An American Ware Dog in London - Part 2

Sunday August 26 2007

Today was rather uneventful. We didn't have any real plans, so figured we would try and take Willow out to Regent's Park and see how she would do. Willow rode on the bus again and did good. She made several friends on the bus since she would stare at people until they finally started petting her.

We got to the park and tried to play with Stumpy, her yellow ball. We would throw it, she would run over to it, and promptly forget it as she saw something else that would interest her. I would then go over to the ball and try to throw it. It was some weird reverse game of fetch.

Since she wasn't that interested in fetch, we just walked around. She did pretty good, although she barked at several dogs that she saw which didn't make us happy, but I guess she'll learn.








We didn't stay very long since Willow doesn't have as much energy as Daisy Adair, but she seemed to have a good time, so we were glad to take her. After that, we took Willow back to the flat and then headed into town to run some errands. Then we just came back and spent some time with all of the dogs.

Steel Bands from Outer Space

Saturday, August 25, 2007

It was a very pleasant, warm Saturday in London. Nothing major planned but we did have a few things that we wanted to do. We got up early and headed toward Notting Hill I had always wanted to go there but never had the chance in February, so finally we were going. This was the weekend of the Notting Hill Carnivale that is held once a year. It is a big Caribbean festival that had more than 1.5 million people from around the world visit last year. While the big party is not until Monday, the bank holiday, we were still looking forward to going on Saturday.

We walked down Portobello Road looking at all the street vendors at the Portobello Market. This is a huge market that is held every weekend in Notting Hill, and with the Carnivale going on it was especially big, the streets were so crowded you could barely move through them. We had been there for about an hour and half and decided we were starved, cereal doesn't stick with you long when you are walking a lot.

Here is a shot down Portobello Road at the beginning of the market


We had lunch at a New Zealand hamburger joint that we had been wanting to go to, Gourmet Burger Kitchen, yummy!!! They had over 30 different burgers to choose from, mostly hamburger and chicken, but lots of different toppings. Their oddest burger was called the Kiwi Burger and had egg, pineapple, beetroot, cheese, and relish atop a burger, not my style. While their burgers were great, their chips (french fries) were to die for. With our system refueled it was back to the market and the task at hand, shopping. Not really, we bought some tomatoes, cucumber, and a brownie, that was about it. But it was a lot of fun looking.

We also stopped in at The Travel Bookstore, this is the store that inspired the book store in the movie Notting Hill. It was a cute bookstore, with tons of travel guides to all over the world. We got our Scotland Top 10 book there, since we are going in 3 weeks.

The Travel Bookstore sign


After a few hours we decided it was time to head down to Hyde Park. This is where the steel bands were going to be playing and competing, the beginning of the actual Notting Hill Carnivale. We got there early, so we sat and had our brownie and rested a little bit, we were flat exhausted. Once we were ready we walked around and listened to several of the bands, got some videos and pictures, and walked around the park a little more. Both of us had a headache so we headed back to our flat a little earlier than planned.

A Close up of one of the steel drum players



An overall picture of one of the large steel drum groups




A beautiful bridge in the lake in Hyde Park



The rest of the night was very uneventful, watching tv, and just sitting around.

Sunday August 19, 2007

Sunday morning we decided to sleep in a little later and get caught up on our sleep. When we did get up, we finished painting our bedroom and had some paint left over, so started on the living room. Once we finished with that, we decided we would head into a different area of town which seemed to specialize in electronics and furniture.

We were able to find a lot of things that we were looking for, some necessary (cookware) and some more for fun (Tami got some scrapbooking stuff to keep up with our adventures in London.) We think we found a futon that we like that's cheap, but comfortable, so will probably go back later this week to get it.

We eventually made our way over to the Globe Theatre by way of tube and lots of walking, so we were getting pretty tired. We had tickets to see Othello at the Globe at 6:30 and had some time to kill, so we went to the pub at the Theatre and had beer (for me) and wine (for Tami) as well as a Ploughman's platter. The platter was good and had tons of food. Lots of cheese, an apple, a tomato, celery, apple chutney and lots of really soft bread. It was a perfect light supper.

If you don't know, the Globe Theatre is a replica of the original Globe theatre where many of Shakespeare's plays were originally performed.


The outside of the theatre


banner advertising Othello

One of the interesting things about the Globe Theatre is that it is an open theatre. Also, they sell standing room tickets in front of the stage, so if it starts raining, you better have a poncho or you're going to get wet. When we bought tickets, we weren't sure how comfortable standing would be, so we sprung for some of the seats. Boy was I glad we did, after all of the walking we did, our feet wouldn't have been able to stand it. Also, it did in fact rain during the performance, so I'm sure we would have been miserable.


The inside of the theatre

The show was very good, although we had no idea how long it was going to be. It was around 10:30 before we left for home (4 hours long). It was the last night of the play, so the director came out and thanked all of the cast and crew. The guy who played Othello (Eamonn Walker) was great, Tami actually recognized him from ER. He played one of the doctors during the Africa plot line, he was in several episodes. He also was in 44 episodes of Oz playing Kareem Said.


The cast taking their bows


more of the cast on the balcony

After that, we jumped on the tube and headed back to our flat. The dogs were very glad to see us.

Let the painting begin

Wanted to try to give you some pictures of why we are painting the flat. These pictures were taken in our room, the room with the biggest need of a paint job.

The first picture is what the walls looked like before. You can't tell too much the walls are a lavender-bluish color with darker purple/bluish dots everywhere. Not really sure what the dots are, don't really want to know



The second picture is the comparison of the old wall color and the new wall color.



The third picture is what the walls look like newly painted. You won't really be able to tell but the color is actually pretty close to the green from the house's living room. It looks so much better, you couldn't even imagine.

Orlando is in full Bloom!

Saturday August 18, 2007

Today was a great day. We started early and went to the Borough Market, to walk around and grab some breakfast. Greg grabbed a coffee from Monmouth Coffee that he had been reading so much about, I grabbed a hot chocolate from a patisserie next door and then we grabbed a croissant and pain au chocolate from one of the vendors set up at the Borough Market. We walked for a while and saw so much wonderful looking food, olives, cheese, bread, produce, mushrooms, tea, etc. We did stop at a few vendors and try what they had to offer.

One of the fish vendors at Borough Market, they had a shark with a fish in its mouth:


We originally had planned to have lunch at a sushi place but were not hungry enough so instead we had tea at the Shipp's Tearoom and then off to Neal's Yard Dairy where we tried (and bought) numerous cheeses.

Here is one of the walls of cheese in Neal's Yard Dairy


Our tea at Shipp's Tearoom


Then we were off to Leicester Square, where we had tickets to see In Celebration, starring Orlando Bloom. We were going to kill time before the play and shop but as we were walking past the theater we noticed a group of people standing around. We realized they were waiting on Orlando to arrive, so we decided to wait with them. Greg was fine with this because it meant less shopping for me, and no complaining about it. We waited for nearly 30 minutes when he arrived, he did not have time to sign any autographs but we got a couple pictures in and then set off to a travel bookstore that we really like and bought a couple of books. We then stopped in for a quick bite to eat before the play. One thing I did like was when Orlando arrived, out of the car jumped his big black dog, I thought it was really cool that he brings his dog with him to his plays.

The play was in the Duke of York's theatre, which is very small but very nice. We really liked the play, it was not a big production, like broadway or anything but it reminded us of our days of taking acting classes and auditioning. This was Orlando Bloom's first stage performance, I had no idea. I assumed he was a trained stage actor who turned to films but that was not the case. After the play ended we went back out side and waited for him to come out to sign autographs. We got some great photos in and I even got his autograph. He did not give out a whole lot so I was very pleased.

Here is a wonderful picture of Orlando, as he is signing my program:


Orlando's dog:


Afterwards, we headed down the street to see The Bourne Ultimatum. It was a great movie, lots of scenes in London and Paris, so we could say we knew exactly where those scenes had taken place. The theater that we went to was really awesome. It was not like a regular move theater. When you buy tickets you get assigned seats. There were 3 levels, just like a play, and there was even an actual stage and curtain that the movie screen was behind. All in all it was a really good experience. Cost a little more than a regular movie, so we won't do that a lot, but it was a good treat.

Then it was off to finding some food, we hadn't eaten an actual meal all day, just snacks and stuff mostly, so it was nice to sit down and eat real food. We went to Pizza Express, which is a very well-known restaurant here but is highly recommended in all of the magazines and books that we have. We were eating our pizza, and realized that everyone else was eating with a fork and knife, so we had to be more civilized than the American culture trained us for. Oh well, it was a very nice pizza restaurant that we would definitely go back to. We caught a bus and headed home, got back around 10 pm, I think the dogs were very happy to see us.


Disclaimer: Greg wants everyone to know that he had nothing to do with the title of this blog or the opinions expressed in the section about the actor.

It's Done!!!!!!

I (Tami) have finished my puzzle of Versailles......woo hoo, only 2 weeks until we go to Paris.

Okay, so enough kididng. The real news is that our house is sold and GONE!!!!
Yeah, no more mortgage. So we did what any other good Brit would do and celebrated at a pub.

The other news of today, Friday, is that we have finally started painting our flat, starting with our bedroom.

We will have pics of the before and after of some of the bedroom and we will have some more interesting news after the weekend is over, it will be jam-packed. Stay tuned..........

An American Ware dog in London

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Today was a beautiful day so we decided to head to Regent's Park. it is about 3 miles up the road, but we can take a bus and cut off half the distance. We thought we would try one of the dogs at the park to see how it went before we made the big trip with 2 or 3 dogs all at once. We took Daisy Adair with us, it was her first bus ride. She did extremely well.

We walked around the park for quite a long time, we stopped and had coffee and pastries for breakfast. We continued on walking and came to a restaurant next to the lake, in which they have boats for rent. We grabbed a pizza to take with us for later, when we decided to picnic.

We walked through more of the park including soccer fields, softball fields, cricket pitches, over bridges and water and on and on. We even got to walk over a bridge that went next to the zoo. We did not go to the zoo, since we had Daisy Adair with us but we did stop for a moment on the bridge to see the hyenas (huger than I have ever seen before) and a couple large warthogs. It was just a great view down the river also, didn't think it could get any better.

Here are a couple of pictures of Regent's Park





Then, we walked across the street to Primrose Hill. We again walked past lots of green space and up to the top of the Hill and I found my most favorite place ever, I think.

One of my favorite movies is The Wedding Date. In the movie there is a scene where a group of them are out playing ball (I think it is the British version of Softball). In the scene they show a shot of London, where you can see the London Eye, and so many other buildings. We have been searching for a very long time to find out where this scene takes place and could never find anything out. Well, low and behold, this is the magical spot. The most amazing views from up here can be seen, you can see so much of London. We decided THIS was our picnic spot. We put down our blanket, ate our pizza, and had a little fun with Daisy Adair. It was now after 1 pm, we had been out for well over 3 hours and decided to head back, but not before some more pictures, of course.

The view from Primrose Hill:




Daisy Adair on Primrose Hill:




Daisy Adair cutting loose:



We headed back, Daisy Adair even made a friend along the way. Once we got back to the flat we made a grocery list, went to the store, and came back to settle in for the evening. We walked at least 5 miles and we were all three exhausted.

Next weekend should be an exciting weekend, keep posted.

24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence?

Today we got off to a late start. The dogs woke us up at 6:30am to be taken out, so after we brought them back in, we went back to sleep.


Daisy Adair vigilantly watching outside

We ended up sleeping until 10:00am which totally shocked us, but we were nice and rested for the day. We ended up taking the tube out to Earl's Court, grabbing some pasta and spectacular garlic bread at Zizzi and going to the British Beer Festival.



We had a lot of fun and I tried a few really great beers. Unfortunately, I was on call and couldn't try too many, but all of the ones that I tried were really good. Tami tried a few ciders and perries, but all of them were pretty bad, so it was pretty much a bust for her. She had fun anyway though.


Tami with her (bad) cider


inside the beer festival

Since we couldn't drink until they closed down, we decided to head over to Covent Garden to hang out a bit. Once we made it over there, we immediately headed for a place with ice cream to try and cool down. After that, we walked around the shops and looked and watched some of the street performers.


Covent Gardens

It was quite busy, and we ended up walking up and down a bunch of the side streets as well to check everything out. We finally ended up at a restaurant called Wahaca for supper. It was new, had only been opened for two weeks. The portions were fairly small in an order, almost like Mexican tapas, so we ended up splitting chicken tacos, frijoles tostados and chorizo and potato quesadillas. It was very good, although it was no Frontera or Cinco. We still need to find us a good tex/mex place here for a taste of home.

Since we were full, we walked down the Leicester Square to look around and to see about tickets for "In Celebration", the play that is starring Orlando Bloom. We got tickets for next weekend, which is funny since next weekend is also when we are going to see Othello at the Globe Theatre. Guess we're going for a theme next weekend.

After that, we grabbed some coffee and hot chocolate and caught a bus back home so that we could see about the puppies. They were glad see us, so we ended up taking them on a nice long walk around the neighborhood.

The search is over

Sunday turned out to be nice and relaxing. We woke up and walked into town to put money onto the card for electricity. We found a place pretty quickly, grabbed some breakfast at a little cafe while we were down there, and came back. Once we put the card into the breaker, everything started working again. We then decided that we wanted a relaxing day, and decided to have a picnic in Kensington Gardens. We took a few things from the flat and decided we would get the rest at the new Whole Foods that is right outside of the park.

We wandered around Whole Foods for awhile. This took longer than we thought since it was quite large. However, while we were there, SUCCESS! We had finally found it. Ever since we went to New Zealand In Dec 2005, we had been searching for one of the wines that we really really enjoyed, but hadn't been able to find it. The winery was called Mud House, and their Pinot Noir was excellent. However, we had finally found it. We bought a couple of bottles and plan to drink it Monday evening to see if it's still good :)



After that, we grabbed a few more things and headed over to Kensington Gardens where we had a nice picnic, played cards and did some people watching. The weather was excellent, mid 0's and sunny and we had a great day. About 3:30, we decided to head over to the Orangery and have a proper afternoon tea, which we enjoyed very much as well.


Our little picnic


The Park






Some pics of the Gardens... much prettier in the summer than they were when we saw them in Feb.

Since we were stuffed, we decided to head back home. After we got off the tube station, we decided to walk around instead since we saw a bunch of people. We followed the crowds and saw that they were having a large outdoor market going on there (which apparently they have every weekend.) We walked around for awhile and had a good time looking around. However, we were ready to get home, so we didn't stay too long. We plan to go back another weekend when we can spend some more time.

The night the lights went out in London

Friday - 3 August 2007

Today we went to Ikea, again, to purchase some more furniture. It's great, we now have a dining room table, chairs, desk chairs, clothes drying rack, and more. It is starting to feel more and more like a home. We are still waiting on our paint allowance so we can paint the walls and waiting on them to come by and fix the bathroom but it feels much better than it did.

The cutest thing we bought were 3 dog butts, in various colors. They are actually hangers for their leashes.


Saturday - 4 August 2007

Today was our first real touristy day. We got up early and headed to Buckingham Palace before they opened at 9:45 am. We got our tickets and were able to see the Mews (stables and carriages), the Royal Gallery, and 19 State Rooms. The rooms are only opened for 2 months out of the year so we really took advantage. You could only take pictures at the Mews and while in the gardens of the Palace. It was so beautiful, I wish I could have taken pictures but my batteries died and I hadn't bought more since we arrived. Oh well, there are at least a few. We will be able to go back as much as we want for the next year at no additional charge, so I will get more pictures later.

We couldn't believe the number of carriages that they had, they use one for it seems every different purpose, from weddings, to funerals, to public appearances, etc. They even had the carriage that was used in the 1800's. It was massive and so much gold on it. The sculptures and paintings on the side as well were very impressive.



We spent about an hour at the Mews and then headed to the Royal Gallery where we saw hundreds of Italian paintings and drawings that were held in the Royal family. It was kind of like being at the High Museum.

We spent over an hour there and headed to see the State Rooms. Oh My God!!!!! I thought Biltmore Estates was big, it is nothing compared to Buckingham Palace. I think the entire Biltmore could have fit into 2 or 3 rooms of the Palace. We got to see 19 rooms and that wasn't even 1/4 the size of the Palace. There was just so much gold and huge paintings and just so much there, it was amazing. They did even have a section that was nothing but the Queens wedding memorabilia, like her dress, bridesmaids dresses, gifts, crowns, etc. That was really neat to see as well. She was so young and beautiful, a blushing bride.

Once we got done at the Palace we headed to Kensington Gardens so we could have afternoon tea. We sat down and when the waitress came over we asked her about tea and we were actually too early. We didn't want to wait for it to begin, in 20 minutes, so we just ordered a scone and some tea and left. It was good but I was a little disappointed. Oh well, another day.

We then decided to head down to the Borough Market to see if it was still open. It was, but barely, most shops were closing up. We walked around and decided we definitely were going to come back and spend the day. So much fresh fruits, vegetables, cheese, wine, beer, meat, sandwiches, etc. So much shopping as well. We walked over and got tickets to see Othello at the Shakespeare's Globe theater for August 19th (I know my dad will love that I am doing that on his birthday) and then headed back toward the Borough and had a few drinks at the Anchor pub.


Well, they were filming a movie or tv show or something so we got some beer (mine was Smirnoff, made with Vodka not a malt beverage like in the states) and sat at the waters edge and watched. We did get some photos of the guy jumping off the bridge, that was the scene they were filming. It was really nice weather and we had fun just sitting there and enjoying the scenery.

The first picture here is the guy on the bridge, and then you can see the film crew in the water. The second picture is him right after he actually jumped. If you notice in the first picture there is a semi with a bunch of beer kegs on it. He was supposed to be running from this when he jumps off the bridge.




We then decided we needed to get back to the puppies, since they had been up all day. We grabbed some supper to take back home from Wagamama (yummy noodles). We got home, took the dogs out, eat and started to watch Bourne Identity, when the power went out.

Well, let me tell you how happy we were about that. We have been trying to get the power turned over to our name for a week now. The agency told us that this company handles the power. We call them and they tell us it someone else, then they tell us it is yet someone else. It has been very aggravating, we have even left messages for the rental agency to call us and help us out.

We were going to call the company whom we think handles the power and our cell phone has no more money on it. Uggghhhh!! This pre-pay thing is really crappy at this point. First the cell phone, then the gas, I am already tired of it. It is now almost 10 pm and we have to find a store open so we can put more minutes on our phone, that wasn't hard, yeah! So, we call the power company, they tell us that they would not just turn the power off without any warning. They also tell us that it is probably just a blown fuse and we need to get a new fuse. Well, we don't have a flash light. We go back to the store that we topped our cell phone up at and find a flash light, well they only take cash and we only have 2.75 so we find a keychain flashing for 1 pound that comes with a battery and buy it, oh well, better than nothing. We get back to the flat, find the fuse box, call the power company back, because tripping the box did not work, and find out that we are on no other than PRE-PAY power as well. I really don't think I like this pre-pay thing.

I think it will get better now that we know what to expect. So, continuing on. It is now 11 pm and we don't have a clue who can top up the power card. We decide, we mine as well just go to sleep and get up and do it Sunday morning. Which we did, and now all is well.

See tomorrow for Sunday's blog post...

Guess what's pink!!!!

Nope, it's not Tami's hair. It's her night stand. We bought our first piece of furniture and it is pink. Greg is so thrilled, he can hardly contain himself.

When we got our flat it already had a wardrobe and 1 nightstand in the bedroom. The night stand has green drawers. Today we went to town to Greg's hair cut and the store next door had a similar night stand with pink drawers. I needed a night stand, so I got it. It was cheap also.


Greg went to an actual barber to get his hair cut. We were a little worried at first but he was really good. He was quick and surprisingly accurate in what we asked for. Greg was a little leery when he pulled out a straight razor and a flame on his ears. Very odd. It doesn't look exactly like Greg normally has but it looks pretty good, and it does look like the picture on the wall that I pointed to.

The place was immaculate and looked very new, another bonus.


Not much else to update on, all is going well, waiting on repairs still but at least we have word that it is going to be done. We are going to be given a budget as well to repaint so we are looking forward to that. They are going to repair the bathroom and the locks. Yeah!

We should have more after this weekend, we are going to get out and about London, and do some fun, touristy things.

T & G