2010-11-23 East London Walking Tour

Borough Market

I finally got to Borough Market yesterday, after living here for 7 months. There is so much to do in this city that I will never make it through my list, even after a year. Of course, I forgot my camera, though some of the images of dead animals will stick with me and I would rather not remember those images and post them on a blog, lest I offend my vegetarian friends and frighten the children. Deb and I wandered the market, had coffee at a great little local place across from the Starbucks, wandered some more, made mental notes about all the fabulous restaurants and food stuffs to come back for and then headed over to Covent Gardens for some shopping. We had a great day! London, the more I know you, the more I love you. After a full day of wandering the town, I came home and had to head out again to meet Julia and her friend at Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. I get on the bus, sit down and the bus is not moving. The bus driver is shouting at a young man to get off the bus, as the letter he was presenting her was not valid. He won't get off and she won't budge. This goes on for far too long. Strangely, not one other passenger on the bus gets involved. They just sit and wait. And he won't get off and she won't drive. And I am running late. I finally got up, bought him a ticket and we were on our way. Oh, so strange. And not one thank-you from the little ingrate, or the bus driver for that matter. Gotta love the urban moments. Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park - amazing. Polenta chips, butternut squash soup and mulled wine = one happy me. My favorite part of the evening, however, was in the mundane act of riding the bus home with Julia, sitting upstairs and eating the gingerbread she had decorated. We both had a fun evening and just spending the time alone with her on the bus enjoying the time together and marveling at the fact that we are in London, on a double decker bus and only a short ride from Hyde Park to our apartment

Cyprus

Devon

I will get to the bottom of this.........

I will get to the bottom of this. I will get to the bottom of this. I will get to the bottom of this........... pile of laundry!!!! Just in case anyone thinks expat living is all fun and travels, I must interject that I spend a large portion of every single day trying to get through the seemingly never ending pile of laundry on my kitchen floor. Yes, my kitchen floor, because as I am sure I have mentioned previously, my washer/dryer combo unit, yes, combo as in all in one unit, is located in the middle of my kitchen. This is a fact of life here in London that I both love and hate all at the same time.

Autumn at Windsor Castle

Around and About

I want to get back into the habit of blogging regularly, so there is no time like now. Life is moving at warp speed at the moment, so I will just move forward with a quick update of what we have been up to. We had a wonderful visit with Nancy/Grandma who was here for a week and for Rosh Hashana. Yom Kippur was spiritually uplifting at New London Synagogue, where we have joined. The Minyan Chadash is warm, welcoming and feels much like home. Sukkot arrived. This is the first time I have been homesick, as we don't have space to build a Sukkah here and it is my favorite holiday. Julia spent hours making paper chains and pictures to decorate our porch. Though this is not a "kosher" Sukkah, it provided me with tremendous joy and our little space has been transformed for the moment.

Karen and Dan arrived on Friday. We visited the Kenwood House and had lunch there. This is my favorite thing to do in London, so it was fun to share with them. Dan is very knowledgeable about art, and though this was my 5th visit to Kenwood, I learn something new every time I go, and from Dan I learned about a rare painting. We knocked a few more things off of our London To Do list: fish and chips at a very yummy place, the Imperial War Museum and high tea.

Today, I spent a wonderful day and some money (though not as much as I could have spent) at the Origin Craft Show in Spitalfield Market.
That's is all for now.

Courtauld Gallery

 

Spain

We spent 4 nights, 5 days in Barcelona last week. We had a great time. We all enjoyed the architecture, food, warm Mediterranean climate and nice people.

Back From Barcelona

I just want to see what it is like to blog from my new I touch. First of all, I can already tell you I have a problem with a device that will not allow me to type a lower case "I" if I want to!! There must be a way.

Anyway, more importantly, I loved Barcelona.

More when I figure out how to get pics on here.

Barcelona

I love Barcelona. I love everything about this city: incredible food, great weather, interesting and beautiful architecture and nice people. This is my kind of city. I have sorely neglected my blog the past few weeks. It is next to impossible to sit down and blog while the kids are not at school or camp. I can't wait to organize pictures and recap our travels, but that will have to wait.

Surprise Visitors!!!

The joys of technology: I woke up this morning to a  Facebook message from Dahlia saying that she, Natalie and Johnny would have an 11 hour layover in London. Thanks to my Vonage visual voicemail, I got a message when they arrived at Heathrow. We were out and about for the day at this point. Thanks to my Skype to Go number, I was able to call Dahlia on her U.S. cellphone and reach her at Heathrow and make arrangements for them to meet us at our flat. We ate quickly and the took a 4 hour, whirlwind tour of London. We started at Trafalgar Square, walked to Buckingham Palace, through the park to the Tube to Westminster, quick look at Parliament, Big Ben, the London Eye and Westminster Abbey and then back north to Hampstead, via Belsize Park (Tube problems...) What a day!!

Angels in the Cemetery

After 3 months of missing my Capresso Coffee Maker, I finally figured out a way to make really, really good expresso at home!! (Actually, I learned of this contraption while staying at Andrea and Steve's in Israel). Yesterday I decided that I could no longer live without Expresso, so I went to my favorite little kitchen store in West Hampstead and purchased a Bialetti stove top coffee maker. I do not understand how anyone drinks drip coffee. This little contraption only cost 40 GBP. It is low-tech, easy to use, easy to clean and produces a perfect cup of expresso everytime. All I need now is a milk frother (mine broke and they were out at the kitchen store) and my mornings will be complete.

Wimbeldon 2010

Sloan Stephens (US) at Wimbeldon.

I met Deb and Joe at Wimbeldon on Thursday. We watched this match with Sloan Stephens, a young, American tennis player. We paid 16 GBP to enter and were able to watch any of the matches, except center court. Since I am not an avid tennis fan, this was perfect. I loved how up close and personal the experience was. I thought I would be bored, but it was really intriguing to watch and I found myself really engaged in the game. After Sloan lost, we watched a men's doubles game and then on the way out, stumbled on Anna Kournikova and Martina Hingis practicing. We watched for a bit and then headed home.

Israel

It is going to take some time for me to sit down and "blog Israel", but I hate being so behind on my blogging, so for now, I will post this picture and say that we had a great trip. Much more to follow at some point. 

Jet Lag?

It is good to be "home" in London. It was very strange coming back here after the 2 weeks in Israel. We are all exhausted. 

A Spiritual Shopping Experience

www.fortnumandmason.com

Today I went shopping. You can actually over exert yourself shopping in this city. I walked into Fortnum and Mason (only my second stop on my list) and felt totally awed. I wandered around, slowly, gazing at all the amazing foodstuffs on the first floor, only to realize that there was an entire downstairs I had not been to and then 4 floors above filled with beautiful stuff. I only looked and I resisted the urge to buy the $25 tea, some special hand picked something and very fresh.

Julia in the 4th Grade Choir Concert

Julia's Fourth Grade Choir Concert

Family Fun Day at ACS

We went to Family Fun Day at ACS this weekend. We arrived and within 2 minutes, all three kids had found their friends and run off, not to be seen again until they needed tickets or money. I would say this is a strong indicator of a good adjustment in only 7 weeks here!!

Golder's Hill Park

Abigail, in true Abigail form, saw this statue and had to take off her shoes to try on the bronze flip flops. They did not fit her, which is probably a good thing or we might have been stuck at this statue for hours.

Golder's Hill Park

Abigail and I took advantage of a warm, sunny day to visit Golder's Hill Park last week. It is about a 7 minute walk from our flat. We had a great time people watching and got some ice-cream at the cafe.

Kenwood House

Gardens at Kenwood House

Deb and I went to Kenwood House in Hampstead today. It was a gorgeous, sunny day and the place is spectacular. (OK, I need to come up with some new and better adjectives, but for the sake of a quick blog entry, I will stick to the obvious.)

Chelsea Flower Show

Deb and I went to the Chelsea Flower Show last Friday. It was spectacular. This is on the way to the flower show. For more photos see: http://picasaweb.google.com/112382677728425837109/ChelseaFlowerShow#5478266637710550466

Today, I went to Kings Cross Station to pick up our train tickets to Edinburgh. I could not get seats when I purchased the tickets online and when I called, the woman said I could get seats when I pick up my tickets (or that is what I thought the woman said). I headed to the station, got my tickets from the machine and then patiently waited in the que to talk to the man behind the counter. I explained that I would like to get seats assigned. He explained that there were no seats on that train. This is going to be an interesting train ride. Let's hope we find seats together in the one car that has open seating the Friday before a bank holiday weekend!

Caps for Sale

Imagine this day

Today we had an opportunity to explore the city. I decided to take the kids on the Original Bus Tour: http://www.theoriginaltour.com/. This is one of those double decker open buses that tour the city. I thought it would be a good way for them to see many of the major tourist attractions without doing too much walking. We set out at 11 a.m. I left the house well prepared, or so I thought. I packed a back pack full of snacks and water bottles for all. I packed my camera. At some point, I thought to find the sunscreen, as it was a very sunny day. We got to the bus stop and I took out my camera to take a picture of the three kids sitting and waiting at the bus stop and, to my extreme disappointment, realized that I had not put the battery back in the camera after I had plugged it in to charge. There was no going back at this point, so I decided to let it go and blog the good old fashioned way - using words and no pictures. This is my attempt to do that.

We set out on the bus to the train. We took the subway from Finchley Road Station to Piccadilly Circus. From there, we walked to get tickets for the bus tour. The kind lady who sold us the tickets decided Abigail was small enough to pass for under age 4 and did not charge for her ticket. Bonus. We boarded the bus and took our seats upstairs in the sun. Of course, I never did find the sunscreen and left home without it. We rode the bus past many spectacular sights, including Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square.

Just past Trafalgar, we encountered a small, but vocal protest marching down the street. The kids were enthralled and wanted to get off and watch. We got off and followed the protesters who were chanting and waving flags. I believe the protestors were from the English Defence League, a group that protests against Muslim extremism. The groups name prompted Jacob to observe, "What do they have to protest about? Nobody discriminates against the English."

At this point, we were hungry, so we set off to find some lunch. We walked to the river bank near the London Eye and had some lunch. I am too ashamed to report on where we ate, but suffice it to say it was fast, cheap and the kids were happy.

We got back on the bus and circled around to see the London Bridge (yes, we sang) and the Tower of London. We then got off the bus at Victoria Station. By this time it was close to 4 p.m. If Andy was with us, this would have been the end of the tour and time to go home. Glutton for punishment that I am, we pressed on to Part 2 of our day. We headed to Westfield (yes, the mall, yes, the same Westfield as Old Orchard). There was a Big Dance event going on at the mall and I promised the girls I would take them. Sorry Jacob. For more on Big Dance2010 in London, check it out: http://www.bigdance2010.com/.

From Victoria Station, we headed to the mall. I did not check the weekend service disruptions and our journey ended up taking forever because the District/Circle Line that we needed to take was closed for some "planned work". We soldiered on and made it to the mall. I have no idea what time it was. We walked around. It is huge. We did some shopping. We watched two dance troupes. One was a Bollywood Dance Troupe. They were amazing and lots of fun. The other was an African Dance Troupe with African drummers, so even Jacob had some fun. This was the part that I needed my camera. I have never seen anything like these dancers and I think my kids will remember this for a long time. I cannot describe it with words.

At 8 p.m., we were hungry and tired. We had dinner at Yo Sushi: http://www.yosushi.com/, described as fast, fun and fresh Japanese food. It was.

Two trains and a bus later, we arrived home at 9:30 p.m. The kids passed out. London is one big, giant playground.

And a picture is indeed worth a thousand words. I promise, next time I will not leave home without a working camera!!!!

Footnote: Andy is out of town this weekend.

Minor Adjustment, Part 2

I did not pack much in the way of serving bowls and platters for entertaining. This is an appetizer of mango chutney, served in a small mixing bowl and a crunchy Indian thing (can't remember the name), served straight from the package. Very yummy. Ex-pat living is all about improvising.

Minor Adjustment

We do not have a water filter system on our sink and we do not have an ice maker. I spend some part of every day making ice. The freezer drawer is too small for more than 2 small trays of ice. As a family of 5, we go through 2 trays of ice a day. I wanted to document this for two reasons: first, to illustrate that life here in London is not all tea and scones and sight seeing. It is mundane and normal, as well as exciting, fun and new.  I also want to illustrate the minor adjustments that are part of ex-pat living. This is one of the many small compromises we make to be here in this amazing city. I have not used a Brita pitcher and made ice for many years. There is no room in our very small refrigerator for the Brita pitcher, so we are getting used to drinking water at room temperature, as there is an ice shortage. When in Rome.........
Oh, and one more thing: whoever invented this ice tray with the lid is a genius.

Royal Albert Hall

Julia says she feels like she is seeing lots of statues and she doesn't know what they mean. I know the feeling because I keep seeing sights, but do not know all the history, so I have to keep researching to find out what I am looking at. From the Royal Albert Hall website:

The Royal Albert Hall was built to fulfil the vision of Prince Albert (Queen Victoria's consort) of a 'Central Hall' that would be used to promote understanding and appreciation of the Arts and Sciences and would stand at the heart of the South Kensington estate, surrounded by museums and places of learning.The list of famous performers and world figures who have appeared at the Royal Albert Hall since it opened in 1871 is unrivalled. Wagner, Verdi and Elgar conducted the first UK performance of their own works on its concert platform, Rachmaninov played his own compositions and nearly every major classical solo artist and leading orchestra has performed at the Hall.

The list of popular music artists includes Frank Sinatra, Liza Minnelli, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, Oscar Peterson, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, Sting and Elton John and from a younger generation Jay Z, Kaiser Chiefs and the Killers.

Among leading world figures who have spoken at the Hall are Her Majesty The Queen, Sir Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela, His Holiness The Dalai Lama and former President of the United States of America, Bill Clinton.

Just a side note about London weather: we set out and it was a gorgeous, sunny day. By the time we were walking back to the tube after lunch, it was cloudy and cool. You really never know what you are going to get here, but coming from Chicago, I do not understand all the moaning about the weather here. It is really not too bad.

Picnic in Hyde Park

After watching the changing of the guard, we walked over to Hyde Park and had a picnic.