Noel's Adventure(s)

Monday, 11 April 2011

April 10: More Markets and More Chocolate!!!

This morning we decided to head to Up Market for an early lunch. My friend/roommate Lauryn had been there before and promised us amazing foods. She did not disappoint. There were ethnic foods there from literally the entire world! I ended up going with Chinese/Thai fusion, Lauryn went with Ethiopian, Mandy with Mexican, and Katie with Tibetan. It was all so good! After our lunch, we explored Sunday Up Market, which has a lot of vintage clothes and jewellery. I ended up getting a pretty gold-tone necklace made of three layers of chains hung with shaped leaves separated by little gold pearls. Then we went over a few hundred yards to Spittalfields Market, which is more mixed in its vendors. I found a pretty little painted ceramic Turkish plate made by two brothers from Istanbul in dark blue with pink and red and green floral patterns. I was hoping to find some heavy silver earrings but I just wasn't loving the silver options.

The odd goat statue that greets visitors to Spittalfields Market

Afterwards, my friends were all too tired to go to the chocolate festival again so they went home and I soldiered on alone. It was even better. Because it was the last day, they were giving out even more free samples so I was stuffed with chocolate. I also realized that we had missed a little tent-lined avenue that led to a whole other area of tents, making the festival twice as big as we had thought yesterday! I ate sooo many samples! There were also dishes made with chocolate. I really, really wanted a bowl of the chocolate chili with tortilla chips/crisps, but I just would have exploded! After doing the grand tour, I decided to get a bag of the mixed flavored white chocolate buttons, and a bag of cappuccino-flavored buttons from a stall called "Cocopod," then several more bags of the fancy mixed chocolates from "Artisan du Chocolat," as well as a bag of chocolate-coated caramel honeycomb. Mom, Rin and I will certainly enjoy in a few weeks. Then it was time to come home and rest my poor blisters. This could not have been a more perfect weekend! I am going to miss this city!!!

Bridge across from the Festival Hall

Royal Festival Hall (That's not the Chocolate Festival in front of it)

Chocolate Festival!!!

Yummy bunny!

These were screen-printed with beautiful patterns. The strangest were the animal print patterns like cheetah and zebra!

April 9: Markets and CHOCOLATE!!!

Today I got up early to go with my friends Lauryn, Paige and Mandy to Portobello Market. It was an absolutely incredible day. We walked across Hyde Park to the market which was absolutely exploding with activity. We were on a mission to find t-shirts with the goofy Wills and Kate engagement pictures. I really love the Portobello Road Market. It's fun and vibrant, and even the houses on either side of the road are brightly painted and full of flowers. The wisteria vines crawling up some of the houses were already blooming. They were also about as big around as my waist near the ground, so I imagine they are incredibly old. We stopped at the infamous Hummingbird Bakery for red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Sooooo good! I looked at some silver, but decided I really need to do some research before I buy any. I got 4 scarves in bright colors, because I don't have any solid color scarves at home, and I know Erin's just going to steal them anyway. I found a postcard with the "Keep calm and carry on" phrase, which I'd been looking for, and a simple Union Jack magnet for our fridge collection here at the flat. I went back to a seller of antique prints I'd seen the last time I was there and selected a Beatrix Potter print with two scenes from Peter Rabbit, as well as a beautiful "Dandelion Fairy" print from the 1930s for Brooke. All along the way I took pictures, but I realized half way through the morning that I had forgotten to put my memory card in my camera so none of them worked. I'll steal my friends' pictures in the next few days and post those.

After the Portobello Market, we took a tube over to London Bridge, where the Borough Market was in full swing. This market is more about foods. You can buy really amazing cheeses, fresh meat of all sorts, odd-looking fishes, honey, fruit preserves, strange mushrooms, fresh herbs and every kind of fruit and vegetable imaginable, plus put-together meals. We roamed the market, searching for curry, but found none. Then Mandy spotted a booth that she had eaten at before and we just had to try it. The line was huge, but it was well worth it. They had rounds of sweet, nutty white cheese cut in half that were placed on special stands underneath a heat light. The top of the cheese would bubble and melt and turn just barely crispy while the men at the stand mashed up some tender potatoes and threw a handful of sweet gherkins and pickled onions on the side. Then they would scrape the top layer of melted cheese onto the bed of potatoes. It was indescribably good. Like, life-changing good. Best meal ever! We also had seen some people walking around with iced tea, so while I stood in line, Mandy found us our own glasses. It was truly wonderful iced tea, probably the best I've ever had. She said it was called something like "Ceylon" tea, and was made with lemon and spearmint and had the perfect balance between sweet and bitter. Perfect to cut through my plate of cheesy potatoes on a super hot day!

After we had all eaten our fill, we took off for something we'd heard about called the "London Southbank Chocolate Festival," which we were pretty excited about. We walked there from London Bridge, which was a pretty good walk and of course I had to get blisters, but it was very pretty and the light wind from the river was nice on the hot day. We found our way to the Royal Festival Hall, where the festival was being held in the courtyard and oh my goodness. There was chocolate EVERYWHERE! And not just chocolate, but good chocolate! First we stopped for a chocolate beer, which I liked a lot, then for a chocolate strawberry, then mixed fancy chocolates with elegant flavors like "black cardamom" and "coffee and star anise," then flavored white chocolate in orange, lemon, and strawberry, then dark chocolate-covered coffee beans, then super dark, bitter, chocolate, then chocolate in little shapes like Easter bunnies and ducklings. It was heaven. I only bought one bag of mixed fancy chocolates that had been "factory rejects" for 2 pounds (amazing deal) because I was so stuffed with chocolate by the end. But when I got home, I decided I'll just have to go back tomorrow for more. Mostly that decision was made by my mother, who, while I was skyping her, gave me a good lecture about how I needed to bring some home for her. So now I'm looking forward to tomorrow even more! Tonight is Wine and Cards night with my friends, which is always wonderfully fun.

Friday, 8 April 2011

April 8: Kew Gardens, Take 2!

This morning the program took us all to Kew Gardens. We left at 10, and I split from the group once we got there. This time, I went the opposite direction I'd done the last time. I started with the alpine house, which was even better than it was before. I soooo want one of my own! I made sure to visit the bonsai house, which I'd missed the last time, and wow was that incredible. They didn't have a huge collection but what they had was just unbelievable. The house had a motion detecting alarm system installed to protect the trees, which I'm sure are worth more than I could even guess. I made sure to take more pictures of the magnolias we're interested in. I've decided I want one that has a good fragrance, and is preferably bright pink. The trick is finding one that will grow in the frozen North! Some of the lilacs have just started opening. Kew had a decent selection of old heirlooms, but nothing as extensive as the Arboretum's. There was one tree I saw from the back and wondered, is that "Beauty of Moscow" and yep, it was. It wasn't even flowering yet. I realized I must be a serious nut case if I could identify a lilac by leaves, shape, and baby buds. Wow. The rhododendrons were blooming, so I drooled over those. Some that I saw were tree-sized, which surprised even me. I didn't know they could get that big!!! It was so warm out today that I was walking around in just a tank top and jeans and I was waaaay too hot! I may have even gotten a little sunburn on my shoulders! Yay!

It's probably going to take me a few days to sort through all my pictures, but I'll get them up eventually!

April 7: Chicago...in London!

Today was a Good Day. I went shopping on Kensington High Street with some friends this morning, and got a new pink flowered skirt to wear this summer as well as a bright red pencil skirt that I'm guessing Erin will steal the moment I get home but for now I'll enjoy. I had History class this afternoon, which was incredibly, indescribably boring. We spent over an hour on the Suffrage movement alone, when we were supposed to hear about it for only 15 minutes. Ugh. We learned, in detail, all about this one Suffragette who was a bit radical and threw herself in front of a horse during a race and got smushed. It really helped the cause, giving them a martyr, but apparently she had bought herself a return train ticket, so it seems it was a publicity stunt gone wrong, not an intentional martyrdom. They now think she was trying to put a Suffragette banner around the neck of the King's horse. Apparently she didn't think about how the race-crazed thoroughbred would react to a lady waving a banner in front of it. Oops. Anyway, moral of the story: I learned lots of strange little facts about the women's rights movement.

After class, I decided I wanted to do something fun, so a friend and I took the tube to Leicester Square to find some theater tickets. I was able to get an amazing seat for Chicago, in the third row from the front, for 30 pounds. My friend had seen Chicago (in Chicago, coincidentally), so she got a ticket to Jersey Boys, which I saw a while ago. We went to dinner at the Italian place my family and I had gone to before we saw Les Miserables. It was just as amazing as the first time. I had a linguine in white sauce with sauteed mushrooms that was heavenly. After dinner, we had some time to kill, so we stopped at an ice cream place we'd seen. I had a scoop of fresh strawberry frozen yogurt that was heavenly. Chicago was incredible. I was 10 feet away from the all the action, so that made it even better. It was a really fun show to see live. The actors/dancers were all incredible. The two leads were especially amazing. The Velma was an older actress (probably in her 40s), which is pretty rare, but she obviously was picked for a reason. She could dance even better than the young girls around her, and apparently does the choreography as well. She kind of looked like Carol Burnett but she was a very good singer. The Roxie was beyond awesome. She just nailed the role. I can't imagine anyone doing a better job. I really, truly enjoyed myself!

April 6: The Red Shoes

Today for Theatre class, we went to see a play in Battersea called "The Red Shoes." To get there, we had to take the tube to Victoria, then a train to Clapham, then walk to Battersea Arts Center. It was worth it. The play was based on Hans Christian Andersen's story about a girl who wears a sinful pair of red shoes to church and is cursed to dance in them forever. It's a pretty dark story, and ends with the girl cutting off her feet to stop the dancing. She gets a pair of wooden feet, but the red shoes with her cut off feet in them won't stop dancing in front of her. In the end I think and angel comes and somehow she kind of dies and goes to Heaven, but at least she's happy and not dancing. It's not exactly a nice sort of fairy tale, but the production was really, really good. This adaptation of it was weird as all heck but I really liked it. It was very different and strange but still fun and the actors danced and played instruments as well and they were amazing. I'm just crossing my fingers I don't get nightmares!

Tuesday, 5 April 2011

April 5: The Design Museum

This morning in "Contemporary Britain" class we talked about Jack the Ripper. And that's all. I have no clue why the professor felt that discussing the old murder story for 3 hours would some how help us better understand contemporary Britain, but apparently he did. After lunch, we headed across Tower Bridge to go to the Design Museum for Museums class. I have to say, it wasn't nearly as big or "museum-y" as I had expected. It really just had two exhibits, one that displayed a bunch of new and innovative stuff in fashion, transportation, graphics, and furniture, and one that had a travelling display about the Dutch typography guy Wim Crouwel. Then on the main floor was a gift shop and a cafe. The end. The good part was, it was a really pretty walk there from the Tower Tube Station. I hadn't actually walked across Tower Bridge yet, so that was one more thing to cross off my list. Tonight I made sausage and potatoes for dinner. I will definitely miss Waitrose's apple sausages when I go back State-side. Tonight a friend went out to Metrogate to print something and brought back my mail, which was a singing "Tangled" birthday card from "Erin, Dad, Mom, Maggie, Lily Belle, George, Gus, and everybody else." I can't believe I'll turn 21 in a few days. I also can't believe there's just 17 days left till I go home! I'm not ready!!!

April 4: I Feed the Birds

Class was boring but the day was just beautiful, so I set out for Hyde Park in the afternoon with a breadbag full of crushed up tidbits for the pigeons. I laid down little handfulls of crumbs to all the pigeons I saw in the gardens. They're just such fun to watch. Everyone else seems to hate them but I think they're pretty. Some of them are really amazingly pretty, especially the ones that have iridescent feathers that shine in the sun. After hearing almost constant complaints and threats to the birds from my flatmates, it was really nice to get out and be able to just enjoy feeding the birds without being judged. Anyway, I don't see why everyone gets so worked up about the "flying rats." They are a heck of a lot cleaner than most people I know and probably smarter. Plus, they always manage to poop on the people who hate them most, which just makes me giggle. I like pigeons.

I found a bench tucked away in a nice big yew tree, surrounded by some really pretty wallflowers and a lovely camellia. I started throwing my hand fulls of crumbs and the first bird to show up was one of the big, wild wood pigeons that I love watching. They're very different from the usual rock pigeons, and are much bigger and heftier. They're a lighter gray than most of the common pigeons, with a white crescent around their neck and a rosy-ish breast. They are much, much, much shier than the rock pigeons, and usually I don't see them come in for crumbs until after all people have left so I was pretty excited to have found myself one. I had soon gathered a pretty good sized flock. There were probably around a dozen rock pigeons plus my wood pigeon who showed up for the handout. Most were the dark gray normal color that I love, but a few had some white splashes, and one had clean white freckles all around his neck. The wood pigeon decided he definitely did not like the rock pigeons so to keep the peace I would toss him the big pieces a little ways away so he could eat in peace. As I was watching my flock eat, feeling smug and satisfied in the little nook in the yew surrounded by cooing and pecking, I spotted a little flash in the center of the tree to my right. A little European Robin was hopping around in the darkness at the center of the tree, watching me with interest. I smushed some crumbs really fine and set them on the seat next to me, not expecting anything, but the little bird hopped on over and grabbed the biggest crumb and proceeded to munch it! He stuck around, too, singing and chirping little robin noises in the tree next to me, occasionally stopping by for a quick bite. I was in absolute heaven.

After awhile, I left the pigeons and the robin to their scavengings and took a little walk around the garden area, looking at all the pretty signs of spring. The daffodils and magnolias and camellia's are all almost done blooming, which seems crazy. I can't believe it's so late in the season here! The leaves on the trees are getting bigger and greener every day. I decided to swing by my pigeon-feeding spot on my return walk, and they were still there, pecking away, so I tossed them the last of the crumbs so they could go nuts. Just as I was about to leave, I saw my little robin, who I have named "Kevin," lurking in the yew, so I set some of the little crumblies left in the bag on the top of the bench, and he flew right down and started pigging out, like Maggie does with oreos. After he had filled up, he fluffed his orange feathers and started singing, with the contented pigeons cooing along. What an absolutely perfect afternoon!

Oh, yeah, and the most exciting part of the whole day: I found a blooming lilac!!!!!!!!!!!!!