Finally...spring is in the air

After a period of 70 degree, sun-filled days, the weather has started to revert back to the typical mid-50s, clouds and occasional drizzle.  It was nice while it lasted, but it comes just in time for me to throw all my stuff into suitcases and jump on a plane headed for the States.

I've wrapped up three of four exams, with only Classical Music in London keeping me from a few extra days in London before I depart!

In the mean time, here are a few places that I will miss most when back in the States:

Considering all the time I've spent in/around "Little Lebanon" these past few months, I have eaten an embarrassingly small amount of Lebanese/Indian/Iraqi/Kurdish food.  That said, I can recommend Maroush for some good Lebanese.  Having ordered takeaway lunch there a few times, it is straight-forward and pretty good value for money.  If you don't fancy heading to the heart of "Little Lebanon" to get your falafel fix (which I highly recommend), rest assured, there are a bunch of them scattered around central London.

The Natural Kitchen is a good option if you are looking for gourmet-type food, but still want the convenience of takeaway.  It tries (and pretty much succeeds) to be an upscale "Purveyor of Fine Foods,"  but if you can get passed the pretentious exterior, you won't be disappointed.  It's located right off Old Marylebone road in a nice area with loads of restaurants, cafes, sidewalks wide enough to pass someone without getting flattened (Italy take note) and a typical assortment of soccer mom stores (designer baby clothing, over-priced towels, blah blah).  Needless to say the area isn't good for much unless you plan to eat or take a walk, however, given its close proximity to Regent's Park, it's a great place to pickup some food for a picnic.

Pret A Manger is by-far my favorite fast food restaurant in London.  I say fast food because it is actually more ubiquitous than McDonald's, just as quick and if you get the right sandwich, about the same money.  Think Panera quality, faster than Taco Bell and always-changing, fresh sandwiches.  I'm a fan. The concept is genius: Walk in, pick out your sandwich from the fridge, add some crisps/cookies/drink and pay. No custom orders, that would take time.  It's simple, inexpensive and satisfying.

The Barbican is one of the biggest venues in London, they host everything from musical theatre productions, to lectures on UK foreign policy, to the London Symphony.  Near Victoria Park, the central location means it's no more than a 20-30 minute Tube ride from Regent's, Edgware Road or Westminster Abbey.  I've been fortunate enough to see the London Symphony, London Philharmonic and BBC Symphony Orchestra on several occasions and they are all worth seeing.  

Regent's Park is really something special.  It isn't everyday you can say you go to university in a Royal Park.  Now that the flowers have started to bloom and the ivy on the Tuke Building is starting to come out, it is nicer than ever.  I pity anyone with allergies as we are quite literally dropped right into a garden, surrounded by more flowers than one can wrap their head around, grass that most golf courses would envy and enough people at any given time that you will (almost) want to leave.

With that said, I was shocked to discover the little money-making operation the Queen has set up in her park.

Who wouldn't want to sit in those?

Whenever the sun comes out, comfy chairs appear out of nowhere and get scattered around various areas throughout the park.  Naturally, I walked up (not noticing the big green sign, of course) and plopped down into one.  A few moments later, a man came up to me asking for £1.50! What?! $2.30 to sit in a chair for an hour? I almost hated the Queen..just for a second, then I realized there were perfectly good (free) benches ten feet away. 

Symphonic Rock

On 18 April, 2010, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra performed Symphonic Rock at the famed Royal Albert Hall.  The set list included music from the best of Coldplay, Queen, Bon Jovi, Led Zeppelin, Robert Palmer, the Moody Blues and many more.  Luck was on our side before the concert even started as we managed to get upgraded from "standing only" seats at the very top to some nice comfy (swivel) chairs in the stalls.

£75.00 seats for £10.00? Umm, yes please!

 Credit: Zach and his Nikon. Gotta love the panorama. 

Concert? Epic. For once, I am using that word without exaggeration.  The Royal Philharmonic is widely-considered to be second to the London Symphony Orchestra in terms of quality, and for good reason.  They were phenomenal and between the mediocre vocals by "Metro Voices" and the hilarious emcee who constantly struggled to keep his mic on, it was a really fun night.

Favorites of the night: "Bittersweet Symphony" and "Layla"

East Side Exploration

Last weekend, Heaven and her friend Jill decided to pay a visit to London! They got a great taste of the city despite only being here for two days.

Zach, Jill, Heaven and Andrew

We started the morning off right with a proper English breakfast, wandered around Regent's Park, showed them the college, took the tube to the east side of London, saw the Monument (tower commemorating the Great Fire of 1666) and then they took a tour of the Tower of London (I didn't feel like doing it a second time).  

A few hours later, we finished up with a walk along the Thames, a tour of Tower Bridge and made a final stop at the infamous (my absolute favorite) Borough Market.  What a good start to the weekend!

The English know how to do landscaping..

Easter Sunday

Since this was the first time I had spent Easter Sunday away from home, I thought it would be fun to do a Toledo/London comparison.

Toledo:

Usually my family gets up, heads to St. Tim's for Easter service and then we find ourselves at my grandma Carol's house by early afternoon.  Loads of food (always too much), my aunts Beth and Joanne, uncle Dennis and cousins Lauren and Ellie are always there.  It's always really informal which is awesome and my mom and grandma always whip up some incredible cheese potatoes and deviled eggs.  By far the two greatest holiday dishes ever created.  On the other side of the family, my grandma Hilda has made dinner in the past which is equally delicious!

 The infamous cheese potatoes (and deviled eggs)

London:

I woke, threw some clothes on, headed to St. Martin-in-the-fields for Easter service, wandered back to the flat, had an awkward brunch of peanut butter/jelly on a (toasted) waffle, Waitrose cheese and tomato pizza and a glass of orange juice. Later my "Easter dinner" consisted of a delicious chicken tikka masala "tv dinner."

Contrast much?

Easter dinner

My flatmates Dave and Zach were off exploring Ireland on a "Patty Wagon" bus tour, Matt was also in Ireland, but to visit his girlfriend and Nick was stuck with me in the flat.

After church and brunch, it became clear just how exhausted I was from the incessant traveling over the past month.  With school work starting to pile up and finals just around the corner, I was glad we returned from Paris on Saturday evening.  

It was definitely the most relaxing Easter I've ever had. The hours flew by as I sat in the flat snacking, watching TV and just laying around.

Family comes to Londontown!

Between the stress of midterms and the sheer madness of spring break, my mom and grandma decided to pay a visit to London! I was only able to see them for a few days, but it was so much fun showing them around the city while I could.

Here are some highlights:

The London Eye

Westminster Abbey

Dinner in the Crypt of St. Martin-in-the-Fields

a beautiful day in the neighborhood..

Here are some photos I took this afternoon while on a walk through Regent's park. It may seem like spring has sprung, but don't be fooled, it isn't nearly as warm as it looks!!

Despite the abundance of sunshine, crystal-clear skies and green grass, the weather still struggles to top 50 F.  I can only hope it is this nice when we are pony trekking in Wales!

Cinematography off Crawford?

As I was walking down Crawford St this afternoon (about 4 minutes from the flat), I noticed men in funny tall hats, horses and a bunch of those black boxes that bands store their instruments in.  As Dave and I got closer to the craziness, we noticed a massive boom with a camera stuck on the end.  It had to be a movie set!

I was determined to find out what was going on. There were a couple people (with their camera phones out) standing close to me and they predictably knew about as much as I did, but a man with a tall hat told me they were shooting scenes for "Burk and Hare," a new movie directed by John Landis.  It's about two 19th century gravediggers....

How random... Check out the plot summary at IMDB.

Pub Hopping

After devouring the tacos, we set out to find a pub that would be not-too-loud, but also not-too-old.. A tall order?  Result: sort of.  After a few failed attempts (each time we gazed in through the glass, the crowd looked far older than we were anticipating), we found the Wargrave Arms.

From the outside, it looked like a nice place that didn't seem too busy. Inside, the atmosphere was glorious.  The dark wood paneling, hand-carved bar, people that looked happy and...music that was straight out of a really terrible American diner.  Perfect.

All of us at the Wargrave Arms

After the Wargrave Arms, we moved onto the Harcourt Arms.  It was a lot busier, actually completely packed with people, and so we didn't end up staying too long.  They had an upstairs which held our group plus another pretty comfortably.  Most of the night was spent at the Victory (which happens to be directly across the street from The Landward). 

With the celebration complete, we ended up getting to bed before 2:00 AM so we could get up and secure those tickets to "The Misanthrope."

Sunday Services, Tube Solo, and Warhol?

After hitting the sack early last evening, the alarm started blaring to "A Beautiful Day" at 7:45 AM. A quick glance outside (sans contacts) confirmed my suspicious that it was in fact NOT such a beautiful day (at least if we are using the Cayman Islands as a basis of comparison). For London, it was very much typical: Grey, slightly chilly, and misting. mmm mmmm gooooood!

Why on earth was I up at that hour on a Sunday? Well, besides the fact that I am an 85 year old man on the inside (as many of you well know); Zach, Bri, and I were going to church services at Westminster Abbey. Church at THE Westminster Abbey? No, your eyes didn't just lie.. I was pretty excited, too.

Services didn't begin until 10:00, but we wanted to leave PLENTY of time for transport on the Tube.  The tiny bit of foresight we had getting up at such an early hour paid off when we realized that the Tube line we were planning on taking operates every day except Sunday.  Hmm.  The somewhat helpful man at the Landward ended up giving us some directions in very broken English so we called it good and left.

Potential drama evaporated when we arrived at the Westminster stop minus battle scars.  We walked up, out, and practically right into the side of Big Ben (oh joy). I'm going to say the building looked phenomenal, the service was phenomenal, the Westminster Abbey Choir (complete with ruffles by the neck, bed head, and glorious sound) was phenomenal.  Overuse? Good golly, getting to the church, sitting practically at the alter (we had decent seats), and taking in the sheer beauty of EVERYTHING was almost too much for my mind to juggle at once.  Zach and Bri can definitely attest to the experience.  It is definitely worthwhile regardless of the beliefs you hold.

Walking out into the cold served as an instant slap-in-the-face reality check.  It was cold. Not even going to lie.  Making best use of our 48 hour bus tickets (the big brown one), we figured it would be wise to skip the Tube and take the bus back to the Landward.  Everything sounds good in theory, right?  Well, this was good idea until we realized (what Zach estimated would take 20 minutes) turned into an hour and a half cruise around London.  Always thinking glass half-full, we got to practice our British accents. Splendid!  When I say practice, some of us need a little more than others....and by some of us, I really just mean me.. haha. Bri (being a theatre major) is pretty much good to go and Zach is leaps and bounds ahead of me. He even went so far as to create his own slang.. but that's another story.  I am learning though.  Taking it a word at a time lol.  Thus far, "Sorry" is pretty solid.....one word down!

So we managed crawl back to the bus stop, power walk to the Landward and arrive before the entire day was consumed by an agonizingly slow tour of London.

We then quickly changed clothes and went to grab a take away sandwich at Pret A Manger.  Delicious, quick, cheap food.  Cheap being the operative word, mom. No worries!! lol

We then planned on getting back on the infamous brown bus to St. Paul's Cathedral.  As we were getting on, I realized that I left my bus pass in my suit coat, and thus, would be forced to take the Tube (a much faster mode of transport).  So it being broad daylight, me carrying minimal possessions (phone, student ID, Oyster card, and debit card) I figured it would be a brilliant learning experience that would really force me to figure out what the heck I was doing.

It is amazing what a little pressure can do to speed up comprehension.  I managed to figure out exactly where St. Paul's was, switch lines, and not go the wrong way...Shocking, I know....All of that meant I beat that pesky brown bus by a solid 30 minutes.  I called the group to see where they were and, not surprisingly, they were going to be a while. Making the best use of my time, it seemed like a good idea to go in, get ticket prices, and get a glimpse of the interior.

"Sorry sir, we do have student discounts, however, we are only open for site seeing Mon-Sat." Bummer. In retrospect, one of us should have made that realization, but it wasn't a huge deal.  There is always more to do in London!

Let's recap: Service at Westminster Abbey, Failed attempt to visit St. Paul's Cathedral, and visit to the Tate Modern Art Gallery.  Which one doesn't belong?

The Tate Gallery (a converted power plant sitting at the feet of the Thames) is free to the public and is five stories of modern art bliss.  I suppose only bliss if you actually have the intellectual capacity to comprehend what the heck is going on, but modern art nevertheless.

Our visit was somewhat rushed, but I don't regret it.  We had a great time, saw some original Warhol pieces, a movie of a nude man and woman passing a balloon, and flattened dinnerware hung from the ceiling arranged in crazy collages.. What more does one need?

Tomorrow is the beginning of the end.  The end of long-winded days devoted exclusively to traveling around London, but the beginning of (what hopefully will be) some interesting classes at Regent's.

My room is still purple and the pub across the street is most def hoppin' with some crazy chants.  I cannot wait for the World Cup!!

Cheers!!!

Thames = The Muddy Maumee?

After spending the first couple days getting acclimated to the west end of London, Regent's and the masculine pink and purple walls of our flat, it was time to put on our tourist hats and get crackin'.

On a somewhat cloudy mid-morning, we boarded a big, brown tour bus and sprinted up the stairs to the top level. Instantly, the wind cut through my supposed "windbreaker" jacket, and I realized just how chilly it was going to be. Awesome. This was not a concern for long as I was (almost) instantly distracted by multiple pictures of Emma Watson at the flagship Burberry store, hilarious conversation, and a highly entertaining audio guide. We decided to jump off at the Trafalgar Square stop and take a look at the uber-cool National Gallery. Instead, we found a massive group of (what looked like) professional photographers. They were photographing a baby (Zach is convinced it was royal) in a stroller-- probably one of the creepiest things I have ever seen. Still no word on what the occasion was..

After taking some hilarious pictures in/around the main fountain in Trafalgar Square, we spotted Big Ben and made a beeline for it. I can't tell you how awesome it was to put on my tourist hat and see one of the most famous places in London!

From there we walked down to the Thames and got our first "good" look at the London Eye (Even though we can see it from the window of our flat, it was so neat to see it from a few feet away). Surprisingly, the sidewalks lining the river were pretty empty... always a plus.

We saw signs for "Boat Tours on the Thames," and after remembering they were included with our bus ticket, we ventured down to the water to see what all the fuss was about. About that water: If you did a side-by-side comparison of the Thames with the Maumee, the poopy/muddy/ultra-gross Maumee would probably claim victory. No bueno.

To keep this story going and to save your eyes from reading every possible detail of my day, we ended up cruising down the Thames, flying by London Bridge, Tower Bridge, lots of INCREDIBLE apartments, and calling it quits at the Tower of London.

We hopped off with our stomachs growling and decided to grab a (late) lunch at Gourmet Burger Kitchen. BAHHH. 100% Aberdeen-Angus Prime Cut Beef? Slightly ridiculous/unnecessary/but absolutely incredible? It was.

To wrap up a long and exhausting day, we stumbled upon St. Martin-in-the-fields right off Trafalgar Square on our way back to the Tube station. I knew my Aunt Ellie had mentioned a brilliant little restaurant downstairs in the Crypt, so we decided to take a quick walk through the place. The restaurant looked delicious and the concerts at the church are happening all the time. I definitely anticipate grabbing a quick dinner before a show sometime in the coming weeks.

I hope everyone back in the U.S. is doing well!!

Cheers from my purple bedroom,

Andrew

EUPHORIA!!! London meets Lebanon?

I must apologize for the previous post. It really was somewhat depressing. I didn't realize it until I clicked "publish." In reality, my excitement/joy/sheer appreciation for getting the opportunity to experience such a wonderful, cosmopolitan city trumped any negative emotion I might have had.

After getting over the undeniable jet-lag, eating tons of delicious food, walking a lot (for some exercise), and meeting a bunch of WONDERFUL people, it is safe to say that my experience is better than I could have ever imagined it. Even in all of my over-exaggerated dreams, I couldn't have imagined everything turning out so perfectly in reality.

Trust me, Google Street view is not a good representation of a city (even though I am a huge nerd and had virtually "walked" my way to school about a dozen times prior to boarding the plane in Detroit.

Post plane-arrival, we pulled up to The Landward Apartments after a hair-raising 45 minute car ride into the heart of London (our driver was absolutely insane)!!

If you eliminated all of the classic black cabs, you would probably guess you were in Lebanon. It is widely-considered the most diverse area of London with a heavy middle eastern influence. What does this mean? It means a huge selection of some of the best middle eastern restaurants in the world. So great!

Bottom line, after having a comprehensive orientation at Regent's, meeting tons of mew people, and getting settled into the flat, I couldn't be more thrilled! Look for much, much more about some adventurous eating, travels, and good fun!

Cheers!