, so we went in to check out some of the art, which is always very cool and interesting. Saw alot of religious paintings from the 1500s and checked out quickly the "From Manet to Picasso" exhibition that was going on. There was quite a crowd in the rooms it was showing in so it was squished - but I saw Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" - can you believe it?? That was very awesome! Nella enjoyed it too - she said she'd never been to an art gallery before, which maybe she has but just can't remember, so now I'm going to take her to some more since they're all over the place. She'll have art-overload. Then we left, sat in Trafalgar Square, took some more photos, and found a Starbucks on Strand by Charing Cross station to have a coffee in. After we finished, we got back on the tube to FP and went to a pub on Stroud Green for a pint. Then we went to Miso, a new Japanese restaurant further down Stroud Green where we were all very impressed by our dinner - HD got roast duck and noodles, N got teriyaki beef, and I got chicken satay. We'll be going back there for sure. Then it was home where we sat in front of the tv and talked and joked around and watched a disturbing documentary on men who buy life-size blow-up dolls and live with them. Then it was time for bed!

Now I gotta go - it's totally pouring outside right now though - too much for an umbrella to handle. I'll wait it out a bit. We're supposed to go check out Fonthill this afternoon and then meet HD at Oxford Circus but if this weather holds up, I think it'll be a day in.

posted by RC @ 7:57 AM 0 comments

Mallorca photos

The Ocean
The Sunrise

The Hotel

A beach view

Another beach view

A street in Mallorca
The highway pointing the way to the airport and palm trees at Palma.

posted by RC @ 5:04 PM 0 comments

Thursday afternoon

I've checked over my postings since I've been in London and it seems to be steadily in decline - except for May when I posted 28 entries! It's an indication that I'm getting used to being here - that most days are becoming "everyday" days, where if you were to ask me, "how was your day?" I'd say it was "fine" and that would be the end of that.

No excuse though for not posting! I'm thinking of starting to tell you all randomly what I do each day - might make for some dull reading though. :)

Anyway, since I wrote about Mallorca it was back to work and the usual daily grind. The weather has officially becoming autumn; the warmth of September is gone and we're now in the coolness and wetness of October. Having never been to London before in my life it feels strange that everything feels so familiar. I can only put it down to the fact that it feels like home, like Mississauga. I love autumn and everything about it - including the weather getting colder. The only things I haven't seen much of are the leaves changing colour - but a trip out to the countryside might supply that part.

One of the most familiar things is the onslaught of cold season. When the weather changes the bugs come out to play and they definitely decided to play with me. Thursday night after work I was both dressed inappopriately (not warm enough) and got wet in the rain, with the numerous bugs I must pick up on that crowded tube I woke up on Friday feeling kind of crappy. The office had the air conditioning on full-blast, or so it felt, and I was freezing most of the day so needless to say my first cold of the season came on. I stayed home all weekend, just out for groceries. I thought I'd be better by Monday but I went to work and just couldn't think, so I came home in the afternoon. Today things are better - it's now progressed to an annoying cough but I can breathe and think clearly.

Anyway, that's the latest.

However, for some exciting news, our friend, Nella, AKA Hotporkchop, is coming to London to visit us for 2 WEEKS! She'll arrive on Saturday at 9:15pm at Heathrow airport and we'll be there, (and Supa as well), to greet her with lots and lots of noise and screaming. Or maybe we'll just wave. :)

posted by RC @ 9:15 AM 1 comments