Category: Travel

Britain, History, Humor, London, Travel October 7, 2014October 6, 2014

Cambridge Part 1: Open Days

“Bottled, was he?” Said Colonel Bantry, with an Englishman’s sympathy for alcoholic excess. “Oh, well, can’t judge a fellow by what he does when he’s drunk? When I was at Cambridge, I remember I put a certain utensil – well – well, nevermind.”
― Agatha Christie, The Body in the Library

I’d wanted to work with The Collaboreat ever since I heard Bethany was starting it up, so when they called for post ideas with an academic bent to celebrate back-to-school season, I pitched profiling the best eats in Cambridge. This was not entirely without self-interest. I’d wanted to go back to Cambridge for a while and Jeff had never been, it was the end of summer, and we were dying to get out of the city and spend some time together after his latest round of exams. So, those safely behind us, we picked a Saturday early last month and found a train deal.

In the great debate of which is better of the Oxbridge schools, my punt is firmly in the river Cam. My mother got a degree from there and I’m quite loyal. I also hoped to to attend and nearly got in. A single selecting academic said no, earning my everlasting rancor. But, thanks to Mum’s example of dogged determination to get yet another degree a bit later than typically done, I haven’t entirely ruled it out.

As it happened, we could not have picked a better day if we tried! By sheer dumb luck we ended up in Cambridge on an Open Day, where many of the sites of the city you couldn’t normally get into (certainly not without paying) were available to the public for free. The colleges pulled out their best wares for showing off and there were chances to wander through libraries and chapels and grounds to our hearts content.

I have an unholy love of getting into places I shouldn’t. So…come take a peek around with me this week!

Britain, Freelance, Humor, London, Travel October 6, 2014October 6, 2014

We’re Alive

“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.”
― John Steinbeck

Minions, we’re back from our vacation…and already back at work. Time waits for no freelancer.

A holiday was much needed, I’d been perilously close to burnout on a lot of fronts without a break. Not that we got much of one! We did a whirlwind tour of London before taking in Salisbury, Stonehenge, Bath, the Cotswolds, and Oxford in less than a week. But still, it gave me a lot of room to breath and think and relax a bit. I’m still working on getting all our recent adventure photos in some semblance of order, but expect a lot of recaps here over the next couple of weeks.

In the meantime, I’m glad to be back in London, working on new projects, and seeing what turns up now that I’m refreshed and able to handle it. Summer came to a bumpy end, but I’m looking forward to A/W14.

In the meantime, let’s talk burnout. How do you deal with it and how do you manage when things (good or bad) pile up on top of you? How do you keep the overwhelm from becoming overwhelming? Shower me with your wisdom, kittens.

Britain, Expat, History, London, Travel September 17, 2014September 16, 2014

House Guards and Horses

“It’s hard to lead a cavalry charge if you think you look funny on a horse.”
― Adlai E. Stevenson II

Meandering past Horse Guards Parade in Westminster a couple of weeks ago, we got the unexpected pleasure of seeing the riders and horses put through their paces. The Household Cavalry are made of of some of the most prestigious regiments of the British Army due to the fact that they are members of the Queen’s personal guard. Their history goes back to the 17th century and their museum (housed in the Horse Guards building), which forms the traditional entrance to St. James’s Palace, is well worth seeing if you’re interested in British military history.

The first hint that something was going on was the sound of hooves on stone.

Inspection.

The other half of the guards regiment (the Life Guards are in Red, the Royal House Guards and and 1st Dragoon, also called the Blues and Royals, are in the blue. For obvious reasons).

Of course, the men are only half of the stars of the show.

I was really impressed to see the riders actually on guard while on horseback. Specifically that the horses were tolerating the hordes of tourists butting up against them to try and get pictures without kicking them straight in the head. I was waiting for some kind of equine disaster, but the training the horses get is impeccable.

Britain, Expat, History, Humor, London, Travel, Writing August 21, 2014

History, Hydras, and Gardening

“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.”
― John Muir

I recently toured the Garden Museum, housed in a deconsecrated church that abuts Lambeth Palace (traditional home of the Archbishops of Canterbury), for a post over on The Thrifty Homesteader. Head on over for more about the history of the church–lots of interesting dead people–but there were some extra shots I wanted to include since I found the space and the garden delightful. It’s perfectly appropriate to me to find a museum of gardening housed in a church in Britain!

When I say abuts, I mean it!

A casual walk by the crypts to the front door.

With a cheerful greeting at the end!

The cafe in one of the church aisle–which, architecturally speaking, is not the central passageway up the center of the structure. Tea beneath the memorials!

Palm trees and cherubim, an atypical pairing.

I mention this in the other post, but all the plants were labeled with the year of their first written description, and often a quote from a British writer or person of note.

The real treat of the churchyard garden is the tomb of the Tradescant family, who were noted botanists and gardeners to the royal family. The family patriarch traveled widely to collect bulbs and seeds and his son continued the tradition in the New World. Both were early naturalists and predate Darwin by nearly 300 years, eventually they opened the family collection as the very first public museum in Britain. The sarcophagus is highly, highly unusual for the age when, in spite of the rise of science and humanism, death was still very much the realm of the spiritual and divine. And yet the symbolism of his tomb is not religious at all but shows the scope of his travels and scientific encounters, include ruins of the ancient world and exotic flora and fauna.The crocodile on the bottom left is fantastic!

Another side of the tomb with a somewhat more typical death symbol of medieval and renaissance Europe…and a hydra. Which is only strange until you learn that hydras were often symbols of botany in that even if you trimmed or cut off heads, they grow back.

Britain, Expat, Humor, Husband, London, Travel August 17, 2014August 14, 2014

Meeting the Queen…’s Residence

“Be thine own palace, or the world’s thy jail.”
― John Donne

Jeff and I dedicate a substantial amount of our time off to going on “wanders” (some people verb nouns, we noun verbs) across the city. Quite often we’ll just pick an area to explore and set off down any street that looks interesting. We wend our way through tourist areas, obscure roads, hidden squares, and vast parks. It’s a lot of fun, but occasionally one of us is surprised.

A couple of weekends ago, as we ambled through Westminster, Jeff casually remarked that he had never really seen Buckingham Palace. I stopped short.
“What do you mean? It’s one of the main sites and you’ve lived here for two years now.”
He shrugged, “Just never got around to it.”

We happened to be crossing a wide, ornate lane at the moment and Jeff glanced up the tree lined road.
“What’s up this way?” he asked.
“Buckingham Palace,” I said dryly.
“How handy,” he replied and tugged me towards the residence.

Good find, love.

Nice pad.

Louis XIV is beyond not impressed.

St. James Park, just next door.

Britain, Humor, Husband, London, Music, Travel July 23, 2014July 22, 2014

Daughter Concert

“For those of you in the cheap seats I’d like ya to clap your hands to this one; the rest of you can just rattle your jewelry!”
― John Lennon

Confession time, we have not been taking appropriate advantage of London in the summer and we need to rectify this immediately. Working from home obviously contributes to the problem, as does the fact that my clients are several timezones behind me and I often have to be at least partially available during hours that most people spend frolicking. Jeff also has a lot of studying to do for the ever present reality of tests, and weekends are largely devoted to the necessary errand running that we haven’t been able to do during the week.

But it’s summer. In London. We need to be outside absorbing as much Vitamin D as humanely and safely possible because the cold, dark days will arrive much sooner than we all probably realize. To that end, we’ve started making an effort to track down as many outdoor adventures as possible, while varying up the routine a bit.

If I’m a theatre girl, Jeff is the resident music guy. When we were deciding what to do for our anniversary this year (travel being out of the budget for a while to go, alas), I picked the midnight matinee at The Globe and he wanted a concert and found a great one.

Somerset House, on the banks of the Thames, has a long history. The site has been home to a Tudor palace, a residence for members of the Royal family and their entourage, and apparently later a barracks. It was demolished and rebuilt in the neoclassical style and has moved over time to house various arts and learning societies and is a popular venue for performances. Particularly in, hey! Summertime! We first heard about the band Daughter on NPR and Jeff snapped up tickets as soon as he found out they were going to be performing.

Not bad, venue.

Drinks boys circulated the crowd with these signs and easy-to-spot flags that I probably found entirely too funny, but that I clearly had to document.

No makeup and summer allergies, but pretty happy to be here!

The opening act was D.D Dumbo, an Australian artist who builds his songs while you listen (see more here, thanks again to NPR’s music reporting).

A disproportionate amount of my music is tragic or vengeful, the blues feature heavily, so make of that what you will. Daughter makes music that is gorgeously sad and depressing, and the lead singer Elena Tonra has a perfectly haunting voice so she’s right up my street. The band is still learning how to tour and their stage presence could use some work, but the music is the slow, quiet kind that gets its claws into you.

Just as pretty in the dark. Hopefully there can be more concerts in our future, as this has only been my third ever. My second, incidentally, was my first date with Jeff, so things are working out pretty well so far.

Britain, Expat, Food, Humor, Husband, London, Travel July 8, 2014June 26, 2014

Let’s talk sandwiches, specifically at Monty’s Deli

“A man’s social rank is determined by the amount of bread he eats in a sandwich.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald

Jeff occasionally gets an idea into his head (usually involving food) that can only be exorcised by action. After our previous favorite brownie changed their recipe, he went on a bit of a tear to locate a replacement, which is how we discovered Maltby Market. He’s been going through a similar rough time in the hunt for some proper pastrami sandwiches, so you can imagine how thrilled he was to find Monty’s Deli in the same area.

There are certain kinds of sandwiches where the British are the unquestioned champions; tea sandwiches, cucumber sandwiches, and the much vaunted bacon roll are among them. I’m still trying to figure out what the pinkish-red bread Liberty’s cafe uses is exactly, and we’ve even found a really good pulled pork. Not as good as American barbeque, admittedly, but delicious in their own right. However there are some areas of sandwich-dom where we have found our new abode somewhat wanting. We didn’t think we could find a good Reuben, but I’m happy to report we were wrong.

I mentioned before that there is a whole slew of businesses that have set up shop in the arches beneath the train tracks, Monty’s Deli is one of them. Serving up “Jewish soul food,” they set up shop in the arches on Saturdays and Sundays only, so coming here is a treat.

It’s not high tech…

But the results are pretty damn great. Instead of fries they offer potato latkes and share space with an organic Greek wine merchant. That’s just how Druid Street rolls!

Not his best photographic moment, but let me assure you there were sounds of delight coming out between bites of that pile of meat! Something that isn’t always appreciated is that British street food sometimes gives people sticker shock, but the portions are incredibly generous. You get what you pay for. I couldn’t even finish my own sandwich, I dragged the boxed remains home for a later afternoon snack. Which Jeff ended up eating…

But nevertheless, let me heartily recommend the salted beef sandwich with a great helping of some pretty spectacular slaw.

Britain, History, Humor, London, Travel July 7, 2014July 6, 2014

London Snapshot

“The train is a small world moving through a larger world.”
― Elisha Cooper, Train

Please read the following sign in the voice of a campy super hero, put an exclamation point on the end and add any “POW!” or “ZAP” signs you need for effect.

Britain, Expat, Friday, Humor, Linkstorm, London, Travel, Weekend July 4, 2014July 4, 2014

Friday Links (Expats and Independence Day, Edition)

“I want to grill something!”
– Jeff

Happy Independence Day for Yank minions. I’m currently celebrating our freedom from Britain by eating the most British thing possible for summer, strawberries and cream, and admiring my view of the London skyline while I work. Hashtag traitor, or something.

In any event, it’s a gorgeous Friday with blue skies and bright sun. We’re hoping it stays fine since Jeff’s brother and sister-in-law are coming into town and we have great hopes of showing off our tiny flat and the big city. In the meantime, I’ve got about 10,000 projects to try and bang out before they get here. My freelance team has taken on new clients so we’re all terribly busy and important. Enjoy your links, add anything worth reading in the comments and let me know how you are spending the weekend. Stateside kittens eat barbeque for me, please.

But please, in your celebrations, remember dignity.

These would not typically be my art style at all, but I’m finding these pieces summery. I’m also wishing it were physically possible to hang paintings and photos in our concrete walls.

Also crushing on the gallery wall from this apartment tour. We’re acquiring a staggering collection of prints and papery goodness living in London that are going to need to be prominently displayed someday.

I’ve had marriage on the brain this week, so I really enjoyed this unexpected piece on an arranged one.

In the list of attributes I thought I would never really admire in a wedding getup, shorts rank pretty high. Olivia Palermo shatters my preconceived notions.

…everyone has a skill…

Holy cow, this should stock my links list for at least the rest of the summer!

Sherlock returns! …in 2016. I swear, that show feels more like the Olympics than anything else.

In other public broadcasting news, This American Life is taking a couple of gambles on their production. Their first one is the biggest, but I’m also excited about their show Serial. I’m a huge fan of the radio show, let’s bring it back!

This photographer is just 15. And what have you done with your life, lately?

Disney will be thrilled, children who actually read the original tales will be traumatazied. 500 new German fairy tales have been discovered!

Tomato Nation is doing the work of the righteous and ranking Wimbledon players by hotness on your behalf. You are welcome.

Lastly, some pretty for your weekend: films inspired by art.

Britain, Expat, Food, Humor, London, Travel July 3, 2014July 3, 2014

Sugar Sin in Covent Garden

“You can tell a lot about a fellow’s character by his way of eating jellybeans. ”
― Ronald Reagan

Last week was clearly an eat-your-feelings sort of week for me, so in the spirit of (over)indulgence let me introduce you to nirvana for a sweet tooth. On Tuesday I was working hard on a project, answering a lot of emails, and doing my best to take in news in healthy, moderated chunks when Jeff insisted we grab a burrito for dinner and go for a wander in the West End when we both finished the business day.

Wandering up New Row, we were both seized with a sugar craving and darted over to Long Acre to get a grab bag of candy at Sugar Sin.

British sweet shops are legendary, there’s a reason Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was written by Roald Dahl. The most traditional still have rows and rows of glass jars like an apothecary shop, filled with strange and interesting candies in addition to the more typical ones. Think of the quirky candies from Harry Potter, some of those are based in traditional British sweets.

The British sweet tooth is also a thing apart because it relies so heavily on tradition. Flowers, herbs, and spices are usually to be found included in the older recipes, as well as modern day riffs on them. Rhubarb is a popular candy flavor here, for example, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen it marketed elsewhere – at least certainly not in the local grocery store. But from funny names, to interesting shapes, to old-fashioned, British candy is where it’s at.

Sugar Sin has certainly modernized the idea, but don’t let the pink decor and flowery atmosphere fool you, at its heart it shares the cultural DNA of Golden Tickets and Chocolate Frogs. And best of all, it sells by weight. You can load up enough sweets for a month for a fraction of what you’d pay for equal amounts of branded, packaged candy.

Sometimes, after a hard week, small pleasures work wonders.

Small Dog Syndrome