Brilliant British Fare

The view as I approach the Abbey.

Many thanks to Claudina Padovani for suggesting a visit to Westminster Abbey. With the encouragement of Kumar (EU Test Manager), I took a long, early lunch today to visit. The Abbey is only about 15 minutes’ walk from the office. I arrived just before it opened, and the queue moved quickly. I got some photos of the outside, but photos are not allowed inside. 

Just a couple block furthers you can see Big Ben just
to the left of the abbey.

The abbey

It is hard to describe this amazing complex. The oldest part was built in 960, it is full of famous people (passed, of course), and still used for major ceremonies including coronations, weddings and funerals. Since I couldn't take photos inside, I bought one of the books that shows the highlights.

Manuela had found a restaurant that specializes in seasonal British fare, so she, Kristin (visiting from Frankfurt) and I headed to Chelsea after work. Sadly none of my photos of the food turned out, but it was all very good. Manuela and I both had the Charter Pie, which is a pot filled with chicken, bacon, onions, mushrooms in a creamy sauce and topped with flaky pastry. Kristin got the leg of lamb, which she said was very good. For dessert Manuela had hot chocolate with orange and Kristin and I both had Sticky Toffee Pudding. I really wanted to try this and was not sorry. The cake soaked up the toffee sauce and almost melted. Served warm with vanilla ice cream, it was delicious.

A really cool building on the way
back to the office.

Tomorrow is my last day in the London office—cannot believe this week has gone by so fast, and pleasantly surprised at how much work I’ve gotten done. I’ll be giving training on DW and DB tomorrow. I hope to spend some time in museums after work since a few are open late on Friday nights.

With the end of my visit to London looming, I have to say I am terribly disappointed that I’ve not seen a single chimney sweep, matchstick girl or anyone selling flowers for toppins. London, you have really let me down.

Juliette

Walking-Challenged in Chelsea

I’m staying in this evening since my knee is really acting up. Not sure what I did to it other than walking more than I usually do. It’s good that I’m working otherwise I would be really frustrated. I’ve gotten familiar with Boots (pharmacy chain) buying ibuprofen and a knee brace today, and of course, another crunchy bar.

Since I’m in the flat I thought I should talk a little about it. It is in Chelsea Cloisters on Sloane Ave a few blocks from the South Kensington Station. I chose the location for a few reasons: safe neighborhood, good restaurants and close to the V&A. My flat faces the center of the building rather than the street, so it is very quiet. It is small by American standards, but has all I need (though if I make this trip again, I will try to get a flat with a clothes washer so I can travel even lighter).

The tiny but complete kitchen.

I couldn’t tell from the photos/description of the flat, but the kitchen is a separate room with a full cooker (stove and oven), microwave, euro-size fridge and electric kettle.

The bath is small, but has a nice size tub. The bath and kitchen are each about 8 x 6 feet.

The main room has a double bed, small built in cupboard (more on that later), fold out table, wall mount tv shelf and built in cabinets (around the bed). It is about 12 x 10. Not huge, but perfect for one and cozy for two. The kitchen has a small window, the main room has one the is and 2/3 the width of the room. Both are European style.

 

A few of the things I've picked up at the local stores.

There is a Sainsbury Local which is sort of a convenience store, but nicer than a 7-11. They have prepared meals, salad fixings, individual containers of sliced fruit and a decent wine and beer selection. The Waitrose on Kings Road is a little nicer and larger—about 6 blocks away.

The first time I used the water kettle, I thought, “Dang, that water boiled fast.” Then I remembered that everything is 220 here—so it should heat up faster. The other thing is the garbage. There’s this cupboard right inside the door—the top is used as a nightstand and the top interior has the fuse box for the unit. The bottom section is where you put your garbage. Someone comes by twice a day and takes it out through a door in the hallway. I noticed similar doors in some of the houses in the neighborhood.

I had a really nice lunch with Sarath and Kumar at an Indian restaurant near the office. It is too bad that you miss so much of a person’s sense of humor remotely. Kumar is a flat-out smartass (which I totally respect) and Sarath may be quiet, but he is REALLY observant.  I love hearing all the different accents in the office. I have to say our IT departments have made it really easy to travel from one office to another. One example: I didn’t have to do anything to connect to the corporate wifi since the login info is the same as Austin. Was very nice to power up and start working with no hassle.

I hope to take a long lunch and visit Westminster Abbey tomorrow (thanks for the tip, Claudina!), and dinner with Manuel and Christina (who is visiting from the Frankfurt office) after work here in Chelsea.

I've got 3 full days left here in the London. If there's anything you're curious about or want a picture of, let me know!

Cheers,

Juliette

Delightful!

I had another nice day here in London. This time I remembered to set my alarm, but I was already awake when it went off. Maybe my ability to adjust to London time is some gift from all my ancestors that came from here:

Grandmother on father’s side—she was from the part of London where it always snows and everywhere you go is uphill. There was apparently a severe butter shortage at the time since she never had anything but lard for her toast. She emigrated to America in her early 20’s, but her good English upbringing ensured she had a miserable life no matter where she lived.

Great-grandmother on mother’s side—family lore has it that she sewed for the Queen before emigrating to American. It would have been Queen Victoria. Seemed impressive until I read that Victoria often used local crafts people when she travelled. Still, it’s better than her having been a charwoman or the one who emptied the night jars.

Parliament and Big Ben

Leslie Howard, mother’s father’s first cousin—If you’ve seen Gone With the Wind, he was the ever-simpering spineless Ashley Wilkes. He missed the premier of the movie since he was due for duty--he flew for the Royal Air Force, and never came back from a mission.  Huh—just realized that one of the memorials I saw the other day was for blokes like him. Nice.

I figured out the camera and got some photos of the view from the office.

Buckingham Palace private gardens. Queen HATES that anyone has this view.

Have you ever seen a coffee maker like this? that thing on the right--milk fridge. Yep,  steams your milk automagically.

Had a tasty lunch at a Spanish restaurant right downstairs—I chose shrimp and calamari, and had a taste of a couple other things. I’m eating as much seafood as I can.

Got a fair amount of work done, and had some good chats with a couple of the devs here. Never thought working on the database would make me so popular.

After work Manuela and I headed to Liberty. She wanted to look for patterns for knitting gloves, and I wanted to apply for a VAT refund. Ended up getting a pattern book, some English wool yarn and larger needles. I wanted to get the yarn for a sweater, but there’s no way I’m bringing back 16 skeins of yarn, so I’ll make a scarf—6 skeins seems much more reasonable.

At the risk of disrupting the space/time continuum, I asked Manuela to take a picture of me wearing a shirt I made of Liberty cotton that I got from April of Fabricker in Austin, holding a bolt of the same fabric, standing in front of yet more beautiful cotton in the Liberty store.

I apologize for any abnormal behavior exhibited by your computer…

Okay last item tonight: a happy accident.

I left Manuela in the Oxford Circus station and headed back to the flat. I still needed fish sauce for curry and was happy to find the nearly Sainsbury Local had what I needed, as well as yogurt (Rachel’s Organic is very tasty), wine, champagne and washing up liquid (dishwashing soap in America).

When I got back to the flat, I realized that I had forgotten to get curry powder and that Thai Red curry is nothing like Indian red curry paste.

The good news is that it turned out anyway—tastes very much like Thai coconut soup.  Yum!

Drawing a bath now since there is a bath. The bathroom is tiny but very functional. I can sit on toilet and brush my teeth at the same time—the ultimate in multi-tasking.

Cheers,

Juliette

Life as a working stiff...

Today was my first day in the London office. I took the Tube—only 2 stops! It was so nice to finally meet in person the folks that I’ve gotten to know over the phone, email and Skype. Even better is that I was able to work on a couple of issues thanks for my database skills and access.

Manuela and I ran out to grab something to bring back to the office for lunch. We also stopped in Hotel Chocolat and picked up some “Eton Mess”. Very tasty little truffle: “A cult British dessert featuring tangy strawberry, crisp meringue pieces and creamy white chocolate.”

I had big plans to make chicken curry tonight, but headed in the wrong direction and ended up in Highgate at Marks & Spencer. I got everything I needed except fish sauce. I figured out where the market I went to on Saturday is, but my knee is hurting today, so I picked up a sandwich at Pret-a-Manger and headed back to the apartment.

Tomorrow we’ll go for a team lunch at a Spanish restaurant and on Wednesday I’ll have “Indian food with Indians”. Apparently the Europeans on the team don’t eat spicy food, but I really want to have Indian food here in London since I hear it is good. We do have one or two decent Indian in Austin, but I am hoping for a better class of curry here.

I tried to get some photos of the view from the office, but they all came out white, so I will try again tomorrow.

Juliette

A Lovely Day in London

London Day 2:

I started my day walking on Kings Road towards Victoria station. I found the office—not the prettiest building in London, but lots of nice shops in the area, and not far from Buckingham Palace. (dang it, I forgot to check if the Queen was in)

I never was photogenic, but here is proof that I was in front of Buckingham Palace or have pretty decent PhotoShop skills.

Cool buildings are everywhere. For someone who grew up in earthquake country, brick buildings are especially interesting to me. That section in the foreground really is about 6 feet wide.

I walked through the park across from the palace and up to Hyde Park. I had a full English breakfast at a café right on Serpentine Lake. The eggs didn’t have  a lot of flavor, the sausage was a little greasy, but the bacon was really good and the beans were tasty. I don’t think I want to know what black pudding is made out of, but I tasted it. Not sure what I think about it…

Chocolately goodness at Paul

My next target was Liberty (of London), so I hopped on the tube towards Oxford Circus.  Before I found Liberty I stopped at Paul and got a hot chocolate and chocolate éclair. The Liberty building itself is gorgeous, and I wanted to get a length of their gorgeous fabric as a souvenir. I settled on a very pretty blue colorway of an art nouveau Tana Lawn (photos later). I also got myself a needle case and a pattern book by V&A.

After Liberty, I wandered down Regent Street. I stumbled on the Manet exhibition, so paid the 15 GBP to see it. He is not my favorite impressionist, but I did want to see art while I was here. Walking back toward Regent Street I made to mistake of walking in to Fortnum and Mason. It is a food snob’s nirvana: Chocolates and candies of every kind, cheese, sausages, wine, champagne, tea. I had my first macaron—I took the cashier’s suggestion and got a passion fruit one. I’m not sure how to describe it, but it was really, really good. I am saving the dark chocolate poire and framboise truffles for dessert.

I must say I am really glad I made the coat and changed the back bodice lining since I am wearing it every time I go out. The knitted cap I made is also proving very useful, though I must remember that if you put a hat on with wet hair it is best to leave it on. I see lots of similar hats, so I fit right in.

An Amazing Meal

I wanted to eat somewhere close to the apartment last night, and found Pellicano just a couple of blocks away.

I was the only customer for about an hour, and enjoyed listening to the staff speak Italian. After I told the waiter that I was taking photos to share with my husband, he made suggestions on how to best show it off. When I told them my name is Guilietta, the waiter said he was from Verona!

I’ll let the photos of the food tell the story—everything was fresh and delicious.

Tomorrow I’ll be in the office, so probably not nearly as much to report.

Cheers!

Juliette