Settling in to London

It's taken a lot longer than I expected to settle into London.  After the first whirlwind 3 weeks of travel to the Hague, work, and visitors, I finally started to get my feet underneath me.  I've been focusing on fun things to do when not at work and also on de-stressing activities.  

So far, I've hit a bunch of theatres which is a major dream come true.  It's so tempting when I'm off of work to see something - definitely the biggest drain on my budget.  Best to start listing them out so I don't forget what I've seen...

1.  Pajama Games (Good, powerful female lead - no damsels in distress in this one.  Story line was so-so, but the music was good).

2.  War Horse with the parents - really good!!!  I don't care for animals that much, but this had me caring about all the horses.

3.  Dirty Rotten Scoundrels with the parents - excellent.  Slap stick comedy at its best.

4.  White Christmas - Classic.  You can't mess that up.

5.  Dick Whittington and his cat - Panto.  I don't know the original story they are mocking, but he goes to London to make his fortune and things get strange from there.

6.  Aziz Ansari - Excellent comedy; I miss regular access to Parks and Recreation

7.  Lion King - because you have to.

8.  Forbidden Broadway - really funny show making fun of a lot of other shows I've seen or want to see.  I don't think it did well, because it closed very quickly after it opened, but I thought it was funny.

I've learned a few things since moving over (14 of them for the end of 2014):

1.  Big city living is like nothing I've ever experienced.  Houston is not a big city compared to London - it's like a country village in comparison.  I've been overwhelmed a lot.

2.  I think I like big city living.

3.  Online grocery shopping was created and ordained by God.  In fact, all online shopping was.

4.  Tubes are both the devil and a life savor.  Engineering works are a constant fear and the petri dish is forever providing my immune system with a new challenge.  3 months in London and sick every week (except the one week I spent in the Hague).

5.  Buses are really fun to ride here, but not cool or appreciated by a true local.  They can take forever, but there is something nice about the cheap price and the views of the city.

6.  Oxford Street on a Saturday is an exercise in patience.  One could call it torture as well.

7.  The Thames is the best part of the city, hands down.

8.  Trying new things, like meetup groups, is really easy here because 9 times out of 10 there are 20 other people interested in the same things you are and are new to town.

9.  There is definitely a rat race here and I'm struggling to get in it.

10.  My conversion flat is really great, minus the boiler going out a lot and the door being so small.  Cold showers are just awful and showers at work are not much better.

11.  Running can be therapeutic....things I never thought I'd say. 

12.  Christmas = drinking and lots of it.  My liver needs an alcohol free January.

13.  There are some very cool people in London.  Also, some very strange people.

14.  Football is a religion.  Friendlies can be not so friendly and hilarious to watch the mayhem.

I picked up running over the last 2 months, hit my first 5K about 3 weeks ago.  I've since had a bit of a lull in activity as I've been focused on saying yes to all Christmas parties and drinks, which occur just about every night.  I took some shots of my morning run a few weeks ago along the Thames.  Count that in things I never thought I would say!

No place like the UK - Parent visit part 4 (York)

After sending my parents up to Edinburgh for the week to get some Scottish culture (and dad got to putt at St. Andrews), I did the cruel thing and made them go to York with me on Saturday and Sunday to see the old city.  It was beautiful once again - great old pubs, the Minster and lovely walks through parks with old abbeys and museums.  They also had their first Sunday Roast at one of the oldest pubs in York and we enjoyed a beer at the pub built over Roman ruins.  I took mostly pictures of the Minster...bit of a shame, will need to improve on that for the next trip to York.  We also had great train seats on the ride up there and decent ones on the way back.  The best part was the apartment overlooking Clifford's Tower that I snagged for the night.  Fun stuff just relaxing and catching up.

No place like London - Parent visit part 3 (Buckingham)

On the Sunday, we spend some time doing the full royal tour at Buckingham.  Buckingham is only open in August and September for visitors.  Luckily, my parents were just in time to see the show on the last day it was open.  Hint:  Purchase tickets in advance online - you won't get in otherwise.

The tickets include the Royal Gallery, the Royal Mews and the palace itself.  I've got photos from the Gallery and Mews and outside Buckingham, but not in Buckingham itself (strictly prohibited unfortunately).

The Gallery includes some of the queen's art collected over the years.  It rotates with different collections throughout the year.  I can't remember what the theme was for this year, but overall, it was impressive.

Another example of the art in the Gallery.

The Royal Mews includes the carriages the Royal family uses for official processions.  Really interesting and neat to see first hand the carriages used by the family for weddings, funerals and parades.

The Queen's stables - most of the horses were out on their morning constitutions :)

The most ornate of all the carriages.  They have to tear out a wall of the stables to move it out of the building....it doesn't get used often.

A bit gaudy for my taste.

Buckingham palace after the tour at the backside of the palace.  The palace theme was the childhood years, so most of the exhibits were focused on the childhoods of the royal family, displaying clothes, toys, photos, home movies, etc.  It was really neat and very tastefully done.  The inside of the palace is gorgeous, but also feels like someone could live there.  The one disappointing thing was not being able to go out to the balcony where the famous kisses happen.  But it was still very neat to see the inside,including the banquet rooms where state dinners are held.  Definitely worth the ticket price and highly recommended.

No place like London - Parent visit part 2 (Eye on you)

After working all day and the parents touring all day, I met them at my office to walk across the bridge to the London Eye.  We went for dinner on the Southbank and then headed to the London Eye.  I thought the ride would be cheesy, but it was actually very nice, relaxing and impressive.

On the bridge from my office over the River Thames

Over the shoulder peeking Ben

Bridge walk - Ben at night.

On the Eye - view of my office building with the train/foot bridge heading into it.  What a cool place to work!

Views after the sunset (can you spot St Paul's?)

Panoramic shot after dark

Selfie on the Eye - long hair Lindsay....still hadn't found a London hair place!  Things that are very stressful when you move - finding a new hair place.  In the Hague, it took a visit to one place that went well, so I stuck with it.  In London, it took 2 places.  First one was a random I found off of a consolidated website with booking services.  It wasn't great....Polish guy who was very insistent on how to do my hair.  Not the best haircut I've had.  The second was perfect - found through same website, but not even close to my house.  It's close to work, so it's convenientish.  I really like the Irish girl who cut my hair and I think she did a great job.  I need to get it coloured next time - huge adventure there!

Last shot from the Eye

Recommendations on visiting the Eye: 
1.  Buy online before hand - cheaper.
2.  Buy the fast track - worth not waiting in line for sure.
3.  Eat in the area before hand and then get on at dusk to see both light and dark.
It's not worth all the money you pay for it, but it's pretty close.

No place like London - Parent visit part 1

Very quickly after the Munich trip, my parents came to visit.  It was crazy - I had just moved into my apartment about 3 days before, barely received my stuff from the NL.  Luckily I had 2 air mattresses (but little else) for them.  I planned out a good portion of what they needed to see a long time ago, so they came with itinerary in hand and a sense of adventure (which is a must in the London survival toolkit).

During the week, I sent them to Westminster Abbey, parliament, the National Gallery, the British museum, etc.  They did such an amazing job navigating the tubes by themselves - very impressive body of travel work.  We also went to see Dirty Rotten Scoundrels in the first week, which was their first West End show.  It was really funny and a great way to get into the London theatre scene.

On the first weekend, we went to the Tower of London on Saturday, which was building the poppies display leading up to Remembrance day in November.  It was quite the display, probably my favourite art exhibit I have ever seen.  Very moving and powerful.

The Tower is always a fun tour - the Beefeaters give a very comical 1 hour romp through 600 years of tower history.  The best part is seeing where Anne Boleyn is buried and the stories about the missing princes in the tower.  The jewels are also a must see...the conveyor belt they put you on to see them is pretty comical, but without it, there's no way all those tourists would see them.  After that, it's a lot of armory and other war memorabilia which is not my favourite, but interesting.  

That Saturday was filled with a bit of travel nightmares...I learned that when they close the District line on the weekend for planned engineering works and the NFL is in town on the same weekend, it's almost impossible to get any where.  It took us about 2 hours to get to the Tower through a random assortment of tubes and then another 2 hours on the way back to get to Oxford Circus for some quality shopping at Liberty.  Lesson learned - check tfl.gov.uk - might be easier and worth the money for a taxi.

In Old Bavaria - Munich Part 3

After a crazy day at Oktoberfest, B and I decided to do a quick side trip to Dachau to get some learning in.  It was pretty special for B (and I will claim it by association) as her grandfather was at the liberation of Dachau in 1945.  

We took a guided tour that left from the train station.  I'll be the first to admit that the tour guide wasn't great, but the price was right and he handled all of the transportation.  It wouldn't have been bad to do it on our own, but given I had a flight at 3PM it was best to be led around.

Gates into Dachau that separated the prisoners from the outside world (well, the guns, electric fences and dogs helped with that separation as well).  The irony was that German phrases all over the camp implied that the centre was for rehabilitation, i.e. that hard work would set you free.  In most cases, it was freedom, but in a very different sense.  So many died at Dachau.

Off in the distance, there were huge thunder clouds which just seemed appropriate for the visit.  The tour went through the barrack areas which had been destroyed, replicas, the special prisoner areas, the shower facilities and the kitchens.  It also took a look at the crematoriums and the gas chambers there (they were never used at Dachau, but were being set up just in case).  Extra ordinate numbers of people were housed at the camp with little to no sanitation.  It was horrific to see and listen to the commentary in the museum.

A few things struck me:

1.  How close residential housing was to the camp now and how close it was back then.  How do people live there knowing what happened back then and how did people live there ignoring what was going on.
2.  Apparently after the war, some people relocated to the camp and set up living quarters, including a pub.  What a horrific thing to do.
3.  It continues to be strange to tour WWII sites in Germany.  Given everything that happened there, it doesn't seem right to create tourist sites.  

After a heavy morning, we went back to Munich and grabbed Weinerschnitzel and potatoes, which is a must have for me in Germany....then I had to run for the train to the plane.  Sad to leave B and M!!!

Und dales und vales - Munich Part 2

Day 2 was straight to Oktoberfest to get a table.  We didn't book in advance and I was worried we wouldn't get a seat in the "tent" we wanted to be in, so I met B and M at 8:00 to join the queue, which was a good idea because it got pretty long before opening at 9.

We got a great seat and started taking pictures.  I'm not one for interior decor, but this place was incredibly well done.  It didn't feel like a beer hall, it felt like decorations you would do for a wedding reception.

Maybe it's just the colours that I love.  What an amazing design.

The tent had a spit, spinning with what we first thought was a pig, but then later learned it was an ox.

M had his first beer (representing the Aggies!):

Two lovely ladies posed for their first fest photo:

And two love birds (and M in heaven) shared some love:

Bands were coming all afternoon with funny hats and uniforms:

And there was a polka band playing for most of the time as well:

With everyone dressed in their traditional German garb:

I could only hold 3 litres before I felt it and felt it hard.  Luckily, you could stay as long as you wanted, so it was three over about 8 hours.  The atmosphere was amazing.

Video evidence to prove you should be jealous...

Part 3 coming!