Happy New Year!

I'm back in London after Christmas in St. Louis, and have been busy with all of my wonderful visitors!  I've posted some pictures that you can link to from the main blog page, but I promise to catch up with details soon!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

No Place Like Home for the Holidays

I was so glad to go home for Christmas, and it was completely worth the long flights and jet lag!

I wanted to just share two pictures that made me smile while I was going through them this week:

I brought home one English tradition that I've enjoyed in London - the Christmas Crackers.  I even made some tissue paper crowns that people wore with different reactions:

Sorry Mom and Dad and Grandpa for the candid photo!

And as always, on Christmas morning, Checkers was quite excited to open her presents (even in her old age).  She's still one of the cutest dogs I've ever seen!

Shopping and Christmas Dinners

In anticipation of a busy week with lots of Christmas parties and a few visitors, I laid low (for me at least) this last weekend.  On Friday, I checked something off my bucket list and went to see a movie by myself!  I saw 50/50 which I had been told was excellent.  I laughed and cried more than I expected, and it lived up to its reviews.

On Saturday, I met up with Karen at the brand new mall just a couple stops outside of central London, as I needed a dress for one of the Christmas parties that has a “black tie” dress code – I didn’t think to bring a cocktail dress with me!  I know what you’re thinking – a mall?!?  My mom called while I was there and said she expected me to be shopping someplace more exciting or picturesque, but I have to say, shopping in London is never boring!  It was busier than I’ve ever seen a mall in the US, with people filling every space you looked.  It had all of the UK shops that I wanted to look into, and it was nice to be inside on one of the colder days we’ve had so far.  It was a successful shopping day, though my highlight may have been the fountain drink with ice

That night, I had a Christmas dinner with a group I met through church. We had reservations for 35 at a small little restaurant, and luckily we had our own corner, as it turned into quite a party!  The food was excellent (I had the duck) and I made sure to get the traditional Christmas pudding (a first), which was rich but very delicious!  I was probably the only person who was quite so enthusiastic about the Crackers (another first for me) as the jokes were terrible, but I wore my crown proudly!


On Sunday, I rented my first “Boris” bike – a rental scheme supported by the Mayor of London – and rode not too far to the Museum of London.  It has been on my list to see with every visit, and I’m glad I finally got there.  It recounts the history of London from its pre-civilization history, through the Roman period, past the Fire of 1666, to modern day.  A lot of the older history is where they continue to make changes – they are constantly updating to reflect what they find at new building sites around London.  It was very cool to see history through such a specific angle, and I will definitely go back again if I can!

During the week, I had a few Christmas parties for work - two with the client, and an Accenture one for the entire UK Finance group, which was the black tie affair.  I was glad I had picked up a cocktail dress - everyone dressed up, with only a hint of sarcasm.  It was quite formal for an Accenture party - champagne, a full sit down meal, and fake casino games after dinner, but it was just as fun as any in the US!  The best part of the night was seeing all of the people who I've worked with in the past, but haven't seen in years (if ever).

With all of the celebrating, I'm getting really excited to go home to St. Louis for Christmas!

Edinburgh

One of the few places I had really wanted to visit during my study abroad in London seven years ago was Edinburgh, but as it neared the weekend people were planning to go, I got really sick and so missed out.  Needless to say, it was on top of my list of places I’d like to spend time while I was over here this winter.

The train to Edinburgh leaves just one Tube stop away from where I work, so I brought my bag to work with me on Friday and got one of the last trains out on Friday night. The train was full of people heading north for the weekend and had a party atmosphere unlike any train ride I had taken before! Because of how late I was going to get in, the owner of the bed and breakfast left the keys hidden in a flower pot for me, so I let myself in and settled in for the night without a thought!  Come to find out, I was the only visitor at the bed and breakfast that weekend, so I got great personal attention from the owner.

Holyroodhouse Palace

On Saturday morning I was off after breakfast to the center of Edinburgh.  I was staying about a 20 minute bus ride from the main touristy area, but the busses were so frequent and door to door that it wasn’t even a concern.  I started off visiting the National Gallery of Scotland.  Their collection of art was very broad, and it was set up in such a way that you felt like you were visiting someone’s home collection instead of being in a major gallery.  I particularly liked some of the Scottish paintings, as I had never seen anything by those artists before.  Next I walked down the entire “Royal Mile” – from the Edinburgh Castle (now mostly a museum and war memorial) to Holyroodhouse Palace (the Queen’s home in Edinburgh).  I toured the Palace, getting to see both the historic living quarters of Mary Queen of Scots and the current rooms used for official events and ceremonies.  It was amazing how well preserved so much of the Palace was, and how it is still a very much working ‘home’ for the royal family.  I finished off my day by wandering around the Christmas market and festival in the very heart of Edinburgh, and enjoying a mug of hot mulled wine as the temperature dropped.

Christmas Festival

Arthur's Seat

Edinburgh Castle

Sunday I woke up to snow, the first of the season.  It was just over freezing all day, so most of the snow melted, but could be seen on the mountains that surround the city.  I spent the majority of the day inside Edinburgh Castle.   I was surprised by how many different areas there were inside the castle to visit!  There was a war museum, and separate war memorial, but I spent the majority of my time inside the section of the castle where the Scottish honors (crown jewels) are held and where the royal apartments and great hall are.  There were also some beautiful vistas from the Castle, as it is on top of one of the tallest hills around, but I was glad to finish my visit before sundown, as it bordered on the eerie at times, especially when the crowd thinned at times.  Come to find out later, Edinburgh, and the castle in particular, are known to be some of the most haunted places in Europe.  Anyone who knows me well knows it’s a good thing I found that out AFTERWARDS, otherwise I would have never slept!     Even without knowing that, my visit to the Scotch Whisky Experience (learning plus a tasting) was a perfect way to wind down from my weekend and relax on the train ride home.

Tasting Scotch!

Giving Thanks in Britain

Many apologies for my lack of updates – things have been wonderfully busy, but before next week my first visitors arrive, I figured I should catch you all up on what I’ve been up to.

The week of Thanksgiving was just like any other week – I had one coworker wish me “Happy Thanksgiving”, but beyond that and a phone call home to see how the turkey turned out it would have passed without a mark had I not stumbled into a Whole Foods the weekend before and picked up a few ingredients that inspired a whole meal.  My sole American friend here – Karen – came over with Louie and their dog Buffy on Friday night to celebrate, and I did what I could to Americanize my British shopping.  Our meal consisted of a baked chicken, gravy, mashed sweet potatoes, green beans and cranberries – topped off with a passable apple pie and pumpkin cookies (yes Megan, those pumpkin cookies!).  After stuffing ourselves, we settled in to finish off the wine while Karen and Louie introduced me to some British pop culture courtesy of YouTube.

On Saturday, I spent the morning reading until heading out for a long walk to meet up with my coworker Jon and some of his friends to watch some German football and have some German beer (his friends are Berlin fans).  They all had plans for the evening, so after the game I wandered around Covent Garden with all the tourists and ended up buying a discount standing ticket to the ballet (Manon) showing at the Royal Opera House.  I was a bit underdressed compared to the rest of the audience, but it was so amazing to be able to see a great performance like that on short notice for so cheap! 

Sunday, I headed out towards an area of London I haven’t explored before – the Northeast part of central London.  I stopped first in Spitalfields Market, where fashion designers sell their creations 6 days a week, and a surprisingly vast selection of unique foods… I ended up with a Caribbean-Mediterranean fusion wrap that had more flavor than anything I had cooked in weeks!  After that I proceeded up to Columbia Street Market, a very local market that sells flowers every Sunday morning.  It was fantastic – the sellers were shouting and competing for business, and even though it was cold, there were swarms of people clamoring for fresh flowers.  I had planned on buying one bouquet, but I ended up with that plus two Poinsettia plants and a miniature fir tree.  I just couldn’t help myself from getting into the Christmas spirit.  I hadn’t thought through the getting home part, but luckily the bags held up for the full 40 minute walk!

At home, I turned on some Christmas music and decorated a bit before going for a quick run in the last hour of daylight and concocting a soup out of the Thanksgiving leftovers.  It was a great weekend and made me feel a little more at home here.

Friends and Culture

This past weekend I decided to take advantage of the not too cold and SUNNY weather in London and get outside as much as possible!

On Friday, I grabbed a last minute ticket to one of the smaller musicals showing in the West End.  I got a front row ticket to “Crazy for You” – a classic Gershwin show.  I was right up in the action – so close that the lead made a side comment to a few people in my row when he slid a little too close to the edge during a dance number and I had to tuck up my feet when the dancers came through the aisles.

On Saturday I met up with a former coworker from Chicago who is living in London with his wife and 4 year old twins and all of us went to the Natural History Museum.  The kids were so adorable and were extremely excited about the volcano and earthquake section of the museum – especially the room that shook!

Kensington Palace

Crown worn by Princess Margaret

After the twins tired out, we grabbed a quick snack, and after they headed home I went to the nearby Kensington Gardens to walk around.  I was impressed how green everything was still, and saw some of the friendliest squirrels I’ve ever seen in my life.  When I studied abroad in London, I never made it to Kensington Palace to visit the state apartments, so I made sure to head that way to see them.

The palace is currently under construction, so instead of the traditional tour, the state apartments are currently hosting an art installation/exhibition that was completely different than anything I had seen before. In addition to seeing the rooms and decoration, they were set up to tell the stories of seven of the princesses who have lived there since it was built in the late 1600s.  It was a bit surreal, especially when there weren’t many other people there, but beautiful and interesting all at the same time.

On my way to the Tube, I caved to temptation to do my grocery shopping at one of the few Whole Foods in London – inspiring a Thanksgiving meal later this week.

Sunday morning, I headed to one of the further out London buroughs, Stoke Newington, to have brunch with Karen – one of my college roommates who has lived here for a few years.  As usual, it’s like no time has passed since the last time we hung out, and unsurprisingly I ended up with some great book suggestions.  I’m so excited to be able to say “see you soon” to Karen and actually mean it!

St. Paul's Cathedral

I couldn’t waste the rest of another warm-ish and sunny-ish day, so I headed to the South Bank area of London to get some culture breaking up a walk along the Thames.  I popped into the Tate Modern museum to see the current large installation.  Previous installations I have seen are a 500 yard crack in the floor http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/dorissalcedo/default.shtm and 100 million ceramic sunflower seeds http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/unileverseries2010/default.shtm.  The current one did not disappoint to be completely different  - an 11 minute silent film projected on a 40 foot tall screen created and edited with no digital help.  

Parliament

I ended my jaunt at Royal Festival Hall – they were displaying the 2011 Press Photo winners, which showcased the best - both beautiful and disturbing - photos taken of news events in the past year.  The place was packed, as it also was the Jazz festival weekend, so I got to enjoy some music while I took a break to eat dinner and read some of my new book.  

Westminster Cathedral

Big Ben

I finished my walk by heading to the cathedral - passing the London Eye, Parliament and Westminster Abbey along the way.  Everything was lit up so beautifully I couldn’t help but take a few photos!

Thanks to everyone who has been reading, sending me emails and comments - it makes me feel not so far away from my family and friends!  

Happy Thanksgiving!

London Eye

Prague

Old Town Square

Last weekend I flew to Prague to visit my friend Marina. We worked together a few years ago in Buenos Aires, and as luck would have it, she has been living and working in Prague for about 6 months - and we were able to meet up in the short time we overlap in Europe!

I flew in early on Saturday morning, and Marina was kind enough to meet me at the bus that dropped me off near the city center.  After dropping off my bag at her apartment, we traipsed over the entire city - giving our legs at 10 mile workout!

Astronomical Clock

To get to the historic town center, we walked through Marina's neighborhood as well as the main shopping area off of Wenceslas Square.  The Old Town Square is home to Tyn Church, as well as the Old Town Hall (from the 1300's) - which has probably one of the more famous Prague sights - a beautiful astronomical clock that is quite the scene at the top of the hour!

We grabbed a delicious lunch of traditional Czech food - we both had a fantastic potato-mushroom soup in a fancy bread bowl, then continued on to the Charles Bridge and it's many statues, and up the hill to the Prague Castle.

Charles Bridge

After visiting the castle and the cathedral inside, we sought out the Church of Our Lady of Victory and the Infant Jesus of Prague.  The church had a different name on our map, so it took going into a few shops, cafes and even a hotel to figure out which street it was on, but we found it and walked in to an English Mass!   http://www.pragjesu.info/en/

View from the castle

We did a little shopping and headed back to Marina’s apartment to drop off our bags, then went to a late dinner at an Italian restaurant that Marina had heard excellent things of – and it lived up to its reputation!  It was starting to get really cold, but we walked the whole way back to her apartment and then both crashed!

On Sunday we grabbed breakfast at Marina’s favorite café – they had delicious croissants and coffee, so I was happy as well, then headed into another shopping area with smaller independent stores.  After that my quick visit to Prague was coming to an end, so we took the scenic route to the bus and I was back on a plane to London in short order.

Me and Marina with the Castle in the background