1st list of fun/cool places to visit while at Sandy's

Well, since Pedrinho will be visiting me soon and I just have to know ALL the cool places to take him and anyone else who would like to spend some time on my sofa-bed, I'll start the whole cool places to go to while at Sandy's list

First on my list will have to be Russell Square which is almost opposite my building.

It's actually the largest square in London, as Anna so trivially informed me, and not, as commonly thought, Trafalgar Square.

There's a lovely little café owned by Italians in it where you can order coffee or panini or even a full lasanga. Watch out for the pigeons though. They will actually hop onto your table and try to eat some of your food! When it was still warm, I would sit on the grass and read or draw while eating a sandwich for lunch. A few weeks ago the temps actually peaked at 20-odd degrees and there were toddlers in their diapers playing in the fountain, which is in the middle of the square, pictured above.

For shopping and grabbing a quick bite to eat, nothing closer than The Brunswick Centre. Apprently until a year or so ago, it was an ugly residential monster with horrible little stores below. They've transformed it into an open-air shopping centre. There are some cool high-street stores and a few fast-food restaurants as well as the local Waitrose.

Very cool place: Sketch Restaurant, 9 Conduit Street, London.

Several different areas inside, offering bars, restaurants, tea room and art gallery. Decoration and ambience is very funky, service is friendly and intimate. This is one of the places I hope to be working soon. People differ about the quality of food. So far I've only been for tea.

Other cool place where I'm hoping to work: The Hospital, 24, Endell Street, Covent Garden. Misture of Member's Club, art gallery, events venue and bar/restaurant. I went there with Anna on my second day here to see a Bansky and Warhol show. They had an open day last week to interview potential employees. Hopefully they'll call me back to do some hostessing or receptionist work.

Went with David last night: Moti Mahal. Some very good and varied Indian food. http://www.motimahal-uk.com/

There was, unfortunately, a couple arguing outside really loudly. The man was being an idiot and then continued the fight when they came in! It was like a novela!

I had the Tawey ka Chippa MurghPan - fried guinea fowl supreme stuffed with baby spinach and chestnuts served on brown onion and poppy seed curry. Really Yummy! Thanx David!!!

And while we're on the subject: Covent Garden. Lots of great shopping, bars, cafés.. you could walk around here all day... specially around the Seven Dials area and Neals Street, pictured left.

Oxford Street and Regent Street. I can walk here in about 15-20 mins even though I try not to. It is craziness in terms of how many people are around walking and how many people you have to dodge - specially if its raining! But, good place for a shopping day. If near Selfridges at lunch, have a bite in the Mossarella Bar... absolutely wonderful. There are also lots of great restaurants with tables outside in the streets behind Selfridges.

I still have to find a good meat place! Pedrinho will want meat!

beijos!

My um... saddle is sore

I went, I saw, I cycled, I sore.

I did over 20-odd kilometres today. It was Freewheel Day, where London closes off roads downtown and you can cycle all over looking at landmarks and stuff. At the end there's a free piknic and shows and bike circus, etc...

So two days ago I got my packet with this bib, bell to put on bike and map. Today we met up with some friends of Anna's at Waterloo and then biked to the center. It was a blast. Anna took some pics. There were over 30 thousand bikers out there!

Lots of fun, but I'm in so much trouble for the next few days. Ouch!



Me on the Thames bank... you can see the London eye & South Bank behind me.


Me with my huge breast implant.

Anna's friend Jonathan. Lots of fun.



Me riding Anna's reserve bike. The reason you can't see the seat is because its lodged up... Ouch.


Bike acrobatics in front of some palace or house... have to look it up. They probably have nice bouncy seats.


I look less tired than Johnathan does! Ha! and he's a regular biker.


Anna and me at the finish line.


Thats me thinking of a nice warm bath to soak my bum-bum in. Unfortunately I had another 8 KM to go. hehehe. Bjs!

Preciso de opini'oes

Thanks for the opinions guys!!!

Here is Kiai-kiai na piscina, as per Nicki.

The view outside my window

This is what I see when I look out my window.

It's not as romantic as what might be possible in a city with this much history, but I'm pretty lucky I have a view at all! That hill in the distance is Hampstead, I think.

Last night I watched 10 minutes of fireworks just to the left of the little power room or whatever it is on top of the building next door. Very cool.

One of the hundred reasons I love London, or any old city actually, is that there are so many hidden alley-ways, spooky staircases, mysterious towers and windows that seem to look out of nowhere.

Since my brain is steeped in Hollywood musicals, everytime I look at an interesting roof here, I can see sooty little chimney sweeps, dancing on the tiles, or Mary Poppins floating down to an attic window. I imagine what might have gone on on that roof, who might have snuck out that window, or who were the people that went down that alleyway everyday a couple of hundered years ago.

So I went on one of those walking tours of London. I chose the Hidden London tour, which took us through tiny alleyways and old market streets which maintain their name but have long stopped selling anything. We saw old guild mansions which used to fight each other. We went to several tiny churches and to several old chruch court yards where there was no sign of a church anymore. There were secret gardens, with grape vines! Yes, smack in the financial district! It was great, because you can decide at the last minute to do one of these tours. You just have to show up at the tube station indicated and pay the guide. Very cool.

I also read up on the history of Bloomsbury, which is the name of my neighbourhood. Bloomsbury is most famous for being the home of Harry Potter's publishers (yes, it's right around the corner.. now you know why I moved here! ) and for the Bloomsbury Group, which was a group of writers and artists that lived and created here from 1905 to about 1940 and included Virginia Woolf, Duncan Grant, Vanessa Bell, Roger Fry, Clive Bell, among others.

But it was famous for me because it was the setting for all sorts of books, such as Vanity Fair, by Thackeray and quite a few other regency-period books, which I love.

I keep looking at these townhouses and imagining the parties that went on upstairs on the first floow, the servants going through the basement level, the tiny rooms upstaris in the attic.

Parties were on the first floor and that is where the windows are largest and you will usually find a balcony of sorts. Guests used to go in through the front door and as in several movies that portray those days, they would go upstaris to the first floor, where the most lavishly decorated rooms would be. Then the adults would have the second floor as their bedrooms and parlours, while the servants and kids shared the third floor and attic.

Happy Birthday Timmy!!

Happy B-day Timmy!!!!!!

I Miss you!!!!

First Impressions 3: Tastes and Textures

So, London. I did live here as a child and have a memory or nostalgia of things, mostly certain foods and drinks.

I've been trying all this stuff that I remember tasted really good as a kid... mostly sweets and chocolate bars. For the larger part, um... maybe I should have left them as sweet taste-sensations in my memory. UGH!

Other things I never tasted because I was still a child. Of course I've had Guinness before, but there's a myriad of crazy drinks here.

<--- Pimms: a gin-based beverage which is served with herbs, fruit and soda. Verrryyy bitter.

Mentioning that I prefer a lighter, sweeter beer, someone served me a strawberry larger. Yes, a fruity, strawberry-flavoured beer. Blerch. And in some pubs, they have house-bourbons and scotches. So you don't ask for a Red Label and soda or a JB and coke.. they won't have it. You ask for a Bourbon and coke.
So far, the wines I've had haven't been impressive. Except for one expensive bottle Reto got once.

But there are things I'm loving:

- The cheese, Grommit, the cheese! Apart from lovely mature cheddar, there are all sorts of french and italian cheeses which I'm having a great time discovering.

- Ginger Beer.... man this stuff would be a hit in Brazil. Its a soft drink made of ginger. It's sort of fiery-hot, but also sweet and refreshing.

- The curries and Thai food... yummm. There's a great Thai restaurant near me. I went with Anna and a friend. It was INCREDIBLE. Really different from what I expected, but sooo good.

- dairy things. Milk tastes delicious here. Yoghurt is soooo creamy... and they have lots of lemon yoghurt, which I looove.

- Pies. Cottage pie, steak and kidney pies... Since Brazil is not a big pie country, I'm finding them pretty good.

- Corn... so sweet! Must come from the US.

- berries. lots of berries.

I got an expresso maker from Andrea and Reto (so sweet!), so I make my own lovely lattes at home. Eaten with Weetabix, or else crumpets and cheese and butter.

The supermarket doesn't have a very good selection of meat, but has some great ready-foods. And the supermarket discounts the price of things about to go bad... so you can get really cheap stuff at the last minute.

Toilet-paper: So strong you could write on it!

I'm having a huge problem with sweeteners and diet stuff. Apart from Diet coke, it's really difficult to find diet drinks, like Iced tea and juices. Plus the sweeteners here suck and the sugar is really grainy.

My hair and skin are suffering. The water is really hard, so if I blow dry my hair it gets all stiff.. and my skin is still a little confused at what's going on.

Well, tomorrow Anna lends me her camera. Mine is still broken from Antigua. So, I'll finally be able to take pictures from my day, around my neighbourhood and post them.

Sorry for taking so long to update! I promise I'll be better at this!