Valentines Memories in London

As valentines fell during the week this year and Syd and I both have busy work schedules I didn't know what to expect. Syd came through and kept it surprising and well planned! I was working away (until 6:30 - yikes) getting the odd text message from Syd saying that he left work. So I continued to work only to look up and see him standing right in front of me, at my desk! He has never come to my work before so that was well cool. He said it was interesting to see where (and how) I work. He found it weird that there was alcohol randomly located around the office. I don't partake, I swear!

From there we went to this cool bar in a meat-packing district near my work in central east London to this bar (revamped warehouse) called Smiths of Smithfields. It was pretty busy and was a great place to wind down and enjoy a drink. It was a quick drink actually as Syd was getting anxious about the reservation he made.

We got in a cab to Trafalgar Square - which is literally a huge roundabout with streets going in 6 different directions. Syd only had an address, which could have been any one of the streets! After a brief walk around, we found the restaurant (which was huge) and it was called Albannach. When we went inside the entire wait staff were in kilts (including the men - hot) and I instantly smiled and turned to Syd and said "Honey, you booked a Scottish restaurant for us? Wicked!"

It was quite a fancy place. There was a 'natural' theme about it as antlers (and even a lit up deer near the coat check) were used everywhere. Antlers made up the base of lamps, and interconnected antlers made up a massive chandelier in the middle of the tall ceiling. It was well cool.

What made the ambience that much more special was the tenor saxophone player that was playing some jazz and modern tunes throughout dinner, starting with the classic "Only You". ;o)

Our meal was so good. We both had chateaubriand (nice cut of steak) with a truffle mushroom mash. That was followed up by a cheese plate and decadent desserts - I had a cheescake with a shortcake base while Syd devoured a dark and white chocolate mousse cake.

To top it all off, Albannach also had a lounge bar below named Doon, which had a great menu of cocktails that we enjoyed one interesting drink a piece while we took part in people watching a number of singles that showed up for a masquerade night.

Thanks for a great valentines memory in London!

Cousins, Fish and Friars

We had the great fortune of another cousin visit this past weekend. This time from Jedburgh Scotland! My 'second cousins' came to London on Saturday as they came down for the weekend to stay in Reading just outside the city. It would be the second time on record that I have met these cousins as I first met them in Edinburgh on my trip in September. I must say though, Lilian, and her teenage daughter Emily are so cool! And super nice!

We met them at the train station as they took the train from Reading. Thank goodness! I was originally thinking that they were going to drive into the city and I thought that they were mad. I thought it might be fun to hit the London Aquarium which is located on the bank of the Thames right next to the London Eye. The shark tank was pretty cool, and I loved the coral reefs and watching the clown fish frolick among the sea anemone. What I didn't expect was how small and dark it actually was. It was basically all underground. We only had 2 hours and I thought we would only get to see one floor. We saw the whole thing in 1.5 hours. I guess its not fair of me to judge as the main aquarium that I am comparing it to is the Boston Aquarium which is just massive!

The best and most original experience that I will always remember was the touch pool. This was a large pool filled with about 12 stingrays that allow you to touch them if they come up to the surface. Each ray has a different texture. Syd felt one that had a scaly rough surface with a bony spine, whereas I touched a soft fleshy one that must have been in infancy. It was such a neat experience and totally worth the admission price alone!
Following the aquarium we crossed the Blackfriars bridge and hit a pub called 'The Black Friar'. Yes, I know, very original. However, inside, it was really funky. I tried to take pictures to capture it. There were wood carvings of friars all along the top of the walls and cute phrases.


We enjoyed a good ale there and then walked over to covent garden to have a hearty American meal at TGI Fridays. It was so fun to get to know each other, share funny stories and even share pictures and music over bluetooth with our mobiles! Emily taught Syd about how to do the bluetooth exchange, to which he was embarrassed to not be too knowledgeable about (sorry honey!) ;o)

Its great to be able to be close to cousins who would normally be across the ocean. Can't wait to spend time with them again at the Edinburgh tattoo in August!

Prehistoric Stones and the Magna Carta

After being in England for 6 months we finally took the opportunity to visit the infamous prehistoric rocks that have put Salisbury on the map, yes, that would be Stonehenge. Archaeologists believe that the circle of standing stones were erected in 2200BC. There were many theories of how they were built. As the stones were not indigenous to the area, it was believed that they were moved upriver on logs, and then rolled by many men on logs across the hilly landscape using thirty million man hours and 3 construction phases to be built on the spot where they rest today. The spot just 13 km outside of Salisbury had significance because of where the sun's rays touch the centre of the rocks during summer solstice.

Now, many people say that they are just a bunch of standing rocks, but to us, they had somewhat of a mystical quality. Jutting out from the green landscape of the English countryside, the circles of stones and outlying monuments emit a power that must have been ingrained in the site itself. But it is a magnetism that can't be explained by architecture alone. Much of Stonehenge's intrigue stems from the fact that the stones are so shrouded in mystery, a characteristic that is magnified by its age.

Following stonehenge we visited the quaint town of Salisbury and took a tour through Salisbury Cathedral. Outside the cathedral was this neat marble statue that looked like a full moon.
Salisbury Cathedral, one of the first medieval churches in the UK and has the tallest spire is also the home of the best preserved copy of the Magna Carta. The Magna Carta was written in 1212 and was the first written document of principles that later formed the basis of national constitutions, including America's Declaration of Independence. Most of its clauses deal with specific, and often long-standing, grievances rather than with general principles of law. Some of the grievances are self-explanatory: others can be understood only in the context of the feudal society in which they arose (i.e. "no widow shall be compelled to marry, so long as she wishes to remain without a husband").

The cathedral itself was fantastic. It had amazing blue stained glass at the back and a long nave that is apparently extensive. While we were there an exhibition of wood carving was in the front of the nave so we didn't get to see the full expanse, but we could imagine it.
We had to head back to catch a train home, but on the way we walked along the stratford river and caught some swans enjoying the sunset.

A night in London in the 1920's

My cousin Brandon came to visit us for a few days at the end of January. We were excited to show him what life is like for us in London. Fortunately he had the best weather (sunny!) in which to explore.

The first night he was here we packed it in with dinner at home, a trip to see a band and then a 1920's bar. The guitarist on the left of this punk band works with Syd. The music had a fun vibe and it was a good start to the night.

Of course, we couldn't do this dressed in our modern duds, we had to immerse ourselves in the era! I borrowed my mom's flapper costume and Syd and Bran wore suits with fun historic hats. Bran said that he felt like the spiffiest backpacker ever!

We took a black cab to the bar, which Bran thought was quite authentic. We gave the cabbie a good laugh with all of our Canadian references and observations along the way to the bar in Soho (near Oxford Circus). Upon first entering the bar we instantly fit in as there were tons of gangsters and flappers - boas everywhere. On stage was a freaky clown that stripped down to burlesque clothing. So strange was he that none of us could stomach getting a picture of him. ;o) We did manage to enjoy watching others, and getting creative with our photography (below). Good times!

A trip back to the Viking Age

On Sunday we decided to take a tour I found on the internet called the 'Golden Viking Tour' and it involved visiting places where the vikings inhabited Sweden back in the early 1100's. It was a mini-van type tour, and since it was low season we had the guide (who also happened to be the owner) take us on a private tour (for 8 hours!). Steinthor was our guide. He is from Iceland and has a viking name that means 'stone hammer'. He was VERY knowledgeable about the area and didn't stop talking for the entire 8 hours! He had many views not only on history, but on modern Swedish taxes (taxed at 60%!) and economics/politics etc. I'd like to say that I was riveted to every word...but everyone has their attention span limits!

He told us that the word Viking comes from Vik meaning wide open fjord where they would dock their boats on land but have quick escapes, and ing meaning people. The people of the sea fjords basically. They were a strong-willed intelligent race of warriors (men and women alike). Almost all of the vikings could read, which was a stark contrast to many other Europeans in the 10th century! Viking parliaments were conducted with 36 chiefs standing in a circle, hence the origin of 360 degrees for the circumference of a circle. ;o)

The first stop was an old Viking Bridge named “Jarlabankes bro” (pictured above), where we first learned of viking history and saw some runic stones. There were pictures and characters (runes) carved on stones all over this and many places we stopped at. In the days of Vikings (a thousand years ago) people raised stones in memory of friends and relatives. Many historians believed them to be of religious significance, but they actually were not. I learned that my name was derived from those times too! A powerful viking woman who basically started the viking clan was named Estrid. Estrid was a rich and powerful woman with a long family saga written all over the runestones. She was the grandmother of Jarlabanke and helped him build the trade bridge and road (below) that we visited. I'm so pumped to see the origins of my name!

The highlight of the day was a walk around the town of Sigtuna, an old viking village that had cute little chocolate shops (yummy homemade chocs!) and other such boutiques. In this small farmhouse (now a cafe) we had to bend down to enter and sit down. I still have a bruise on my noggin from that experience. We look like giants next to this house don't we?
It is a town that boasts a high quality of life for its residents and is said to be the most romantic in Sweden, even with candlelit skates on the lake during the Christmas season! It was here that we learned that the Dala Horse (shown below) was the symbol of Sweden. I personally wasn't too impressed by them, but they were carved and painted by hand in 1928 and the tradition has continued. Stora Gatan is the main street in town and also the oldest street in Sweden. The town was founded in the 10th century by Swedish King Eric the Victorious and the first Swedish coin was minted there in this little shack called King Olof's Mynthus.
From Sigtuna we went to Gamla (old) Uppsala, probably the most historic place in Sweden because of its old Viking parliament and ancient burial mounds from the iron age that are 1500 years old! Made for a great picture spot.The area was very rustic with a medieval parish church (in the background above) that was once a cathedral constructed in the year 1164. The church that stands there today is only half the size of the cathedral, but traces of the cathedral can be found in the church walls.

We then visited the "Younger Uppsala", where the Cathedral was just breathtaking. There was a concert in the cathedral at the time which added to the magic of the place. Our brains definitely expanded with knowledge and a better idea of Sweden from doing the tour and enjoyed that we had a different experience!

Stockholm's Swedish Splendours

This past weekend we went to the beautiful city of Stockholm. Despite the weather not being fantastic in January (rainy 2 of the 4 days) we had a good time chatting with the locals since it was low season. The people of Stockholm are super nice and speak English quite well so we had no problem getting by. The nordic language actually formed a lot of English words so it was surprisingly easy enough to understand signs etc. For example, 'parkering' is 'parking' and 'kyckling' is 'chicken', etc. What was quite weird, and eventually frustrating was the late morning openings of (or perpetually closed) shops every day. Our tour guide says that it is a 'lazy trend' of the socialist Swedes, as it was hard to find anything open on Sunday, or before 11 am, even on Monday! Very strange from the capitalist culture of North America, or even England. In a lot of ways though, the highways and countryside (sans ancient architecture) reminded us much of North Ontario with pine trees and rock faces. A nice thing to see...until 3 pm when the sun went down!

Hotel:
We stayed at the Hilton Stockholm Slussen, which was neatly laid out, with funky closets that completely reminded us of IKEA. Everything was completely compact and efficient. Syd LOVED the shower because it was a marble shower stall and the shower head came out of the ceiling. It had a great hot tub in the gym area, though we only got to experience it once as it closed daily at the early hour of 7 pm!

Museum:
We visited the Vasa museum and can't rave enough about it. It contains a viking-like warship from 1628 that is just amazing! A must see! It turned out that they constructed the ship wrong (not enough ballast weight to offset the weight of the cannons and the mast) that it sunk on its maiden voyage and was at the bottom of the baltic for 333 years! The reconstructed vessel that took about 30 years to restore was 95 % original and splendidly adorned with hundreds of carved sculptures. We spent 2-3 hours going through the place, watching videos and learning fascinating history about the people at the time and the restoration project.

Dining:
We ate at a great Swedish restaurant called Ostogan Kallaran south of our hotel on the first night in a district called Sodermalm where we had goulash and steak. Another place with Swedish cuisine and decor was during our last night at Pelikan, in Sodermalm again, where our favourite meals of the weekend were. I had a cider-braised beef roll with mashed potatoes and gravy and Syd had large meatballs that had the same sides as above, but were special meatballs because they were spiced with nutmeg. He couldn't stop raving about them!

Nightlife:
Nightlife in Stockholm is fun and very laid back. At least where we went. We hit up an Irish bar (i know, so cliche) to catch the end of a rugby game. We hung out in the basement of the pub because we have a thing for rustic stone walls. However, on the way down Syd failed to heed the signs in not one but two places on the staircase and ended up with a big welt on his head!


In Sodermalm there was a cool basement lounge that we went to called the Vampire Lounge. It was done up all gothic with dragon candle sconces, red velvet curtains and the walls were authentically stone. A bar without sunlight. Great drinks & great music. What more could you possibly want?
They made the BEST martinis we've ever had and had an extensive drink menu. We loved the 'Blackberry Amour' which was vanilla vodka mixed with chambord liqueur and fresh blackberries. We met a local that night named Edward and we mentioned that we thought Sweden was very similar to Canada (in landscape and some laws - like licensed drinking establishments), to which point he said, "Ah, yes, I can see that, except we don't have strip bars because they are illegal here!". That was sooo funny, and something we will always remember.

The next night Syd was pumped to finally be in a hockey town and we found a 'casino bar' where the Bruins/Rangers game was playing in one room, but also had black jack in another room, and then karaoke in another to keep me entertained. A very fun vibe to this place, with decent priced beer, ciders and wine.

Sightseeing:
Gamla Stan stands for 'old state' and is a medieval portion of the city that has been preserved since the 1600's. All of the streets were cobblestoned and narrow. Albeit full of tourist shops and cafes, but memorable nonetheless.


We stopped for 2 of our lunches at a nice and affordable lunch stop in Gamla Stan at Muren Cafe. We had tasty homemade soups and sandwiches while sitting in a cafe with stone walls and alcoves and arched windows looking out on the street. Another highlight with similar fare was Cafe Art, that was located in a cellar downstairs and had fireplaces and stone walls with art decor. Very quaint and rustic.;o)

We also spent some time exploring the Swedish tourist shops (I'm a sucker for xmas tree ornaments and magnets) and some clothing stores. I found a few deals but Syd was not as successful. It was a very lively shopping district considering it was low season, so I can only imagine what it would be like during the summer! It was definitely a memorable city regardless of the season and I would recommend it to anyone looking to get away from the every day.

Back in Manhattan, in style

On Jan 7 I flew to NYC for the first time since this past May. It was kinda weird being back there after so long, when you consider I used to fly there nearly every week when I was living in Toronto. Once we hit Manhattan in the cab, I found myself staring up out of the cab window at the tall buildings, just like a first-timer. Overall it was a great time and nice to see everyone from work and some of the friends I have in NYC/NJ -- and I picked up a couple DS games for cheap :)

Oh I almost forgot -- I rarely look forward to flying for work, but this time I was ecstatic -- and that's because this was my first flight on Eos Airlines, a business-class only airline I had heard so much about. Basically they take a 757 jet which normally has 220 seats and gut it and put in 48 "suites", which are basically individual bed areas... 3 feet wide by 7 feet long. In fact, each person actually gets 2 seats and a table folds out so you can dine with a companion face-to-face while looking out the window. A little ridiculous really, but man does it make for a pleasurable flight experience.

A New Year, A New Adventure!

New Years Eve in London was wicked. It was 7 degrees outside and was perfect for taking a trip to see the fireworks. Syd and I started the evening with a lovely dinner of cheese fondue and salad before we met up with another couple, Rob and Laura, for drinks at the local pub - The Railway Pub. It had balloons everywhere and had music videos playing on big screens - a good party to start the evening. I grabbed a set of helium-filled balloons on the way out of the pub that I quickly tied to my wrist before getting on the tube (aka sardine can) to the fireworks (or nearabouts). I have never felt so much like human cattle! It was insane the amount of bobbies (cops) needed just to direct traffic and keep everyone moving. But it totally makes sense as we learned that there were 700,000 people in the area that night! There were times when I was afraid to lose my friends in the crowd among us, but Syd said I was easy to find with my balloons bobbing along. See, that ended up being a smart move! Below is the view we had of the eye and the screen.

We tried finding a way to get closer to the embankment of the Thames (near the wheel), but the roads were blocked off and you would have had to get there at 8 pm to get close (as it was 11:15 when we got down there!) So we settled on staying in St. James Park in the horses guard area where we had a good view of the top half of the wheel and there was also a big screen to watch that which we could not see.
We brought along our own red wine, beer and champagne, which of course I managed to spill on my pretty blue wool coat! The fireworks were absolutely amazing! Puts anything I have seen in Toronto or Ottawa to shame. Syd taped the whole thing – 11 minutes long. A very brilliant and colourful display and a great way to start our new year in this amazing city.

Christmas in the Country

We had an fabulous time home for Christmas this year. Being away really does make the heart grow fonder and we realised how much we appreciate our family and what we have. It was comforting to be in a place with people that truly know us and love us. It was also great to see our niece and nephews that grow up so fast but are such a joy to experience, even for a short time.
The week at home was all about quality time with family friends. And we definitely had that. I even met new friends, like Helen in the middle of the picture below, who flattered me by telling me how much she loves and looks forward to my blogs that Grammy shares with her.

It was quite a relaxing holiday. Not to mention all of the yummy Canadian Christmas food and drink and board game merriment. Getting two new board games for Christmas helped solidify a new activity to do with friends in the UK. In fact, we have already played the games twice with friends since returning to London! We loved being able to share gifts from abroad such as the ones below.

An additional holiday surprise was a chance to fly first class. Right when we sat down we were offered champagne and a menu and seats that reclined into a bed. It was experience that will forever change how I view air travel!

Frost Fair without the Frost

On Sunday evening we went down to my favourite place - Southbank - and checked out a Christmas Market festival called Frost Fair. It was outside the Tate Modern and there were a bunch of wiry deciduous trees all lit with green spotlights and it felt forest-like when you walked through them. There were also 70 stalls of christmas treats (churros - yum!) and crafts (glass ornaments).

I particularly liked a band of minstrels that really set the mood. And while it wasn't 'frosty' out with ice or snow (as we know it is back home!), we were quite chilly and enjoyed steamy drinks made by 'Ye Olde Fashioned Drink Co.". I had hot mulberry juice and Syd has spiced hot apple cider. His definitely rocked. We got a kick out of these 'frosty' guys from the Antarctic that walked among the fair.
There were also big angels and some elaborate elves and fairies. It was nice to escape reality for a while and enter this mystical place right during the Christmas season. Its a shame that it only ran for 3 nights or we would have gone back after work this week.