Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park

I think three words do the trick to describe the Winter Wonderland: Crowded and Delicious and Strange.

The crowded part:

A German funhouse that played a variety of strange tunes with lots of blinking lights. To state the obvious.

Wanna ride in a flinging double decker bus?

Almost big enough to give the London Eye a run for its money.

 And the delicious part...

Gingerbread, anyone?

Turns out you can candy just about anything.

J opted for the candied cashews. Yum.

First time J had chestnuts. J didn't like them. I did.

The Downright Strange part:

A blow up nightclub with bouncers and everything.

An ornery tree that told bad jokes and sang songs.

A leftover Halloween funhouse? Wait, whaaa?

 

Cultural Exchange

I had a little burst of pride today when one of the UK lawyers got up from their desk this afternoon and announced to our group that it was time for a "froyo" break. Yes, the conversion has begun... Although, it seems the conversion has been going on for a while already.

For instance, I wasn't aware that all the little grey squirrels that I see in the park everywhere are much reviled as American squirrels that had the gall to chase away the native British red squirrel into oblivion. I have to admit, I have yet to see any little red critters about. And apparently, the Americans' monomania for turkey as traditional holiday fare has carried over into the Brits adopting turkey as the meat du jour for Christmas dinner. But I refuse to admit any blame for that, we never said that they had to abandon the goose (A Christmas Carol, anyone?) for our much less attractive poultry.

At attention and ready to fight!

Preoccupied by nut. Almost too easy.

v.

Other things I've learned today:
Irn Bru (pronounced Iron Brew) is the national drink of Scotland with very amusing adverts
You can get pretty much anything deep fried in Scotland, although they were pretty disgusted when I told them about the deep fried Twinkies you can get in county fairs all across America
Cinnamon buns haven't really taken off here but they know and love brownies
There are wallabies in the UK
There is only one private university in all of the UK, but it's only popular with the foreign set
Blackadder and Forty Tower are apparently must-sees
They've heard of Jon Stewart, but not Stephen Colbert so much
Don't be surprised if you see a fox in the streets of the City

Wait, was it a left or right turn? Damn, I knew I should've brought my London A to Z.

I'm telling you, I learn a million new things every day. And I try to teach a few things about our culture too. For instance, I introduced them to Conan O'Brien's Triumph the Insult Comic Dog (Star Wars Premiere, it's a must click on YouTube). America, I hope to do you proud.

Back to Work

It's been a bit quiet on the blog since I started working on Monday. Nothing serious, just a short placement at a US law firm as a contract lawyer. It's dry work, and the funnest part is hanging out with the other contract lawyers, two US qualifieds (Boston, Chicago), and three UK qualifieds (Polish, Scottish, English). We're all in one room for eight hours a day, and although we're plugging away at our work faithfully despite the utter lack of supervision, we still find loads of time to swap stories about our different cultures and getting a big kick out of the differences.

We got into a conversation about pronunciation today, and we were all laughing at each other by the end of it.

OREGANO:
US: o-REH-gano
UK: o-re-GAH-no

CAPILLARIES:
US: CAP-ill aries
UK: ca-PILL-aries

Trust me, the UK way of saying these words is weird and strangely hilarious. Also, frozen yogurt doesn't seem to have taken off yet in the UK, and two of them had never tasted it before encountering the frozen yogurt machine in the lobby's canteen. They couldn't stop laughing when I told them that it was called "froyo" for short.

I think the word "hella" threw them for a loop too, and they were completely unaware that there's different ways of saying fizzy drink in the US depending on what region you're in: East/ West: soda, Midwest: pop, South: coke (then you get to specify what kind).

Other questions that were asked today:
What is a "punter"? Varies, but it can mean a sports fan.
Why do the Brits like to talk about the weather so much? There's just so much of it.
How do the Scots feel about the film Braveheart? A good film, but not at all historically accurate.
Where does scotch whiskey really come from? Most likely the Chinese, and not the Scots.
What's in a Cadbury Double Decker candy bar? A thin layer of crispy cereal, nougat (pronounced noo-ga), and caramel covered in chocolate.
What are A-levels? Similar to the SATs, except they follow you around forever.
What are university and law school fees like in the UK? You don't want to know the answer to this if you're an American - it'll make you weep with envy.
How did the Brits become a nation of tea drinkers? A secret raid on the Chinese emperor's stash by British soldiers apparently. The Brits were actually used to be a nation of coffee drinkers.

It's been four days so far, and it's been incredibly illuminating. We all laugh about how much we're learning, and none of it pertains to the law, much to my relief.

I wonder what I'll learn tomorrow...

A German Christmas

If you want to celebrate Christmas, the best place to do it is in London. There's Christmas fairs and festivals galore, and the hardest part is picking which one to go to. I settled on the Cologne Christmas Market at Southbank Centre since the Real Food Festival was also going on at the same locale.

Sausage, onions and potatoes. Yum!

It was dark by the time we arrived there, so we got to fully appreciate all the fairy light canopies that were hung from every roofline. Each of the 60 or so wooden stalls had their own Christmas decor, and J and I had a grand old time perusing the goods offered up for sale along with a ton of other people. There were a variety of things, and all things Christmas, of course, such as roasted chestnuts, mulled wine (J enjoyed a cup), and lots and lots of sweets. And we also got to catch our first glimpse of the London Eye, Westminster, and the Golden Jubilee Bridge in the evening, all lit up. After we were Christmased out, we headed back to the Real Food Festival, where J and I shared a sausage dish with boiled potatoes and onions with toasted cheese. Sooo good.

Old-fashioned carousel for the kiddies

The gingerbread stall - Definitely one of the more popular ones!

The Thames looks a lot nicer at night

Anyway, we decided to walk off some of the food and wine by walking over the bridge and ended up walking over to Trafalgar Square where surprise surprise, the Christmas tree was up! Along with a giant menorah and a nativity display. The tree is a gift from Norway, and it's decorated in the Norwegian style. The tree has been given every year since 1947 in thanks for British assistance during World War II. Isn't that amazing?

 

We finished off the evening with a stop at the nearby Waterstone's to pick up some books for the remainder of the evening, and we're going to order a Thai takeaway and settle in for some X Factor. A great Saturday night.

Les Miserables at Queen's Theatre

J's been wanting to see Les Miserables since forever, so he decided to splash out some major cheddar for some primo seats at the Queen's Theatre last night.

After a very cold and long walk down Regent Street, we finally reached the Queen's Theatre, which is right by Picadilly Circus. Needless to say, there were tons of people roaming the pavement, but we got there in the nick of time. The theatre itself is absolutely beautiful and feels really plush and intimate - I doubt there's a bad seat in the house. The decor was in tones of burgundy and turquoise with gold gilt and velvet coverings, making the place just absolutely decadent.

The production was amazing and took place on a rotating stage, which made the stage seem a lot larger since the actors could literally run around in circles without looking like they were just crazy. The show took about 3 hours, and the whole thing was in song. I really enjoyed Eponine's performance, and she totally stole the show. And I had the added luck of not having to see a Jonas brother play Marius - thank goodness.

The only problem is that Les Miserables is one of my favorite books, and it's always difficult to see a translation of a much beloved novel for the stage or screen. Especially when they're trying to fit 1300 pages of love triangles and revolution into a 3 hour show. I mean, even Harry Potter decided it needs two 3 hour movies to do justice to the last book in the series! Some of the characters like Cosette and Marius came across a little flat due to the compression, and I think I may have enjoyed it more if I wasn't constantly comparing it to the novel. But all in all, it was a wonderful production, and the music was absolutely beautiful.

The song "On My Own" is still stuck in my head...

Highgate Cemetery, Part Deux

Finally got the film developed...

The Chapel

 

 

 

 

No Run Today, and Here's Why...

I actually was thinking about going for a run today despite the fact that it was flurrying all night, but J decided on a snow day and decided to not go into the office. So instead of running, I convinced him to go on a walk through the park with me, and I became very glad that I decided not to go running today.

The pond froze over!

Look what happened to my running route!

I'm guessing the water fountain's in the same state.

More pictures from my film camera...