London! - A Weekend in Pictures

I spent last weekend in London with a girlfriend from college who was here on work and we had a fantastic time cruising the town and checking out some new spots! It's been awhile since I enjoyed the comforts of a corporate charge card! Thanks Liz!

Richmond Hill Hotel, Richmond-Upon-Thames

Liz's company put her up here in this cute boutique hotel in Richmond-Upon-Thames, at the end of the Tube's District line, to be close to the film production she's working on. The hotel was charming, it served alcohol all night, and had a great hillside view over the Thames.

SoBar in Richmond-Upon-Thames

We stopped at this cute spot tucked down an alleyway in Richmond for our first drink of the evening. The nibbles and drinks were excellent, and the place got pretty busy between 5 and 6pm while we sipped our drinks. It was a little on the noisy side by the time we left, but the jazzy beats playing over the stereo were nice.

Oscar Bar at Charlotte Street Hotel, SoHo

This place was around the corner from our dinner restaurant, so we stopped here for a drink around 8pm. Every table was full and the bar was packed. Liz had an espresso-tini that was out of this world--like a spiked Starbucks frappuccino!

Fino Restaurant, SoHo

We met two of Liz's work colleagues here for a 9:30pm dinner on Saturday--they are film editors working on a new Disney/Pixar feature that's filming here in London. Amazing pork belly, tuna tartare and classic tortilla, plus some fabulous Spanish wine.

Fish Works Restaurant, Richmond

We needed something greasy when we finally rolled out of bed at noon on Sunday, but breakfast was already over, so the fish & chips at this cute seafood brasserie fit the bill.

Camden Markets

We went to hunt for some antique tidbits for Liz's mom's new restaurant in San Francisco, but mostly found lots of tacky t-shirts and cheap souvenirs. The whole trip was worth it for the small stall we discovered selling Brazilian-style Churros (large tube-shaped doughnuts dusted in cinnamon & sugar and filled with dulce de leche). Delicious!

Claridge's Hotel Bar, Mayfair

We had a couple of hours to kill before our dinner reservation, so we sat at a cozy table in this bar and ordered some frou-frou cocktails. I had a Vanillita--cranberry & lime juice mixed with fresh strawberries, Vanilla vodka and honey, served over crushed ice. C'est bon!

Cecconi's Restaurant

We were excited to get a last minute 8pm reservation for Sunday night, and got great seats by the front window. Loved the mint green accents to brighten up the black & white retro vibe. Also loved the buffalo mozzarella & cherry tomato starter and the fresh crab & avocado salad. My Venetian fritelle dessert with zabaione cream was heavenly--glad I ate light & saved room.

Glastonbury Dreaming...

The lineup for 2010's Glastonbury Music Festival has begun to be announced, and of course it made me reminisce about attending the festival last June with D and another couple who are two good friends. The 2009 festival began 2 days after I arrived in England last June, and we made the decision to go at the last minute, so our only ticket option was buying passes on ebay from ticket-holders who looked similar to us (since the tickets bear photos). I was nervous about spending the money on poached tickets, but D was convinced it would be OK, so we went for it, and it worked OK for us.

Here are my top 5 tips for Glastonbury survival if you are lucky enough to go:

1. Camping vs. Caravans. If you have got re-sale tix, like we did, plan to camp inside the festival grounds as it is too risky to go in and out to your car, camper van or mobile home past security every day. Once you get in--stay in! If you have valid tickets, I'd recommend camping once to get the "real" experience, and then try booking a caravan camping spot outside the festival grounds the next year. This will allow you to eat your own food for the whole weekend, sleep on a bed or sofa, bathe and use your own (hopefully cleaner) toilet facilities at least twice a day.

2. Get there early! If you are camping, plan to arrive at the festival grounds as soon as possible after the gates are opened on Wednesday morning. The traffic heading into the grounds is horrendous, and all of the good camping spots get taken up by Wednesday night or Thursday morning. Yes, it's a pain to take an extra 2 days off of work when there are no musical acts organized, but it's worth it--the poor sods we saw arriving on Friday in the mud wandered for hours before finding any decent patches of dirt big enough for a tent. Anyways, we found that by the time we actually set up our campsite, had a few drinks, a bite to eat, and a walk on Wednesday, it was already late evening. The bars are open, and many of the stalls and stages have some random performances on, so there are definitely things to do. If all else fails, read a good book and enjoy a long nap--once the party starts, resting gets hard to come by!

3. Choosing a Campsite. You should have an idea of which camping area you want to aim for and try to park your car in the parking lot closest to the desired area, since you will likely have to carry everything with you over 1 k from your car to your campsite. In choosing a campsite, there are 2 main objectives:

1) If you are over 30, like D and I, chances are that you can no longer handle going 48-72 hours without sleep, which means that you will be looking for the quietest place possible to camp. Unfortunately, there are no truly quiet places at Glastonbury, only "loud" and "really loud"; therefore, D and his friends have established a tradition of camping in the "Family Camping" area, which falls into the merely "loud" category. Now, since we do not have children, this means that we had to sneak into the family area by staggering our entry--my female friend and I went in first, claiming that our husbands had gone in ahead with the kids, while the boys came in 10 minutes later, claiming the opposite. One note--sleeping in the kiddie area does mean that you will have to keep the partying 'round your tent fairly tame, and may have to endure some loud tantrums from time to time, but at least most of the neighbors are asleep by midnight.

2) The 2nd objective in campsite selection is proximity to toilets and the milk-man route: you should be close enough to the loos that a post-midnight toilet run won't seem like torture, but far enough away so that the stink doesn't haunt you; and close enough to the milk-man route that you can hear them coming past with fresh supplies in the morning, but far enough away that your tent doesn't get trampled by folks coming to the truck in the morning,or splashed on by tottering children with full cartons of milk and yogurt.

4. Hauling your Gear. This one is pretty simple--you need a sturdy wheelbarrow (be sure to check the tire is pumped full and has no holes) and a few strong & chivalrous men to make it into the festival with a weekend worth of gear intact. Since the car park is so far away from the campgrounds, it is advisable to try and take everything with you in one trip. Luckily for me, D and his buddy were happy to fill the roles of wheelbarrow pushers, so we ladies carried as much of the less awkward gear & luggage over our shoulders as we could, and they pushed the rest. Now, experienced campers may find that they can fit all they need into massive camping backpacks, but we don't have ultra-light, ultra-portable cooking equipment, so we were relying on bringing in full-size camping burners and ice chests to help store our food and cases of beer & cider. The more food and drink you bring in, the more money you save (cuz the food at the festival is $$$), but obviously you can lighten your load if you only bring in a tent, sleeping bags, clothing & toiletries.

5. Packing Essentials: Wellington boots (for the mud, in case it rains--and it probably will--and for braving the public toilets and port-a-loos), hand sanitizer gel (loads), sunblock (when it's not cold and raining, it's HOT), toilet paper (I carried a roll in my backpack at all times), a good rain-proof poncho or a few disposable ones (handy, but less enviro-friendly), a fleece jacket for cold nights, a swimsuit or board shorts (for outdoor bathing or sunbathing on sunny days), sunglasses and a wide-brimmed hat (to keep the sun off your face and your view of the stages from being blocked by glare), a good camping tent with a proper rain fly (one that provides cover to a front and back storage area will be best), summer weight sleeping bags, Thermarests or inflatable mattresses, head lamps or flashlights/torches (for your tent and the toilets in the dark), camping chairs (to sit on outside the tent, above the mud), a small basin that you can fill with water to wash yourself and your dishes (better than wasting concert time waiting in the 2-3 hour shower line), extra camera batteries and a solar-powered charger that can power your cell phone and ipod (otherwise, once the batteries die you are screwed--the line at the "cell phone charging tent" were horrible after Friday night).

Sunday Night Showdown: X-Factor v. Snooker?

Sometimes I just have to laugh at what I'm willing to spend time watching on television here in England! This weekend, we spent at least 3 hours between Saturday and Sunday watching the finals of Simon Cowell's UK talent show hit, "The X-Factor", just to find out who 10 million English teenage girls would prefer to see crooning at them in tight black pants and a skinny tie. Seriously, neither of the two finalists has a voice or a look that appeals to me personally, yet I was held captivated as the entire country screamed and shouted over them in a massive love-fest. During the last 2 nights, the singers were even joined onstage by Michael Buble, Robbie Williams, George Michael, Leona Lewis, JLS and even Sir Paul McCartney--wouldn't these stars rather be dueting with someone who's already a famous singer rather than a teenage hopeful? iTV must have deep pockets!

Although the 18 year old winner, Joe McElderry, has a strong voice, he looks about 12 years old, is super short, and would get eaten for breakfast by the likes of Justin Timberlake or even Chris Martin in terms of stage performance ability. Although the winning acts from the past two years of X-Factor have done well commercially on their own (Leona Lewis has gone world-wide, and JLS is popular here), I don't really see little Joe ever reaching an audience outside of his X-Factor support base. The runner-up, Olly Murs, has a ton of stage personality, but a weaker singing voice, and he seems like he'd be more suited to musical theater.

Also dominating prime-time last night was the UK Snooker Championships. Seriously, does anyone in America even play snooker? It's definitely on the list of questionable 'sports' along with table tennis, car racing and shooting. I have never met anyone who has a snooker table or knows the rules in my whole life--it's a bit like pool, but with a larger table and twice as many balls. I don't even like to say the word "snooker" (pronounced "snU-ker" here)--it sounds like something a cranky old lady would carry around in her purse. D was of course aghast that I have spent my existence in ignorance of this important UK 'sport', so we watched the final match last night while he tried to explain the rules. Before falling asleep I managed to learn that the players must alternate between trying to sink a 'colored' ball and a 'red' ball, the former being worth a varying amount of points, depending on which colored ball is sunk. The colored balls are brought back out onto the table after being sunk, but once all the red balls have been pocketed, the player with the highest score wins.

Maybe next week I can sneak in a few minutes of Sunday Night Football on ESPN America to bring me back to reality!

I miss American TV

English TV kinda sucks. After 6 months of trying to get into Emmerdale, Coronation Street and the other UK nighttime soap dramas, I've pretty much given up. Unlike the soaps in America, who tend to make the lives of nearly all their characters look at least upper-middle class and somewhat glamorous, most of the UK soaps seem to focus on average, middle-class and lower-middle class folks, which offers little of the escapism that American TV provides.

The only prime-time shows I've followed here are the reality-TV hits 'Britain's Got Talent', 'X Factor' and 'I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Outta Here', mostly because the judges and hosts are so entertaining, and because they are on so frequently that it's hard to escape them.

Since we aren't getting the new fall series of 'Grey's Anatomy', 'America's Next Top Model' or 'Big Love' here in England yet, I have to console myself by watching 'The Hills' and 'The City' on MTV. When I'm watching them it feels like I'm back on my couch in L.A., and staying in touch with what's hot at home. It's kind of sad, because those shows are actually so disconnected from reality. Luckily we have the current season of 'Gossip Girl' and 'Project Runway' on right now, and we are only a week or so behind the US seasons, but I'm not sure if we will get 'LOST' or the new season of '24' yet. Keep your fingers crossed for me.