Such a tourist...for now

I've come to the conclusion that saying that London is a great city is an understatement. London is an amazing, fantastic, incredible, impressive, mind-boggling, I'm-running-out-of-adjectives-to-describe-its-greatness city.

Since my last post, I've gone on to do a few monumental must-dos in London like shopping at the world-famous shopping empire, Harrods, particularly in its Egyptian-themed hand bag section, with names like Balenciaga, Versace, Fendi and high-end names my modest budget had never encountered. You could spend days at this 7-story department store and still not see everything it has to offer, including all its meat cuts, cheese samples, home furnishings, not to mention fashion shows, celebrity signings, and of course clothing, perfume and handbag departments. Not too shabby for a store that opened in 1849 as a teeny tiny grocery shop!

Other monumental visits involved a stop at a pub for a refreshing pint, where I met some British blokes (though my bf prefers me to stick to my American terms and say I had a beer and met some British guys) and most recently, my friend Vicky conducted unassuming tourists as photographers at a makeshift photoshoot of the two of us at the London Tower and Tower Bridge. What an incredible place! I stood right in front of where Anne Boleyn was beheaded, which is crazy to think about. There's so much history in that place and I can't wait to save up 20 pounds (which trust me, is an investment for me) so I can go inside and appreciate the history in person, as well as see the coveted Crown jewels.

In other matters, I almost have a flat!! I probably visited around 10 places in all, some small, some larger, some pretty, some awful. The areas we looked at were Clapham, Islington and Camden (where punks abound), and I ended up settling for Clapham which is a quaint area with very typical London flats. Very Love Actually-type in the scene where Hugh Grant is looking for his love interest from flat to flat, though a little nicer. Now I'm just waiting to hear back to see if I got the one I want, a 2-bedroom, quite roomy and cozy, yet modern, close to the tube station, pubs and restaurants. We shall see, fingers crossed!!

Cheers until next time (by the way, Londoners overuse "cheers" like Italians overuse "prego", it can mean so many things, even as a "thank you", weird...)!

Cottage Pie, Hugh Grant and Vicky in one day

List of things as to why Jan 4th was even better than Jan 2nd (refer to post #1):

1. I measured my hands against Hugh Grant's at what seems to be London's Hollywood Walk of Fame, i.e. practically the front stoop of my hotel.

2. I visited the National Portrait Gallery and saw original portraits of some of my favorite historical characters, Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth, and even Shakespeare (an odd misfit in my list of royalty, but not really since he wrote during the Elizabethan era...I learned a few things!)

3. In my quest to be a local, I ate Cottage Pie. It makes you think of cottage cheese, or maybe a cozy meal in a warm cottage on a cold day, right? It's more like the latter: ground beef in a hot delicious gravy under a layer of mashed potatoes. It's nothing I haven't eaten before, but the layout and flavor combination was simply deliighhtful! The funny thing is the dish description said the entree was accompanied by a "generous helping of steamed vegetables"...I guess two trees of broccoli, three strands of overcooked carrots and three string beans are considered "generous" here, am I unaware of a famine going on? Or maybe I still have American super-sized servings in mind...

4. Probably the best part of my day: I saw my friend Vicky from when I lived back near Cancun that I haven't seen in 10 years!! Incredible! We had so much to talk about, we only got to her part of her life story today. Wednesday night is reserved for mine hehe. Why London you may ask? Well, she's visiting her boyfriend who's from here, so I guess it took London to bring us back together!

Anyway, time to hit the sack, I start work tomorrow. I guess living in London doesn't come free after all :)

Toodles until next time,
K.

A good start to 2009!

(view from my hotel room)

Well, hallo mates!

Alreet, alreet, I'll try to refrain from sounding like the Geico Gekko by using annoying British-sounding language. Of course, the fact that I'm not British is the only thing that makes it annoying, as it sounds quite lovely coming from the handsome chaps on the street, doesn't it? Ok, I'll stop (bloody hell).

Anyway, I flew across the pond yesterday from NYC without a hitch. In fact, Jan 2nd, 2009, was probably the luckiest day of the year for me (ok, let's hope this good year doesn't end here) . Not only was I not charged for over 100 lbs in overweight baggage (the credit card system was down, thank you technology!), but I also didn't get a stinky, nor drunk, nor huge person on either side of my London-bound plane seat. I hate middle seats (which you get when you book your flight a week in advance), but aside from taking their shoes off (take note please, spare thy neighbors), I couldn't complain about the British and Indian twenty-somethings next to me. The cherry topping off the hitch-less day, was that my original nice mid-size, 3-4 star hotel in Leicester Square was full. So, oh and behold, I had to endure the arduous task of switching to their 5-star sister hotel across the street, with an even better room and view of London. Now, I can sit on my bed, or my couch, or the toilet if you may, and stare at good old Big Ben clock tower, London Eye, or the statue on Trafalgar Square (I really must read up on who that is), take your pick!

After 11 hours of delightful rest, I woke up this morning, a little confused as to where I was. Once I realized I was on British soil, I scolded myself about how I dare waste the day away sleeping! Then I remembered I'm here for 6-8 months, there's plenty of time to become a local!

So I did what any London local would, and got myself to Starbucks at Borders. Ok, I'm only kidding, but as I made my way down the historical narrow European streets, I was a bit saddened that American franchises have taken over many nooks and crannies of what should be an authentic European landscape. Don't get me wrong, I ADORE Starbucks (though much prefer Barnes & Noble to Borders), but other than when I'm feeling nostalgic for home, I would much rather take in a capuccino or latte at a sidewalk cafe that boasts of British-looking citizens.

Which brings me to my next topic...how does one describe what a British person looks like? I've tried to dissect that in my head to no avail, but there's something that definitely sets them apart. First off, they're more stylish. For instance, as I made my way down Charing Cross Road during my first stroll around town as a wannabe local, two couples walked by me. One couple were dressed in dark-colored wool coats, wearing Burberry scarves and probably Burberry glasses, and most likely Burberry loafers. In other words, Burberry-chic. The other couple looked like they were dressed to jog (but they were definitely strolling), wearing North Face fleeces, sweatpants, and New Balance sneakers. Not that they looked bad, but c'mon. Nothing screams "I'm a tourist- from America!" like fanny-packs, sneakers, and a clear exchange of comfort over chic. Trust me, you CAN be both! (Oh and by the way, the handsome couple had a British accent, and guess what kind of accent the other couple had...)

So anyway, other than looks, there's a certain confidence to being British, and even European as a whole, and that's what I'm trying to obtain while I'm here. Yes, I do consider myself to be fairly confident in who I am, but one can always improve, right? I think I'd like to have the quiet, subtle, beautiful, serene confidence of someone like Gwyneth Paltrow, who I consider practically British. I mean, she's married to Chris Martin from Coldplay, which is Britain's #1 band. Ok fine, maybe I should strive to be more like Madonna! Ok, she's not British either, but she practically is! Ok, I've got it! Kate Winslet or Keira Knightley. There ya go, and their names both start with K like mine. I've found my role models while I'm here.

Until next time, cheerio!

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