Bye Bye Visitors

My little bro and his gf left yesterday, and I was a little bummed. I really enjoyed having them here, and it was strange to see them off back to the US - it really hit me that I live here now. People will come and go, but I'll always be here for the foreseeable future. Hm.

Anyway, they were pretty tired by the end of their European adventures and were pretty happy to spend their last weekend in London just hanging around the flat. On Saturday morning, we decided to hit up Borough Market, a huge outdoor foodie heaven, and the kids had a great time ogling all the food on offer.

We stopped by a burger stand, and we feasted on absolutely delicious ostrich and wildebeest burgers for lunch. The kids bought a wild boar pie, and I picked up some peonies to take back to the flat. J also scored some yummy cheese and bread, and we all got a chance to sample all sorts of things at the market.

We finished the day off with a return visit to Jamie's Italian restaurant in Covent Garden, and I had completely forgotten that Manchester United would be playing Barcelona that night for the championship. There was a huge crowd of football fans in front of Covent Garden tube station, and they were drunk and jumping around and sloshing beer all over the place. The police eventually showed up with their paddy wagons to take the overly excited fans away while we looked on with amusement.

Dinner was great, and I felt a bit guilty about J since I never want to go out to eat whereas J is a complete foodie. Note to self: Take J out more often.

Sunday was the kids' last day here, and we decided to spend the morning walking around Regent's Park. The weather was perfect if a bit breezy, and I had packed some bread for the kids to feed the birds.

I swear, everytime I go to the park, I see a new kind of bird I hadn't seen before! Too bad the swans were nowhere in sight, but it was still a lot of fun cruising the park. I usually run through it, so it was nice just strolling around the lake without gasping for breath.

  

It really was great having them here, and I hope they decide to visit us again. *Hint hint*

Moorfield Eye Hospital

People at the office have been asking me all week whether I have pinkeye. My right eye has been all red and evil-looking since Monday morning, and this has raised speculation that someone may have farted in my pillow. Apparently, that's what grown ass lawyers believe in terms of how you contract pinkeye. I suppose it could be possible...

Unfortunately for me, it's not pinkeye (or farteye, as I've taken to calling it). Instead, I have contact lens induced corneal infiltrates. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?

I have a love-hate relationship with my eyes, and the love in me convinced me to go to a corneal specialist today to see what's going on in regards to the whole seeing thing. A colleague of J's recommended Moorfield Eye Hospital in the city, so I called on Monday to get an appointment asap. A harassed sounding woman transferred me to another line once I mentioned that I was privately insured, and a much nicer sounding lady came on the line and scheduled an appointment for me for Wednesday and sent me a very helpful map. It turns out that if I was going through NHS (public), I would have had to go to a GP first and get a referral to an opthalmologist, but since I have private insurance, I was able to see a corneal specialist straightaway and bypass the GP and opthalmologist altogether. Public healthcare - 0, private insurance - 1.

Once I arrived at Old Street station, I followed the green line to the hospital.  Isn't that great? There's an actual green line leading from the tube station to the eye hospital! Very yellow brick road of them. Anyway, I got poked and prodded by an optometrist and the corneal specialist, and they assured me I wasn't going to need a glass eye or anything, but that I'd have to use eyedrops hourly and lay off the contact lens for at least a month. Crap.

A funny note: my cornea guy couldn't figure out where I was from. I told him I was from the US, and he asked which state, to which I replied California, of course. Then he said that I don't sound American. Whaaa??? What does an American sound like anyway? Because this is it, folks.

In any case, he sent me on my merry way with a prescription for drops and ointments and the like, and I went to the main hospital facility to visit the pharmacy there. Get this, they even have a separate pharmacy and cashier for the private patients! What's up with all the segregation, people?! In any case, I didn't have to wait long, and everyone was very nice and efficient.

I'm fine eye-wise, and I have an appointment to return in two weeks to make sure that my cornea is healing nicely and until then, I will be attempting to rock my Coke bottle eyeglasses. I suppose things could be worse - I could have an eye patch. But then I'd get a parrot and a wooden leg and look totally badass. Damn.

The London Black Taxi

I think one of the most iconic images of London is the black taxi. My dad was in London many, many years ago, and it was the main things he remembered about this city. Black cabs are usually just that, black cabs. But nowadays, you'll see some that are different colors or with patterns or an ad on the side. But mostly, they look like this...

But if you're very, very lucky, you can hail a real, true to life Black Taxi that's a wee bit different...

That's right, it's a black taxi Ferrari! My friend took this picture near Oxford Street, so if you're in need of a very fancy cab ride somewhere, keep your eyes peeled.

A Tourist in London

Yesterday was the first day we tagged along with my little bro and his gf on their travels around London in their attempt to see pretty much everything.

The first place we visited was the British Museum, which currently has a Australian landscape set in its front court. The kids especially enjoyed the Asian exhibit, and J and I hadn't seen it either so it was new for all of us.



We took a quick taxi ride to the National Gallery with a very amusing driver. He asked where we were from and I explained to him that we lived in London and our guests were visiting us from LA. He then informed me that he watched Real Housewives of Orange County and Jersey Shore quite regularly. We all groaned in unison, and we had a good chuckle over our American reality TV embarrassments. But I had a chance to tease him in turn for The Only Way is Essex and Made in Chelsea and Geordie Shore - trust me, you don't want to know. It's true what they say about London taxi drivers - they're the best in the world.

I was amazed when we arrived at Trafalgar Square - it was packed! I had never seen the square so full of people, and we quickly beat a hasty retreat into the National Gallery where we wandered about for an hour.


Our next destination was Covent Garden, where we caught a quick street performance and wandered in the Apple Market for a while.


We then headed to Jamie's Italian for a quick dinner. The food was great and well priced - you haven't had pasta until you've had homemade pasta! We had a selection of desserts - walnut and espresso tart, tiramisu and a chocolate brownie. The tiramisu beat all, hands down. I'm proud to say that I picked it. =)

Full of delicious food, we then took another taxi to the Lyceum Theatre for an evening showing of The Lion King. The theatre was absolutely beautiful and the seats very comfortable, and I had heard excellent word-of-mouth about the show so we were quite excited. The production was absolutely amazing, probably the best I had ever seen, but the singing was a bit sub-par. Although the singing was a bit disappointing, the production and some of the actors were fantastic enough to make up for it.

We were pretty tired by the end of the night, and we headed home. I'd forgotten how exhausting it can be to be a tourist in London. All of the museums have so much to look at, and navigating London streets can get a bit confusing. I was really really glad to see my front door that night.

What is America?

McDonald's is currently running an ad campaign here in the UK advertising the "Great Taste of America" featuring five different American cities. They've covered Miami and Chicago - I'm still waiting for LA.

The commercials show the following:

• American footballers
• The cast of Baywatch
• Monster trucks
• A marching band
• Showgirls
• A drop top convertible with some major hydraulics

So is this what my home country boils down to?

Oh, and another thing Americans are famous for? Obesity. I think it's a bit of the pot calling the kettle black since the UK is the fattest country in Europe. Their defense? At least we're not as fat as the Americans. Touche.

I think I also thoroughly confused a South African girl in my office when I told her I didn't like "frankfurters." She sputtered, "But Americans love hot dogs!" To be honest, I don't think she believes that I don't like frankies.

Visitors!

J and I are expecting our first official visitors to London! My younger brother and his girlfriend are coming for a two week visit, and we're picking them up from Heathrow airport today.

I've been busy getting the flat ready for their arrival, and the extra linens have been washed and the fridge and pantry fully stocked. I've also been thinking about all the things I have to tell them to make their visit easier, and it made me realize all the things I do as a matter of course, which once were struggles for me when I first arrived. Like using my microwave and oven. Like remembering which tube lines went where. Like how to get a mobile phone. Simple things like that.

I suppose living in London somehow became living in London like dealing with groceries and buying light bulbs, and I haven't been as gung-ho about seeing all the sights as I once was when I first landed. This is the perfect occasion for me to put on my tourist hat again and see some of the places I've been putting off. I'm ashamed to say, but I still haven't been to the London Eye, the Tate Modern, St. Paul's Cathedral, and a bunch of other places I'm sure. So if you see me out there with my camera glued to my face, remember, I live here, I'm just not acting like it. =)

Another Week, Another Office

So I've been at my new job for about a week now, and things are looking pretty good. It's a lot different from my previous stint in Canary Wharf and mostly in good ways.

First, the office is in Holborn, my old stomping grounds, so nothing is too unfamiliar and I know where the closest Starbucks, M&S and Pret are located so I'm all set in terms of life's essentials. Second, the office is pretty relaxed in terms of when you need to be in the office so I go in when I like and leave when I like so long as I do a requisite number of hours each week. Sweet! Third, the office is on a pretty busy street, and we're only one floor up and I sit by a window that actually opens! It's really relaxing doing work with a breeze on my back and street sounds floating up. At my old place, I felt like I was in an air-conditioned cocoon on the 25th floor of a skyscraper where the plush carpet absorbed all the sound in the universe, it seemed like.

There are some bad things, but they're very few and far in between. One is that I have to work at least 40 hours a week, and 60 hours are encouraged. Yeah, right, like that's going to happen. Second, I have to take the Central line, which is pretty much the hottest Tube line ever. It's only saving grace is that it's not as packed as the Jubilee, and I always have the option of taking a different route with J (albeit a lot longer) if I really can't face the Central line another day. J really enjoys it when this happens since we get to hold hands and walk to work together. I find it all very amusing when we're strolling along in our corporate attire and holding hands like some teenage couple.

The most significant difference about this new job is the variety of people. Everyone is a qualified lawyer, but they're qualified either in the US or the Commonwealth, which includes the UK, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The room I'm in has a sprinkling of each, and you'd be amazed at the different accents one gets to hear in a day. The one I'm most unfamiliar with is the South African accent - I can't even begin to describe it. I sit next to a Brit who's originally from Sweden, and I near about fell out of my chair laughing when he called me a "jive turkey." He's also attempting to teach me to speak like a proper Eastender, but I somehow doubt it's going to take.

All in all, not bad. Not bad at all.

Lakes SuperTours

I think I may have pushed J too hard on Saturday hiking up Wansfell Pike since his ankle was giving him some trouble when we laced up on Sunday morning for another full day of hiking. Rather than give J a permanent limp (which I think would be rather dashing) we booked ourselves on a minibus tour of the lakes.

Unfortunately, the tour wasn't due to start for another two hours, so we decided that J's ankle could handle a teeny tiny hike up Orrest Head in Windermere. It was a really easy twenty minute hike for a great view - they don't call it the best view for the least effort for nothing! I guess J's ankle wasn't hurting too bad because he was acting the fool while we were up there!

We hung out for a bit, but then we eventually ambled back down to Windermere and headed for a quick lunch at Francine's, a local restaurant that turned out to have the best seafood spaghetti ever!

After lunch, we met up with our tour group, which included a group of 3 girls from India and another group of 3 girls from Denmark, and we all piled in for a general overview of the Lake District. I can't even remember all the towns we visited but a few stick out...

Keswick had a super pretty pier, and we took a boat cruise to Ashness Bridge in Borrowdale. J didn't enjoy the boat ride so much since the lake was pretty much level with the boat, and lots of passengers got the occasional splash of lake water in their face.


We met up with the minibus again, and we continued our whirlwind tour to Grasmere, Ullswater, Buttermere. It all went by in a flash, and I just remember that you could get the best ice cream in the world in Buttermere made by a grumpy farmer, and there's a stone circle that's even older than Stonehenge called Castlerigg. They don't know what this one is for either, but J suspects that it was just a natural bbq pit. They also have a little area set aside called "sanctuary" - J decided to seek refuge. He blends so well!


All in all, it was a pretty good overview of the Lake District as a whole, and it gave us a better idea of where to go on our next trip to the Lake District. That's right, J - keep your hiking boots on!

Ambleside to Wansfell Pike

We woke up Saturday morning bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready for the first real serious hike of our trip. After we fueled up with a big breakfast at the Lodge, we hiked the two miles into Bowness to catch a boat to Ambleside, which is on the north side of the lake. The boat docked in Waterhead, a small town a mile or so south of Ambleside itself, and we stopped by the information center to pick up a walking map for the area.

Ambleside is a base for lots of hikers, and there's a lot of really nice walks in the area but we finally decided to walk up to Stock Ghyll Force and then up to Wansfell Pike. By the way, I ought to mention that they have their own lingo up in these parts that's left over from the days of the Viking raids. Waterfalls are called "forces" and mountains are called "fells" and so on and so forth.

The walk up to Stock Ghyll Force was quite nice and easy, but the past season had been a dry one so the waterfall wasn't that impressive.

We were still pumped up and not at all tired, so we continued our ascent toward Wansfell Pike, which definitely took us off the beaten path. We eventually found a crumbly stone staircase leading up to the Pike, which went on forever.

Every so often, we turned around to see the view as we climbed higher and higher. Well, I did anyway. J was just grumpy and told me to stop taking his picture while he doggedly tackled the stairs.

After ascending 1500 ft or so, we finally reached the top! And it was totally worth it - the view of Windermere was amazing! I don't know why, but the view seemed even better because we had worked so hard to earn it. J compared it to spending an hour on the StairMaster. Heehee.

We were finally spent, but now we had to negotiate our way down into town. Put two city slickers like us in the middle of nowhere with a map in our hands, and trouble was bound to ensue.

We somehow got off the permissive path, and we ended up scrambling over a stone fence. I went first, and I came face to face with a bunch of cows and sheep who had hurried over to investigate. They weren't fazed at all to see me, and I ended up scrambling back up over the stone fence as the cows continued to come closer and closer. J near about died laughing when he saw me hurdling back over the fence, and I refused to cross the farm until another group of people (also lost, I presume) joined us and we crossed the field as a group.

We eventually found our way back into town and caught a boat back to Bowness. We were both pretty exhausted so we took a cab back to the lodge for a quick clean-up in preparation for our very fancy 5 course dinner. Let's just say that we definitely earned our dinner that day.

The Lake District

I've been wanting to go the Lake District in Cumbria almost since the moment that I landed in the UK. It's a national park in northwest England that's renowned for its natural beauty, and I've been itching to hike one of its fells for quite some time.

Thanks to the royal wedding, we got a four day weekend and made a last minute booking to stay at the Gilpin Lodge in Bowness, which is a town in the southwestern part of the Lake District. After a 3 1/2 hour train ride there with a change at Preston station, the train pulled into Windermere, which is the "gateway" into the Lake District, since it's pretty much the only town with a rail station (with the exception of Penrith). Most people end up going a mile south to Bowness, which is a much more happening town. Well, as happening as countryside towns get, anyway.

Once we exited the train station, we hailed a cab to Gilpin Lodge, which actually wasn't in Bowness, but turned out to be about 1-2 miles southwest of Bowness. The hotel is super-posh, which explains why it still had rooms available so last minute, and its set far away from the crowds for a true countryside experience. As nice as it is to enjoy being in the country in absolute peace and quiet, it also means that you either have to take a cab into town or take a 45 minute hike.

Since we had been sitting on a train all day, we opted for the hike into town. The thing is, it was an actual hike! We walked along the road for a while, and then we ended up criss-crossing over several dirt paths and public footpaths through pastureland.

The countryside in Cumbria is filled with slate walls that were put up in the 18th century as part of an enclosure scheme, whereby the government permitted farmers to claim land for their own, but only if they enclosed their open farms. The farmers got busy building fences with the rocks they found laying around everywhere. Two hundred years later, the stone walls are still standing - color me impressed!

Anyway, we got to see all the things that we never see in London such as loads and loads of sheep, and since it's still spring, we saw lots of baby sheep!

At one point, we were crossing a farm when we heard a cow mooing quite vigorously, and we stopped to see what all the noise was all about. And then a baby cow popped out of her bottom. Yeah, we literally saw a calf being born during our walk into town. Crazy!

The black and white midwife cow (I'm guessing here) inspected the baby calf and then ran back to the rest of the herd to spread the news. I'm not joking - cows are much smarter than I thought they were. Anyway, we saw the calf dry and walking later on in the afternoon when we walked back to the hotel. It still looked a bit confused, but it was up and wobbling around.

Here's another unbelievable cow story for you bovine fans. I was chased by one when we were crossing through a farm.

I found out later that cows do this because they associate people with food, and they think you're nice and going to give them something yummy to eat, but it was not fun being eyed by a half-ton animal you were thinking of eating for dinner.

All's well that ends well, but a couple that was behind us saw the cows following me, and they just turned back to the way they came rather than face these bold as brass bovines.

Once we made it into town, we set about buying some proper hiking shoes and woolen socks to go with. I was advised by an acquaintance who visits the Lake District quite a bit that a true hiker would always have red woolen socks and a walking stick, but alas, I ended up with hot pink socks and no stick. Close, but no cigar.