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.

a drive to the (north) sea

Hilde and I drove to her favorite beach along the North Sea ... and I snapped a few photos along the way. Those white bundles are bales of hay. You see them on every farm. The IKEA in Norway is apparently not blue and yellow ...but the building has rather muted tones. This fort along the North Sea was a lookout/security point during World War II. All the new construction is like something out of Dwell Magazine. The old construction consists of the wooden houses, often painted in bright shades of red, green, burnt yellow, blue, or green. And this little house on the North Sea is sitting on an island every time the tide comes in.

Slow Sunday

Last night, my friends Hilde and Sissel made a delicious dinner for four of us, including a colleague of Hilde's. We stayed up most of the night. I forgot how that happens sometimes in Norway. So I'm moving very slowly today, and didn't get enough sleep, because I was awakened by thunder so loud that it sounded like the house was being blown up. Anyway, here are a few photos I snapped on Saturday while we were out shopping. The tank is a sculpture called the "peace tank," the sign that you see by the car denotes a "women only" parking space in a public garage, and of course, I have another photo of reindeer meat in the supermarket.

Jeg er i Norge

I know you thought I was in London, and I was...and I will be again. But right now I'm in Norway, visiting some friends. Wow, it's green here. I could see healthy-looking cows just grazing by the road as we drove from Sola Airport. Last night we went to a supermarket ... and I thought I'd snap a few photos to share (because I love to look at food). This includes reindeer meat, and a large gluten-free section. There's a lot of gluten-free food here, even in a "normal" supermarket.

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?