Camden Market and environs

On Sunday, I walked north through London with John. We met Jayme, Tyler, and some of their friends in Chalk Hill and then went to a pub called The Stag, where we could sit outside in the backyard and enjoy the nice weather and some gastropub food for lunch. Tanja joined us. Then some of us went to the Camden Market, which was an overwhelming extravaganza of clothing stalls, accessories, food, and throngs of people everywhere. After shuffling through the crowd for a couple of hours, Tanja and I had to get out.

I met John and Jan for dinner....we went to an upscale Chinese restaurant in Soho that served really delicious food in a lounge-like environment with downtempo music supplied from a laptop using iTunes (we just happened to be sitting near it). After dinner, John and I walked around on Oxford Street, which was nice and quiet on a Sunday night, and I snapped a few more photos.

antiquities, soho, indian food

My friend Tanja is here from Switzerland. We spent the day together: first coffee, then the British Museum, then a stroll through Soho...and into a French bookstore on Marlborough... and down Carnaby Street to a pub. After lounging with some wine and appetizers at the pub, we had an affordable but delicious Indian "tapas" dinner at Imli in Soho (on Wardour Street). I hadn't seen Tanja since I was in Zürich last year, so it was nice to catch up on things.

Borough Market, Spitalfields, and more

On Friday, I went with John to the Borough Market-- a large assortment of cheeses, fresh fish and meat, sausaages, produce, mulled wine, and various other goodies for sale. It was in a massive semi-open-air space and was pretty amazing to see. We met his friends Jayme and Tyler (who joined us on his lunch break) and then afterwards, Jayme, her new baby, and I took the tube to Spitalfields market...more stalls of things to look at, but mostly clothes this time, not food. I saw some really cool coats that would be highly impractical back home, but looked fantastic, and even a few casual dresses that were very funky-artsy, distinctly British, and almost enough to make me wear one myself. I was with Jayme for a momentous occasion: the first time her daughter laughed. I snapped a photo of them both shortly thereafter.

Then Jayme showed me Brick Lane, a street lined with Indian restaurants, Beigel Bake (a bagel shop), and various other interesting -looking stuff, and then we hopped a bus back again. I wandered around in Soho, trying to get my bearings. However, I've found that I really need to pay attention when I cross the street, because I'm still looking in the wrong direction whenever I cross, and the London drivers seem to come from every possible direction, anyway.

That evening, John, Jan, and I went to The Red Fort for another outrageously good Indian dinner...including more Bollinger, which I'm going to miss when I return home....it's in short supply there. After dinner, John and I walked through Mayfair and looked in shop windows on Saville Row and other upscale locales. I took about 50 photos on Friday....these are just a handful.

an interview, more london explorations

On Wednesday, I interviewed Jake Paland of the ambient/electronic duo PFL (best known for their music on the German "Space Night" series). John came with us, and we had a delicious lunch and a good conversation about music. I've got about 45 minutes of discussion that I'll edit down to just a few minutes, with music, for a special podcast episode when I get home.

Then John and I took a long walk, exploring the unexpected neighborhoods while passing through the predictable ones. I prefer the ones off the beaten path, but as you'll see, I did snap a few of the usual suspects.

When I got back to the flat, I was exhausted, so I stayed in and ate some take-away from Marks & Spencer and chilled out for awhile.

art, rain, food, etc.

Yesterday John and I walked around from museum to museum in London. We went to an incredible Warhol exhibit that displayed his films and videos and some memorabilia in an environment that made me feel like I was being transported back to his loft in the sixties. It was really great....the ultimate Warhol exhibit.

It was raining, and we popped into the Tate for awhile and the Design museum, too, and took a walk along the south bank of the Thames. At Taz (apparently, a chain..but a really good one), we had Turkish food for lunch, and then, with Jan, a mindblowingly great Thai dinner in the theatre district, where I ate condiments like fresh peppercorns (still on the vine) for the first time.

We walked so much that my legs got sore....and I will probably do the same today.

stumbling upon things

Today I wandered around with the intention of exploring some things that my friend John showed me yesterday, and I was heading in the direction of where he was having lunch so we could walk afterwards. However, I took a wrong turn somewhere and instead of going to the Covent Garden market and then to Soho as I'd planned, I ended up walking through Chinatown, Leicester Square (awful), and then finally stumbled upon a route that led to something more interesting.

Here in these photos, you see the Marlborough House on Pall Mall (do the names make you want to light up a cigarette?), a hat shop on a passage near Pall Mall, a contender for the Smart car that only took 1/3 of a parking space, the Chocolate Bar at Harrods, and a window display at Harvey Nichols.

This evening, I saw an amazingly great Palestinian-themed play in East London with my friends John and Jan, and met one of the playwrights, as well. A pretty terrific day, overall.

wake up, sleepyhead

I finally caught up on some much-needed sleep...like 10 hours of it...but this is not the town where one should be sleeping her time away. I don't even know what's going on in the world right now--especially with politics--which might be a blessing. However, I just opened up Yahoo/UK and saw a headline story about Britney Spears. Even here, I guess I can't escape from the same banal, useless news items.

Last night I had a fantastic dinner at Moti Mahal. I've been wanting to come here for a long time, and it lived up to its promise.

Now I need coffee. Dare I go to Starbucks?