Don't get me wrong, England as a whole has plenty of open space, but London is by far the most crowded city I’ve ever seen. I didn’t realize how much I missed open space until Bobby and I went to Oxford last weekend with a few friends from London and, instead of commenting on all the beautiful old buildings, we just kept talking about how much SPACE there was everywhere. We went into a Starbucks that had two stories and I almost had to sit down I was so blown away at how big it was. In reality, it was probably just a normal sized Starbucks, but I’m so used to all the tiny shops in London, that even normal sized rooms impress me.
There are just people EVERYWHERE in this city. When I first got here and didn’t have a job, I only rode the tube at non-rush-hour times and therefore thought it was the best public transportation system in the world. The train would come ever 2-3 minutes and I could almost always get a seat. My first day of work, I went down to the tube platform at 8:30 and there were, literally, 200 other people on that platform. I had to wait for 12 trains to come and go before I could get on one. This, as it turns out, is a pretty normal day on the London underground system. If I get on and don’t have to cram in like a sardine and push myself up against the wall, I think that it’s a great day. If I get a SEAT, well, I’ve never gotten a seat during rush-hour so I don’t even know what that feels like. It’s not that there’s a lack of trains. One train comes every one minute, there are just that many PEOPLE.
As some of you know, London is a very Green city in the sense that it has lots of parks. But, when I got to Green Park, right across the street form my building, at lunch, I almost have to fight to get a spot on the grass. I just can’t get away from people in this city.
This “can’t get away from people” feeling continues at home where bobby and I share a very tiny flat. In truth, the size of the flat wouldn’t be that bad, it’s just the fact that we only have one piece of furniture on which you can sit in our apartment- a love seat. This means that any time bobby and I are both sitting down, we’re sitting directly next to each other. Now, I love bobby, but I would really love to be in the same room as him and not be sitting on the same piece of furniture. That would be great.
I was talking to my friend Nishant at lunch the other day and came to the odd realization that I miss Yorktown Virginia. I miss driving 15 minutes to the grocery store, I miss walking around and not seeing another person, I miss the quite. While I really love living in London right now, I don’t think I could ever live in a city forever. I really do need my space.
21 May 2008
What I'm Reading
This is a post for my mom, because she always asks.
I just finished "Airframe" by Michael Crichton. It was alright, not one of Crichton's best- it didn't pull in as much science and conspiracy as I usually like.
I've started "Notes from Underground" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. This is one of many, many books I own because at some point in College I was supposed to read it, but never really got around to it. I vaguely remember reading this 150 page book in one night while staying up with Sarah Jayne in the art studio, but I don't think you really absorb Dostoyevsky when trying to read him in one go at 4am, so i'm reading it again. I wish I could remember what class it was for...
11 May 2008
Dublin
(Be warned, this is a long post, but I put in pretty pictures, so I think you can handle it.)
We had an absolutely fabulous 3-day weekend in Ireland. For those who aren't familiar with bank holiday weekends, let me just say, they are the greatest invention ever. In the UK we still get the same number of public holidays as the US (8 per year I think), but since the British aren't too fond of celebrating Thanksgiving and other such American holidays, they spread out the public holidays throughout the year with a fantastic invention called a bank holiday. Basically, the banks decide to close and everybody else does too.
We've got another bank holiday coming up at the end of May, but no formal plans thus far.
Anyway, back to Ireland. We had planned this trip a few weeks prior, booked a flight, a hostel and a fun day tour around the island. A few days prior to the trip, the weather forecast was looking grim and we were preparing ourselves for lots of rain (which really just meant more time in the pub drinking Guinness, so I wasn't too worried). Instead we had beautiful sunny skies the entire weekend, as evidenced below.
Those are the Cliffs of Moher, one of the most iconic spots in Ireland. More about that in a minute.
So, we had a RyanAir flight (only £0.99 - until you add in the £30-40 of taxes and fees) that left WAY too early on Saturday morning. We got into the city and checked into the hostel around 9 am and then started wandering around for the day.
We went by Trinity College (below), the oldest university in Ireland (1592 or something, beating Laura's alma mater of W&M).
The campus was beautiful, and I couldn't even imagine trying to go to school there with all of the tourists wandering around (as some of you know, Virginia Tech isn't exactly a beacon for tourists around the world). Anyhow, we wandered around the campus, then proceeded to wander around the rest of the city for the rest of the day. Highlights include: my first taste of true Irish Guinness, shopping on Grafton Street, walking through St. Stephen's Green park, and some true Irish food.
Sunday we decided to take a day-trip with Paddywagon tours to the Cliffs of Moher.
It was a great trip, we had a great tour guide and learned a bunch about the history of Dublin, Ireland, the potato famine (i.e. "the great hunger") and lots more. The highlight of the trip was obviously the cliffs.
This picture above doesn't show how deadly close we were standing to the edge of the cliff, and Laura is masking her fear pretty well in the picture I think.
They're not supposed to let you get this close to the edge either, but we're obviously rebels.
Nearby the cliffs is a place called The Burren, which is basically a huge wasteland of rocks and more rocks. It's got a definite "I'm on the surface of the moon" type of look (aside from the clouds in the picture below of course).
On Monday, our flight didn't leave until 8pm, so we got up, checked out of the hostel and then made our way to the Guinness factory.
There's an interesting and telling glimpse about where our priorities stand. When we walked through Trinity College, there was the option to check out The Book of Kells, a manuscript from 800 AD and one of the most cherished relics in Irish history. But it cost €8 to view, which we thought was way too much. Then there's the tour of the Guinness factory, which is €14 per person, and obviously completely reasonable (it does come with a "free" pint at the end).
The tour was pretty fun, but nothing compared to the great view from the bar on the top of the building. The whole bar upstairs was packed with people, all drinking their free pint of the black stuff and taking in the 360 degree view from the glass-enclosed bar.
"But Bob," I hear you ask, "how much better was the Guinness?" A fair question. The pint at the factory was definitely delicious, and tasted noticeably different from a normal pint in the UK, and definitely from the US. But there's the distinction. Drinking Guinness in a pub in London, and drinking one in a pub in Dublin, I don't think there's a difference. However, there is a huge difference from drinking a pint in the US. Either way, it's fantastic.
Also, I think the following picture should be part of a new advertising campaign for Guinness.
So that's our trip. We had a great time, and it was a great way to kick of the next few crazy months of visitors and trips around Europe.
It also seemed to kick off a much deserved break from the freezing cold winter over here, which I will be celebrating by drinking as many pints of Guinness as I can in the glorious sunshine.
Cheers!
We had an absolutely fabulous 3-day weekend in Ireland. For those who aren't familiar with bank holiday weekends, let me just say, they are the greatest invention ever. In the UK we still get the same number of public holidays as the US (8 per year I think), but since the British aren't too fond of celebrating Thanksgiving and other such American holidays, they spread out the public holidays throughout the year with a fantastic invention called a bank holiday. Basically, the banks decide to close and everybody else does too.
We've got another bank holiday coming up at the end of May, but no formal plans thus far.
Anyway, back to Ireland. We had planned this trip a few weeks prior, booked a flight, a hostel and a fun day tour around the island. A few days prior to the trip, the weather forecast was looking grim and we were preparing ourselves for lots of rain (which really just meant more time in the pub drinking Guinness, so I wasn't too worried). Instead we had beautiful sunny skies the entire weekend, as evidenced below.
Those are the Cliffs of Moher, one of the most iconic spots in Ireland. More about that in a minute.So, we had a RyanAir flight (only £0.99 - until you add in the £30-40 of taxes and fees) that left WAY too early on Saturday morning. We got into the city and checked into the hostel around 9 am and then started wandering around for the day.
We went by Trinity College (below), the oldest university in Ireland (1592 or something, beating Laura's alma mater of W&M).
The campus was beautiful, and I couldn't even imagine trying to go to school there with all of the tourists wandering around (as some of you know, Virginia Tech isn't exactly a beacon for tourists around the world). Anyhow, we wandered around the campus, then proceeded to wander around the rest of the city for the rest of the day. Highlights include: my first taste of true Irish Guinness, shopping on Grafton Street, walking through St. Stephen's Green park, and some true Irish food.Sunday we decided to take a day-trip with Paddywagon tours to the Cliffs of Moher.
It was a great trip, we had a great tour guide and learned a bunch about the history of Dublin, Ireland, the potato famine (i.e. "the great hunger") and lots more. The highlight of the trip was obviously the cliffs.
This picture above doesn't show how deadly close we were standing to the edge of the cliff, and Laura is masking her fear pretty well in the picture I think.
They're not supposed to let you get this close to the edge either, but we're obviously rebels.Nearby the cliffs is a place called The Burren, which is basically a huge wasteland of rocks and more rocks. It's got a definite "I'm on the surface of the moon" type of look (aside from the clouds in the picture below of course).
On Monday, our flight didn't leave until 8pm, so we got up, checked out of the hostel and then made our way to the Guinness factory.
There's an interesting and telling glimpse about where our priorities stand. When we walked through Trinity College, there was the option to check out The Book of Kells, a manuscript from 800 AD and one of the most cherished relics in Irish history. But it cost €8 to view, which we thought was way too much. Then there's the tour of the Guinness factory, which is €14 per person, and obviously completely reasonable (it does come with a "free" pint at the end).
The tour was pretty fun, but nothing compared to the great view from the bar on the top of the building. The whole bar upstairs was packed with people, all drinking their free pint of the black stuff and taking in the 360 degree view from the glass-enclosed bar."But Bob," I hear you ask, "how much better was the Guinness?" A fair question. The pint at the factory was definitely delicious, and tasted noticeably different from a normal pint in the UK, and definitely from the US. But there's the distinction. Drinking Guinness in a pub in London, and drinking one in a pub in Dublin, I don't think there's a difference. However, there is a huge difference from drinking a pint in the US. Either way, it's fantastic.
Also, I think the following picture should be part of a new advertising campaign for Guinness.
So that's our trip. We had a great time, and it was a great way to kick of the next few crazy months of visitors and trips around Europe.It also seemed to kick off a much deserved break from the freezing cold winter over here, which I will be celebrating by drinking as many pints of Guinness as I can in the glorious sunshine.
Cheers!
08 May 2008
Ireland
We went to Ireland for the bank holiday this past weekend, but I feel that bobby has been slacking off in the blogging department and therefore refuse to post about it and will wait for him to do it. If you talk to him, encourage him to blog.
01 May 2008
Things I Miss About American, Part II: Mexican Food
Bobby and I went to a meeting of American Ex-Pats last week. I was expecting to talk to everyone about the US Democratic Primary race and was ready to defend my support of Hillary, however, I ended up talking to no one about that subject but did talk to about 12 different people about how London how no decent Mexican food. Oh how I miss it. And, as it turns out, i'm not alone.
Bobby and I have found one REALLY good Mexican restaurant. But, while it is VERY good, it's upscale authentic Mexican, and that's not what I really miss. What I miss is that hole-in-the-wall Mexican food. You know how every town has that Mexican restaurant whose name starts with El and whose menu is numbered 1 - 64? Yeah, thats what I miss. I miss my taco salad with chicken.
We've explored quite a few very BAD Mexican restaurants in our quest of find a decent burrito. What we've determined is that the lack of any good Mexican food is due to two factors: 1- There are very few (if any) Mexicans in London and 2- You can't get the products needed to produce good Mexican food here. Let's discuss:
1- There are very few (if any) Mexicans in London. Now, this is obviously a gross generalization. But, while i've met people from all over the world in this city (including many Latin American countries), I have yet to meet someone from Mexico and i'm not convinced that the chefs at these so called 'Mexican Restaurants' are, in fact, Mexican. As I discussed in an earlier post, we have been impressed at how authentic the European and Asian food is in this city. However, I wouldn't be surprised if you found a bunch of Italians or Indians in the kitchens at the Mexican Restaurants here (while it would be the exact opposite in the states).
2- You can't get the products needed to produce good Mexican food here. This, is not a generalization. One problem you face when trying to reproduce Mexican food is the lack of a variety in the cheese department. They basically have one type of cheese here: cheddar. It comes in different types (ie, mild, strong, aged, etc), but its all just cheddar. Sometimes, if we're lucky, we can find some feta or mozzarella in the grocery store, but if you wanted something like monteray jack, well, just forget about it. Another problem you face is the fact that they don't have tortilla chips here. They have dorritos and sometimes we can find the just plain old salted variety that come close to American tortilla chips, but, when we've ordered Nachos in restaurants, we've usually gotten Cool Ranch Dorritos covered in melted cheddar. Gross. Another problem Bobby and I face when cooking Mexican food is the lack of ground meats. At home, we would always make burritos with ground chicken or turkey (since I avoid beef) but here, you can't find it. They do offer ground beef, along with ground pork and lamb, so we usually opt for the pork, but its just not the same.
Now, when I come home to visit and just want to go to El (fill in the blank) for every meal, you'll understand why.
Bobby and I have found one REALLY good Mexican restaurant. But, while it is VERY good, it's upscale authentic Mexican, and that's not what I really miss. What I miss is that hole-in-the-wall Mexican food. You know how every town has that Mexican restaurant whose name starts with El and whose menu is numbered 1 - 64? Yeah, thats what I miss. I miss my taco salad with chicken.
We've explored quite a few very BAD Mexican restaurants in our quest of find a decent burrito. What we've determined is that the lack of any good Mexican food is due to two factors: 1- There are very few (if any) Mexicans in London and 2- You can't get the products needed to produce good Mexican food here. Let's discuss:
1- There are very few (if any) Mexicans in London. Now, this is obviously a gross generalization. But, while i've met people from all over the world in this city (including many Latin American countries), I have yet to meet someone from Mexico and i'm not convinced that the chefs at these so called 'Mexican Restaurants' are, in fact, Mexican. As I discussed in an earlier post, we have been impressed at how authentic the European and Asian food is in this city. However, I wouldn't be surprised if you found a bunch of Italians or Indians in the kitchens at the Mexican Restaurants here (while it would be the exact opposite in the states).
2- You can't get the products needed to produce good Mexican food here. This, is not a generalization. One problem you face when trying to reproduce Mexican food is the lack of a variety in the cheese department. They basically have one type of cheese here: cheddar. It comes in different types (ie, mild, strong, aged, etc), but its all just cheddar. Sometimes, if we're lucky, we can find some feta or mozzarella in the grocery store, but if you wanted something like monteray jack, well, just forget about it. Another problem you face is the fact that they don't have tortilla chips here. They have dorritos and sometimes we can find the just plain old salted variety that come close to American tortilla chips, but, when we've ordered Nachos in restaurants, we've usually gotten Cool Ranch Dorritos covered in melted cheddar. Gross. Another problem Bobby and I face when cooking Mexican food is the lack of ground meats. At home, we would always make burritos with ground chicken or turkey (since I avoid beef) but here, you can't find it. They do offer ground beef, along with ground pork and lamb, so we usually opt for the pork, but its just not the same.
Now, when I come home to visit and just want to go to El (fill in the blank) for every meal, you'll understand why.
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