people told me before coming to london that they thought it rained quite a bit here. "take an umbrella!" i figured it was just one of those things that people said... like how they say it rains in seattle all the time, or like how they murmured about how violent DC is. i just figure it's all talk. i did encounter my first day of really rain in london yesterday though and it reminded me quite a bit of seattle - and i fancied walking about the city in my rainboots. to stay out of the rain though, i headed to the national portrait gallery. i have to admit - i felt compelled quite minimally by much of what i saw. i just have nothing that links me to their history. things i saw that i did like though- a little bit of andy warhol:

a little bit of pop art by... i can't remember who:



and then a bunch of random busts. it wasn't the busts per se that caught me, it was the busts framed by the door frames, and the contrast of colors of the site:



also, i finally checked out the much talked about wagamama for some ramen. i was not impressed.



sure, i like being able to get ramen in its many varieties whether it's at wagamama or other like places... but it is a bit strange to pay 8 pounds... or 16 US dollars... for... ramen! it's just quasi-fancy ramen, really.

cheerio.

happy birthday, my sweet. if you happen to read this, happiest birthday wishes to you. i wish we could celebrate together, but perhaps we can just think of this past week as a gift to both you and me. see you back in london in just a few weeks; i can't wait.

the past few days have felt like a whirlwind. we returned from brussels and i caught a cold from the change in weather. thursday was work, work, work... and then i took the day off yesterday to play in london. we wandered and wandered the city and ended up at the tate modern. i love that they are open until 10pm and friday and saturday nights- and we stayed until closing. the building itself is awesome - it's a former power station and towers over the thames. on the first floor of the museum, there's a giant crack in the concrete floor- 548 ft long and three feet deep in places. it looks a bit like the result of a catastrophe, say, an earthquake. but apparently, it's just another piece of art.





some other highlights from the tate - two favorites - roy lichtenstein and SK:



they had some awesome pop art pieces including this of a boy soldier painted by an artist from the congo.
 


outside of the tate were these random trees. for some reason, i was quite drawn to them:



that's all for now. i'm tired, and i'm still a little sick. and to top it off, i'm feeling a little bummed that my partner in crime has left me and is returning to DC now. i really am on my own here in london now. something to look forward to though - morocco! we booked tickets last night to go to fez for an extended weekend trip over veteran's day weekend. i can't wait!

i'm back in london and i think i've returned with a bit of a cold. it seems brussels was a bit too cold for me. recapping the trip though...

and let's be clear, this was a work trip:


the palace:





town hall at grand place:

exploring about town:

some really interesting public art, and mind you, these were probably 25 feet tall:

i forgot to bring my USB cord to brussels, so i can't upload pictures! absolutely gorgeous. i don't want to post anything until i can put the pictures up. quickly though:

and lastly... i'm freezing!

the weekend brought the opportunity to explore the city a bit. i finally was able to do some "touristy" activities including seeing parliament and big ben.... and look how big it really is!

it's off to brussels later today via eurostar which means we'll go through the chunnel. nice! i'm quite enjoying things right now, i must say.

i have noticed that everyone in london seems to smoke. it's maddening. with the sidewalks being crowded, i hate that the possibility exists of being burned by someone's cigarette butt as it dangles between their fingers.

anyhow, the cabs in london are quite charming. take a look:



the great thing about london and europe in general is that they take the old and modify it for modernity. the classic feel is retained as much as it is possible. that cab for example, the outside looks old but you step in and it's perfectly modern with automatic locks and windows and the like. the same thing goes for the telephone booths. they've retained the classic red booths but inside, it's high tech. i'll have to snap a pic of the phone booths too. they're quite charming.

but, leaving work yesterday, i decided to explore a bit. i came across trafalgar square where they were screening hitchcock's blackmail on a huge screen. for context's sake, behind the screen is nelson's column which is 169 feet tall. the screen itself had to be a good 35 feet tall. take a look:



the screenign was especially cool as they had a live piano accompaniment to the film being blasted on speakers. it was a nice little treat to come upon. as suspected, time is flying here. i can't believe i'm on day three and coming upon my first weekend. i'm thrilled that my first visitor arrives tomorrow. i've missed him terribly although it's just been a few short days. i can't wait!

Well,
it's actually day two in London, but I didn't have an internet
connection last night. Here's the recap on my first day though!

I arrived at Heathrow a bit
before 10am. Immigration and customs were both cleared by 10:30am, bags were
retrieved, and I was greeted by my driver and in our cab just a little after
11am. Traffic into Central London was
horrendous – we made it into my neighborhood around 12 noon. My flat wasn’t yet
ready as a man was steam cleaning the carpets… so I wandered around a bit and
had a cup of coffee. The neighborhood I’m in is lively to say the least. The
area is great for people watching and has lots of eating and drinking options…
it should be pretty fun. Here is the street I live on by day:

And then by night:

I think because London no longer allows smoking indoors, the streets in
areas with many bars and lounges are now plagued like Seattle and DC both where people spill out
onto the streets littering them with cigarette butts and noise. In my living
room, it’s a bit noisy because of the street, but in my bedroom, it’s fairly
quiet.

Chinatown is pretty close by
– which figures, I always seem to live near Chinatowns.
I’m anxious to try out all the eats there. There are also a handful of Korean
restaurants scattered about there too. London Chinatown is probably about the
size of Seattle’s
– six blocks by four blocks.

After freshening up a bit
once the carpet cleaners were done, I went into my office and worked a good
five hours. Everyone was nice and I think I’ll be just fine. There’s going to
be a lot of work though! More on that later.

The evening concluded about
7pm at the office. I came back to my neighborhood and picked up some toiletries
I was missing, picked up some take out from the Thai/Indonesian restaurant next
to the building my flat is in, and came home to unpack. Interesting things
about my flat --

Toilet – it’s quite round.
Every time I sit down, I feel like the seat is not down and that I’m going to
fall in. I’m also not entirely sure how to flush the toilet as there are two
buttons that cause for the bowl to be filled with water .

My shower is pretty
interesting – you need a pass code to operate the darn thing and there are all
sorts of options for where and how the water comes out. You can make a call
from the shower, listen to the radio…

My “kitchen” is about the
size of… an armoire. Within a cabinet, you have two burners, a sink, and a
refrigerator. Take a look:

That’s just about it for now.
I didn’t have much of a chance to explore today. Perhaps after work.

well, i'm off to london in a bit. my flight will take off a little before 10pm and then as i slumber on a boeing 777, flying across the atlantic ocean, i will magically awake in england tomorrow morning. air travel is amazing, isn't it?

and how lucky am i? walking home from work today, i was thinking - it's a darn cool thing that i'm headed to the UK. perhaps it's true, i thought, that good things come to those who wait. or maybe, it's just that good things happen to good people. and then i thought, this is quite the good life that i'm living. i've earned this, after all. i've been through enough. i've put up enough. i made decisions and did the work that brought me here... or so i thought.

more later, from the other side of the pond.

--- my big boss, the boss of my boss, said to me the other day: your health insurance should be fine in the UK. you'll just be out of network should you have to go to the hospital. oh, and if anything happens to you while you're there- like say you get kidnapped - we have strong corporate insurance for situations like those. you'll have nothing to worry about.