playing tour guide

My friend Clare who is studying in Galway, Ireland this semester came to visit this weekend, so I got the chance to test my tour guide skills for the first time. Because she was only here for a few days, we decided to hit all the big London to-dos and I also managed to show her some of my favorite spots. She arrived Saturday morning and we headed to Portobello Road, which was packed because it was an absolutely gorgeous, sunny day. Even though I had already been, I still found antiques that made me want to furnish an entire house and endless pieces of vintage jewelry to gawk at. I’ve wanted a long, gold necklace for a while and finally found a linked one that is a slightly ghetto-fabulous but I’m still in love with it. After Portobello we went to Buckingham Palace then walked along Hyde Park to Harrods. They had English bulldog puppies in the pet kingdom this time that were so cute but made me really miss my dogs. I had to tear myself away from staring at them so we could make our way back to our neighborhood where Lydia, Alex and I had planned a pub crawl to some of our favorite places.

Buckingham Palace

On Sunday Clare and I went to Brick Lane to peruse the pop-up vintage stands and grab some Indian food. Clare was skeptical but willing to try it and I am happy to report that she enjoyed her lamb tikka masala. We caught the bus to Trafalgar Square (a Russian festival barred Clare from really seeing it) to meet up with Lydia and go through the National Gallery where we saw Van Gough, Rembrandt, Monet, Manet and Renoir. The museum is huge and eventually we got tired of seeing countless depictions of every major event in Jesus’ life. It was time for coffee and a cocktail. We took Clare to Freud where they make delicious specialty drinks before heading home for an early night.

whoopie pies on Brick Lane [photo courtesy of Clare]

I took Clare to Giant Robot, a retro-inspired restaurant that serves breakfast all day on the weekends, for an omelet before we went to Westminster to see the abbey, Big Ben, Parliament and the London Eye. After seeing those tourist attractions, Clare wanted to grab frozen yogurt, a Los Angeles diet staple, because they don’t have it in Galway. It was great having Clare here; I had fun showing her London and now I have the tour guide act down for when Katy and Jen visit. I’m off to Amsterdam tomorrow!

iconic London: telephone booth, double decker bus and Big Ben [photo courtesy of Clare]             

Wanderlust Wednesday: Design Museum

Tuesday was Pancake Day in London (yes, I realize this post is about Wednesday but I thought I would squeeze it in) and to celebrate there are a bunch of pancake races across the city. People form teams and pay (the money all goes to charity) to enter the race, which is basically a relay passing a skillet/pancake between teammates without dropping the flapjack. We went to one just off Brick Lane and the teams each dressed up in crazy costumes. One team wore Queen Elizabeth II masks, which was quite hilarious after the race when the "Queen" was spotted smoking a cigarette. We stood in a lengthy line for what turned out to be mediocre crepes and then headed back for class.

It was just Lydia and me for Wanderlust this week and our destination was the Design Museum. On top of Google Maps giving us a very roundabout route it was a very rainy, windy day, but once we were safe in the bright design sanctuary things began to look up. The first exhibition focused on designer Terence Conran’s life and career; he designed everything from fabrics and teakettles to restaurants and chairs. His work is absolutely beautiful for its simplicity. I like simple because you can never go wrong with simple (and Conran agrees with me in the quote below). The other exhibition showcased the nominees for the museum’s design of the year award. Every aspect of design was represented: clothes, cars, fonts, iPad apps, notebooks, buildings and other smart inventions (like a massive circular structure that blows through the wind to set off landmines). I loved looked at everything because it was all so smart and showed that good design and innovation can always improve the world.

 

day tripping

The journalism kids were asked to join the USC communication and public relations students on a day trip to Oxford and Blenheim Palace. This invitation was quite the coincidence because Lydia, Alex and I had planned on taking the train out to Oxford this weekend anyway. Joining the other Annenberg kids was really nice because it saved us having to buy train tickets and tour admissions.

Christ Church

Once we arrived in Oxford we toured Christ Church, which is one of the many colleges that is part of the university. The different colleges have nothing to do with academics, they are a collection of buildings where a certain number of students eat, sleep and study. The Great Hall in the Harry Potter movies was filmed in Christ Church’s dining room and we got to go inside. Obviously it looked a little different than it does in the films (there are portraits of famous graduates along the walls), but it was really cool to see. They did a lot of Harry Potter filming in Oxford—we saw the library and infirmary—probably because of how beautiful the architecture and all the limestone buildings are. After a somewhat questionable lunch we walked through the Covered Market, but we weren’t that impressed because all of the amazing London markets have spoiled us.

The Great Hall

Our next stop was Blenheim Palace, which is where the Duke of Marlborough lives and Winston Churchill was born. Churchill spent a lot of time with his grandparents there, but never inherited the Duke title because his father was the second born son so the estate went to Churchill’s uncle. We saw the room where he was born, drawing rooms and staterooms, and we also walked through the endless fields where Alex chased sheep. The huge estate also has gardens—one actually named the Secret Garden—with perfectly manicured grass and hedges. The Palace is massive, made out of yellow-orange limestone and intricately designed inside with beautiful furnishings filling each room. I won’t go into detail about the history behind the estate, but it was really interesting to learn about it and hear stories about all the family members. It was a great day trip and I hope we get invited to go on more!

Blenheim Palace Gardens

Wanderlust Wednesday: Drink, Shop & Do

Our midweek excursion was not as packed with activity as previous Wednesdays, but we still found a cute place to enjoy a spot of tea near King’s Cross. We have wanted to go to high tea for awhile and during Lydia’s search for a suitable place she found Drink, Shop & Do. The café/bar/shop/craft center serves a modern take on the traditional afternoon tea during the day and the space is furnished with vintage furniture, tea pots and posters that are all for sale. Paper hearts hang from the ceiling (unsure if these were left over from the recent holiday or if they are a permanent decoration), a giant, bright-colored camera serves as a wall decal and customers play Scrabble while they nibble on crust-less sandwiches.

Lydia and Alex shared afternoon tea with a kick, which meant they got tiers of sandwiches, pastries and sweets with tea and a cocktail. I wasn’t hungry enough to tackle that so I ordered earl gray and lemon cake. It was delicious; the cake was dense and moist and the tea was the perfect warm compliment. Even though it is not a place for a traditional English tea experience, I was happy we stumbled upon this gem.

remnants of snow and Monopoly pieces

I was sans camera all weekend because I dropped it off at a repair shop and they have yet to fix it, so you will have to excuse my barren posts for now. On Friday Lydia and I strolled through Kensington Gardens while munching on baguette sandwiches. There was still snow on the grassy areas, which we were convinced made the park 10 degrees colder, and the Princess Diana Memorial Playground that is Peter Pan themed was closed because of “slick conditions.” We walked by a pond swarming with birds—swans, geese, pigeons and seagulls—and it was terrifying. People were feeding them bread despite the risk of being touched, pooped on or bitten; and at one point they started circling overhead a la “The Birds” so we got out of there really quick. We were frozen, so after meeting up with Kristen and Susan we ducked into a pub to warm up. We should have learned our lesson from Hampstead Heath and put off trying to spend lots of time in parks until it warms up (it has been around 30-35 degrees recently).

Lydia’s friend and her roommate came in late Friday night and they wanted to do stuff we’ve already done all day Saturday, so I opted to go off on my own to do something new. I went to the Tate Britain and weaved my way through all the classic, British art. I prefer the Tate Modern because it has more diverse work and artists, while the Britain was a lot of aristocratic portraits that got slightly repetitive. I was in there for quite awhile before I decided to head home, but I want to go back and see the Picasso exhibition they are currently installing. I took a different route back to the bus stop and saw that something was being filmed. It seemed big because they had the entire street blocked off and there were tons of people working on the set. I wanted to ask someone what it was, but thought I should keep my cool instead.      

I’m in a visual photography class here and our professor gives us a theme each week that we have to focus our pictures on. This week our assignment was sports and because I am not going to gain field access to an Arsenal game I decided to loosely interpret sports to include all games, board games to be more exact. There is a pub near our flat called Old China Hand, whose tagline is “not an ordinary pub,” where they have tons of board games to play while you sip on a pint. Kristen who is also in the class came with me to play Monopoly (it was the British version, so everything was in pounds and we recognized a lot of the properties from around London) and take pictures (Susan let me borrow her camera). I’ve never taken a photography class before and even though I don’t think my photos are particularly amazing I am really enjoying the class so far. Lydia’s friend is studying in Florence where they have absolutely no Mexican food (they don’t even sell tortillas in the grocery stores), so they were dying to go to Chipotle. Because we have all been deprived of burrito bowls we joined them for dinner there. While we are on the subject, I am doing my print project on Mexican food—everything from the best authentic restaurants to comparing it to the other ethnic foods that are prevalent here. This is the perfect excuse to try tons of different places and eat tons of (hopefully) delicious food. After dinner we went to LAB (London Academy of Bartenders) for fancy, yummy cocktails before heading back to Clerkenwell. Having visitors has made me really excited to show my friends around when they come (Clare is coming at the end of the month and Katy is coming in March).  

Wanderlust Wednesday: Hampstead Heath

We found what seemed to be the last of the snow when we walked through Hampstead Heath today. It is a massive park that people say makes you feel like you’ve left the city, and apparently there are deer and other wildlife in the park, but we didn’t see any while we were there. The snow was mostly frozen over and icy, so our walk was more like trying to stay vertical in traction-less shoes. We only explored a small area of the park, but we want to go back when it is warmer armed with a picnic. It is supposed to snow again at the end of this week, so we are all crossing our fingers for fresh flakes. The button on my camera broke so unfortunately I do not have any pictures, but you’ll have to trust me that the park looked beautiful in the snow.

The Internet has not been working at our flat for the past couple of days, which is highly inconvenient when no one has smart phones to look up directions. On the other hand, it is nice to be unplugged and rely on paper maps rather than Google and books instead of Netflix for a little while, but not being connected is starting to ware on us. We visited our friends in another flat to get wireless, so that’s how I’m able to post this, but hopefully all will be fixed tomorrow.                       

beer.

One of my favorite things about being here is going to the pubs. They provide a relaxed, social setting where you can get food and drink and stay as long as you want without irritated waitresses waiting to turn the table staring at you. I realize this isn’t unique in Europe, but it is quite different than the U.S. I would say pubs are equivalent to coffee shops in the States.

They take beer very seriously here. Pints are relatively expensive, so people carefully choose which beer they want to invest in and there are never half-empty glasses left on the bar. I’ve tried a few different types of beer/ale and really like wheat beer for its fruity and refreshing taste. I drank Blue Moon and Hoegaarden at home before, but my favorite so far has been Vedett Extra White. I chose it at one of our local pubs, The Crown Tavern, and now I look for it every time we go out for a pint. Most of the pubs offer hard cider too, which is sweet and crisp, and some have strawberry beer, which is actually more like juice, but I still prefer my lovely Vedett.

Last night we met up with a guy who shares a mutual friend with Lydia at a nice pub—no pictures on the menu—near Russell Square. Alex spotted Delirium, the Belgian beer that is supposed to be the best in the world, for sale in the bottle, so of course I had to get it. It is very strong (above 8 percent alcohol) and yummy, but I wouldn’t say it is the best beer in the world. I have yet to try Guinness, but I think I’ll wait until St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin to tackle that one.

snowy Sunday

It snowed Saturday night, so we frolicked and went for a walk in the white stuff. I love the snow because it can make even the quaintest of places look more beautiful and serene. It has been freezing here, so I was glad we got a little reward for enduring the chilly weather. Even though we welcomed the snow, it did cause us some problems on Sunday when we went on a day tour of Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Bath.

When we got to Windsor the guards informed our tour guide that they were not doing tours today because someone had already gotten hurt from slipping on the palace grounds. Luckily Windsor is only a 45-minute train ride from London, so we will be back. We spent our time in the little town drinking hot cocoa and tea in a little restaurant called The Crooked House of Windsor.

Windsor Castle 

Crooked House 

Interesting side note: when we first got on the bus the tour guide said she would be doing the entire tour in both English and Japanese. It was hilarious to see an old, British lady speaking Japanese and you could definitely still hear a British accent when she spoke.

After the fail at Windsor, we went to Stonehenge, which I really enjoyed because it is such an iconic piece of not only English, but human history. That stop was pretty quick because there is nothing but vast, green plains and sheep surrounding the site. So we took a few pictures, walked around for a bit and then jumped back on the bus. The English countryside is gorgeous, I would love to live in one of the tiny villages we drove through—or at least stay in a bed in breakfast for a long weekend.

Our last stop for the day was Bath, where the Romans build a bathhouse after they found a natural, hot spring. They warned us not to touch the water, even though the Romans and later monarchs thought it had healing powers. It was steaming, green, and had rust and other foreign substances floating in it, so you didn’t have to tell me twice not to touch the untreated H20. Lydia did stick a finger in the Great Bath, and although she is showing no signs of illness now, she might have contracted an ancient disease. After seeing the baths we were starving, so we walked around in search of a pub. Delirious from hunger, we settled in at a place with mysteriously low food prices, Mexican food and pictures on the menu (a telltale sign of an inauthentic pub). Too hungry to heed the warning signs we ordered food that made our stomachs hurt the whole ride home. We pledged never to go to a pub with a picture menu again. Even though Windsor was closed, I had a great time and was happy to get out of the city for the day. We probably won’t do another day tour through a company again, but will travel to Oxford on our own sometime while we’re here.

the Great Bath

rebel

magic, markets and a very old pub

On our way to Camden Market we stopped at King’s Cross Station to see platform 9 ¾ (if you aren’t a fan: it’s the magical platform from Harry Potter where the Hogwarts Express comes to take everyone to wizardry school). I’m not a super big Harry Potter fan, but the station is mentioned in the books and they filmed parts of the movies there so it was fun to see. Being in the station also made me excited to take the train—at least part of the way—to Dublin for St. Patrick’s Day. The flights going to Ireland that weekend are outrageously expensive now, so I booked a rail/sail package that is a train from London to Holyhead and then a ferry from Holyhead to Dublin. I’m going to spend an entire day traveling, but it’s going to be a great way to see the English countryside.

 

Anyways, we took the tube from King’s Cross to Camden where we wandered through various markets glancing at mostly chotchkies and street food. Some of the stores have giant shoes, dragons or women decorating their building; and the area has a very punk, alternative vibe mixed with some cheesiness for all the tourists. We had already been in Camden for the pub crawl and decided we liked the scene better at night. After a late lunch, we went to a pub called the Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, which was rebuilt in 1667 after the London fire. The underground level has low ceilings and short doorways joining small pockets filled with tables and smiling businessmen enjoying a pint—or two—after work. It is one of my favorite pubs that we have been to so far and I can’t wait to go back again sometime.

Camden Town

We are expecting snow tonight and tomorrow, so I’m crossing my fingers that it sticks and we can build a snowman or at least throw a few snowballs. I wonder if they have snow days at British universities…     

Wanderlust Wednesday: London Dungeon & Harrods

I was somehow convinced to go to the London Dungeon, a tourist trap that plays on gruesome stories from London’s past (i.e. Jack the Ripper and Bloody Mary). Basically you are shuffled from one room to the next where actors or rides attempt to scare you. I don’t particularly like being scared and have a hard time understanding why people pay to cover their eyes through entire movies only to have nightmares for the next month or to get chased around by a bloody man with a chainsaw at Knott’s Scary Farm. It turned out I was more scared imagining and anticipating it than by the actual experience. In other words: don’t go.

After the Dungeon, we took the tube to Knightsbridge to walk through Harrods. Even though I had already been with my mom I wanted to go again because the store is so massive I only saw a fraction of it the first time. And I did get to see stuff I hadn’t seen before like the furniture, electronics, toys and pet kingdom. Alex, Lydia and I have been throwing around the idea of getting some sort of pet for our flat and were leaning toward a hamster. Turns out Harrods sells the little rodents for just 10 pounds (probably one of the cheapest things in the store). Unfortunately, we overheard the salesman saying a lot of international students come in wanting to buy one, but they only sell them to people who plan on living in the UK for at least three years. Lame.

Kate Middleton Barbie

Alex, Lydia and I went to The Dovetail, a pub the serves Belgium beer near our flat, this week and all really liked it. We plan to go back when they are serving Delirium, which is supposedly the best beer in the world and the one we wanted to try. Alex wants to try it because he has actually heard of it, while I want to try it because it has pink elephants on the label. While we are on the subject, I do want to talk about beer at some point, but it will have to be the star of its own post later this week.