Tasting London

For quite a long time, London's food scene got a bad rap, but times have certainly changed.  London -- not unlike D.C. -- is buzzing with fabulous restaurants popping up all over the city.  Today, I ventured to Regent's Park to sample offerings from 40 of the city's best restaurants, in addition to a number of specialty food producers, at the annual Taste of London. Not knowing exactly where to start, I started at the most logical of locations, the "world of beer" where I purchased a pint of ale and studied the program and map, plotting my course.  Of course, I changed my mind a million times once I was actually face to face with the food, settling on a delicious risotto, a trio of seafood sliders and a spicy ox cheek doughnut.  As you can see, I also used the day to practice some of the photography techniques and lessons I learned last week -- taking photos in manual mode takes some patience and some getting used to, but I am enjoying it!

Acquerello risotto with 8 year-aged organic parmesan from Babbo

A trio of seafood sliders from The Angler

Spicy ox cheek doughnut with apricot jam from the Duck and Waffle

Everything I tried was delicious, and I would have eaten more but I ran out of "Crowns" (the currency of Taste) at the same time I ran out of room in my stomach, though I also sampled a bite of black pudding as well as some delicious English cheeses that made their way back to my flat!

Tomorrow, I am planning to set my alarm clock for the wee hours of the morning in hopes of joining fellow tennis fans in The Queue at Wimbledon (wish me luck, apparently all of tomorrow's show court tickets have already been accounted for by fans camping out since early this morning!)

Wednesday Wind Up

A quick recap (mostly photos) of what I've been up to this past week. As you may recall, I was at  loss for what to do once I arrived.  Then I remembered one of the things that I love most about London - the walks.  So I have been taking lots of long walks around my neighborhood, including Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park and Battersea Park.

On Friday I took a trip to the National Portrait Gallery to see George Catlin's Native American Portraits (of particular interest as I just read David McCullough's The Greater Journey).

Followed by tea in the Gallery's restaurant, situated on the top floor with stunning views

From that view, I spied a lovely looking rooftop spot nearby, and since the sun was shining for the first time since my arrival, I made my way to the Trafalgar Hotel's Vista - it was a lovely way to spend an afternoon.

After attending Trooping the Colour on Saturday, I went to the Royal Albert Hall to see Swan Lake that evening.  The Hall is stunning and the performance was wonderful.

After a week of playing tourist, it was time to get started at school.  I am taking courses at the London School of Photography, and after only two days, I am really enjoying it and getting used to using my camera in fully manual mode (no more automatic!)

On Tuesday, I was learning to play with shutter speeds to freeze movement - many thanks to my model Ducky for his/her assistance in splashing about (if you want to see the detail of the water drops, click on the photo and zoom in).

And finally, below is one of my homework assignments - I promise I am not actually standing in the middle of traffic!

After about a week and half, there have been good days, not-so-good days, rainy days, and clearly some sunny ones  too.  I have stopped having massive anxiety every time I cross the street (do I look left, then right? Right, then left? why is there never a cross walk - zebra crossing - where it should be!?! Are those cars going to stop?) and become reacquainted with the Tube  - I must say, it is so nice to be in a city with a first rate (first world) transportation system.  Granted, I may get flattened by one of those buses or cabs, but compared to DC, they are practically luxe.

Pomp and Circumstance: Trooping the Colour

Pomp and Circumstance: splendid celebration with ceremony and fuss

When I was studying and interning in London ten(ish) years ago, I had the opportunity to view the Queen's arrival for the State Opening of Parliament.  I was steered toward a good vantage point by my co-workers and had a great view of the Queen and Prince Philip in their carriage, which was a pretty fabulous way to start my work day!  It was not until I returned back to the office to my co-workers that I realized just how much they wanted me to have loved and been impressed by it.  As one of my colleagues put it, "we do pomp and circumstance better than just about anyone, don't you think?"  I had to agree!

Fast forward a decade.  I woke up yesterday to the news that it was the Queen's ceremonial birthday and Trooping the Colour was taking place at Horse Guards Parade.  A quick scan of the interwebs revealed that I was obviously months late in securing some sort of ticket, and hours late in securing a decent viewing spot of the procession along the Mall.  Undeterred, and perhaps emboldened by the fact that the oh-so-elusive sun was actually shining, I gathered myself together and took off for Buckingham Palace.  I figured that even if I could not see the procession, I would enjoy being among the atmosphere and seeing the fly-over.

I arrived just in time to find a semi-decent vantage point and actually managed to see all of the royal family on their return trip to the Palace.  The crowds of course cheered loudly for  Duchess Kate on her final public appearance before her due date.  But the loudest and most loving cheers were reserved for the Queen, of course.  (For the record, though you cannot tell from the photo below, she looked resplendent in blue.)

Perhaps because I am so used to "seeing" Washington officials being ferried about in blacked out suburbans or limousines,  but it was surprising and refreshing to see these very public figures riding by in open air carriages, laughing and waving.  For all its formality and precision, there was something very intimate about the whole thing.

The weather threatened to put a damper on the festivities (of course it was the one time I left the house without an umbrella!) but the rain stopped just in time for the impressive Royal Air Force flyover.

 

Just as ten years ago, it was thrilling to take it in along with the thousands of well-wishers, overflowing with anticipation and excitement...and pride.  And a very fun way to kick off my first weekend in London!

(Photography classes start tomorrow, lets hope there is a notable improvement in my pictures moving forward!)

Good Morning London! Now What?

It's official, I am in London and, according to the stamp on my passport, allowed to stay for six months!  I have to admit, of all the things I did to prepare for this adventure (more on that later), getting a visa was not one of them.  Generally, the UK allows visitors from the U.S. to stay up to six months without a visa, but it is not guaranteed you'll get permission for the full six months.  After looking into applying for a visitors visa, I decided to take a chance in hopes that I would get a nice border agent at Heathrow that would give me the six month stamp and sure enough I did (mind you, I basically had to give him my entire life history - pity the person behind me in the line!). So now I am here, and after a quick trip to the Kings Road for some necessities (sim card! linens! clothes hangers - exciting stuff!), I am settled into my little flat.  It is a 300-ish sq. foot studio, garden ("english basement" for you DC-ers) apartment in the Chelsea/Fulham area with everything I will need for my time here, and not much more, which, after spending a month cleaning, organizing and packing up my house in DC,  is exactly what I need!

But after spending the last six weeks with what seemed like a never-ending, constantly growing t0-do list, I woke up this morning feeling a little lost.  My to-do list had been my roadmap, my job, and in some ways, my crutch. I never had to come up with anything to fill my time, I had a fifteen page to-do list with a rapidly approaching due date!  Now, I'm without that crutch, that roadmap, that job.  Which was sort of the whole point of this trip, but like anything else in life, it might take a little getting used to.

Soon enough I will start my photography classes, and have more of a routine.  But for now, it's Monday morning in London and I have no idea what to do.

This is how it starts

“For an occurrence to become an adventure, it is necessary and sufficient for one to recount it.”  ~ Jean-Paul Sartre

About six months ago, I made my New Year's Resolution: to use all of my vacation days.  Not a bad resolution as far as these things go, but not exactly earth shattering.  What was disturbing, however, was that I had become a person who did not use their vacation days.  Moreover, I was someone who had more unused vacation days than unused sick days.

Come New Years Day, I found myself on the couch, not with a champagne hangover, but rather, some nasty bug I had picked up over the holidays, already feeling defeated about the impending vacation day to sick day deficit.  This was not how I wanted to start the year!

After a round of antibiotics (maybe the third in my lifetime) and nearly a week's worth of sick days, I was back on my feet, but lacking a spring in my step.  To tell the truth, that spring had been missing for a while.  And I wasn't the only one who had noticed its absence.

Enter Mom.  In one of our many phone conversations, she suggested that I wasn't scoring all that high on the happiness scale these days, and perhaps I should take some time off - retire for a little while, were her exact words - to do the things I always said I wanted to do, but never had the time (read: energy).  "Why wait until you are 60?" she asked me.  I did not have a good answer.  Why indeed.

Six months later, with the support of my amazing family and friends, I am happily unemployed for the first time in my adult life, packing up my house and preparing to board a flight to London to spend the summer studying photography, traveling, and generally doing whatever I feel like doing.  I have given myself the gift of six months to wander about.  I only have a "plan" for the first three - which, if you know me, is highly unusual.

There will be good days, there will be bad days, there will be days when I am homesick and days when I am on top of the world.  And that's what this blog is for: to document my journey and to share with my friends and family; to recount it, so as to ensure that rather than simply an occurrence, this is truly an adventure, and hopefully just the start of one at that.