Georgia On My Mind

Along with my now full time work schedule (loving it) the past two weeks were full of good times.

Saint Patrick's Day - the combination of jet lag and two Guinness led us to play time at a local Irish pub, live music out in the street and fun with swag.















































Later at home Rob made Irish sausage rolls, still craving the yummy pub food we'd had in London. Essentially it is pastry rolled up with sausage - a heart attack on a plate but so good!

The following week Kim and Ken arrived from Georgia for a weekend visit and it was like old times. Kim arrived first on Thursday night and Ken was scheduled to arrive from L.A. the next night on the train. We took Kim out to one of our favorite places - Intermezzo. Good wine and a table full of tastes. She loves stinky cheese.













Next day, after a short morning of work for me Kim and I met Rob for lunch where we poked fun at Kim's 'are you kidding me?' Georgia State ID. Ha ha...



































Kim is the best girl to go shopping with. She can cover miles of shops in no time at all with important pit stops for snacks and chardonnay.




















Awww, so cute...












Every few months when we meet up we have at least one of the same pieces of clothing. It's kind of amazing really considering we live states apart. When we get to go shopping together we usually find something we both like and end up matching. This time it was fancy shoes from an Indian market.










After their work days (neener neener!) Rob, Pete and Adi met up with Kim, me and our shopping bags. A few pints and rounds of pool and a focus on staying coherent until Ken arrived on the train around 9pm.
A quick visit to the 7-11 for Red Bulls which I don't recommend drinking with wine and voila Kenny arrived. We fed him and made our way back to our place to unbenownst to us make his life long dream come true. Um, the cab ride home was a tribute to developing signs for CT. What's CT you ask? Ask me if you really want to know. My parents read this thing and I just can't say it. Hi mom!















So back to the life long dream. Ken is a fantastic guy with a great education, strong work ethic and a professional in his field. He's 38 years old and I don't think any of us could have guessed that his heart's secret desire was to learn (drum roll) The Running Man. Now I may be risking my dear friendship with Adi by posting this but here's Ken getting his first lesson from her.

Next day we brought Kim and Ken to Lito's, our favorite Mexican restaurant for breakfast burritos. Fueled for the day, the six of us went for a long walk on Butterfly Beach near the Four seasons. It was perfect weather with overcast and warm winds.















Stopped in at the Four Seasons for some drinks where Adi's dad Paul and sister Mer joined us.




















I'd love to know what these two were talking about...














Next stop Cold Spring Tavern for chili, cold beer and live music. We even had a star sighting of Polly Walker, better known as Atia on HBO's series Rome. She was with a hot young thing that her limo driver later told us was not her son but her boyfriend.
At this point my digi cam was filled to the brim with dancing footage so I have no other pics from our time back down the hill on State Street and dinner at Arigato Sushi.

Sunday was fun but sad too as we had to say goodbye to Kim and Ken. One last lunch downtown with them, oh and some shopping for Kimmy (nice sweater - damn you it was the last one in our size otherwise you know I'd have one too).















I love you girl.
Thanks for coming you two. We can't wait to see you for Fiesta in August!

Still Kicking!

Despite being back at work my sweet blog has not been abandoned. Look for update this weekend. Next post will include Saint Patrick's Day and eagerly anticipated visit from Kim & Ken all the way from Georgia. The best part? A 38 year old man fulfills life long dream of learning the Running Man...

Here Is London - Part 2

Day 5
No wake up call on Thursday. We slept in a little after our big day in Paris. Americanos to-go from the cafe up the street, I returned to our room and we enjoyed our breakfast of pain au chocolats that we'd purchased the prior evening. We walked out into a gorgeous warm and sunny day and headed west along Hyde Park towards Notting Hill. Nearly attacked by killer Hyde Park squirrel - no kidding, these things are aggressive.




















Perused Portabello Street hunting for gifts for friends back home and had lunch at a local pub (steak pies!). Londoners have funny condiments.













We saw the house where George Orwell lived at one time and further on down the street we noticed telephoto lenses and paparazzi. Well, Rob noticed. I was in heavy discussion about Santa Barbara with the shop owner of Portabello Road Cashmere Shop. His best friend lives just a few minutes away in Montecito. Is Santa Barbara the center of the universe?! Anyways, Rob wasn't sure who the paparazzi was focusing on so he filmed for a while and only when we showed the footage to James back in Los Angeles did he find out he had been filming Jamiroquai the whole time. I never would have recognized him without his big hat.
Following Rob's Hedonist's Guide to London we moved on to Bond Street and found ourselves in an apparel store with Alan Rickman! Our run in with another Harry Potter series star was not too far off (read on dear reader, read on). We only took video footage of Notting Hill so I have no silly pics to share here.

That evening we planned to take the tube and train south to see Dan's neighborhood. We navigated our way to Clapham Junction and met up with Dan and Jo. It was fascinating to Rob and I how every night of the week pubs were filled to the brim.















We managed to find a big table to share with two police officers who invited us to sit down. They really liked to smoke.




















That's Phil. He and I had a great conversation about immigration. The differences between America and England on this topic are vastly different and it was a fascinating discussion. Dan taught us (or tried to teach..."But how do you WIN Dan?") a game called Fives that a fisherman in Prague or something taught him. Much later in the evening Phil attempted to tell me what part of London he lived in which he needed a little help in doing. I hope he made it home.















Not knowing how close Rob and I were cutting it close to the last train back to Green Park station we gave in and experienced what Dan refers to as Ka-baaaab. He told us you had to have a few pints before attempting this meal and it was strictly for late night eating only. I don't think I had enough to drink because it was naaasty. And here's a messy photo...




















It started to rain hard so we said our goodbyes and dodged into the tube on the last train.

Day 6
Big talk of meeting up for a full English breakfast the next morning, to start our last day in London off right. To my surprise Dan and Jo were at our hotel by 10am. Very impressive you two! We inhaled our breakfast and set off to see more of the city. I like this photo of the boys wearing the scarves that I made them...















We walked along Oxford Street and eventually turned off towards the British Museum. Rob had us pose for some photos. See him down there in the middle?




















Stopped to 'admire' a historical site.




















On our way to Covent Garden we saw two guys pick up a scooter, set off it's alarm and lug it into the back of a van. In broad daylight! The few people on the street where this crime occurred stood looking, stunned. They drove off fast, with the sound of the scooter's alarm still beeping as they screeched around the corner. Crazy!

Jo and Rob at Covent Garden.















The rain started coming down again so we carefully descended a very steep and narrow staircase to a hidden gem called Gordon's Wine Bar (est. 1890). These photos are dark but that's what it was really like down there. It looked like a huge wine cellar with low arched ceiling, lit only by candlelight. You could feel the tube rumbling by under your feet. We stayed for a little while, let our eyes adjust and enjoyed a lovely South African Pinotage until the rain cleared up. The weather shifts in an instant in London and it reminded me of living in Seattle.















Trafalgar Square was our next destination, just up the street from Gordon's. The wind picked up and Jo and I moved close to the fountain, the mist waking us up. Rob went crazy with his camera and at this point in our holiday he surpassed the 1000th photo mark.















Took the tube to east London, Shoreditch to be exact. Rob's guide book was leading the way. We saw The Ten Bells (est 1666) where Jack the Ripper met one of his victims but from everything I've read no one knows which victim for sure.















We worked our way up Commercial Street and made a few more stops. It was a very fun and full day in good company that went on well into the night.




















Oooo, pie! Hold on guys! No? Oh ok, on to Brick Lane for curry dinner then.















After a few offers from men standing at each restaurant's entrance (10% off your meal! BYOB!) we entered Brick Lane Clipper with a promise of 20% off our ticket. We ordered far too much food but having not eaten since breakfast our crew was starving. Rob fulfilled his life long Red Dwarf dream of ordering a chicken vindaloo. It was SPICY.

















































Here's a little diddy I like to call Brick Lane Bravado - take it away Danimal. You and your peppers - sheesh! In all fairness, we did bet him five pounds he couldn't eat a handful of peppers AND more vindaloo. Our waiter mixed up a coolant out of a couple sauces for our sweaty winner...




















Once Dan regained the ability to speak, we headed north to Soho on the tube.





























Jo's friend from out of town was at the trendy Club 49 so we joined her, dressed way down for the hip spot but hey it was our last night in town - who cares? I think we were all getting a little loopy after a late one the night before and a wonderfully looooong day. The club kept changing color, live DJ, Hungarian servers. We smelled really bad after the curry dinner. Dan and I kept blowing burbs at Rob. Yep, Dan's the brother I never had.

























So remember a few scrolls up when I mentioned there would be more of the Harry Potter cast? Wait for it...













It's Daniel Radcliffe exiting the stage door to be met with a gaggle of teenage girls and well, Rob and I. He's in a stage production called Equus where he has a nude scene on top of a horse. The shreak that went out when he appeared outside was ear shattering. I'll admit I've read all the Harry Potter books and preordered the next one from Amazon.




















In the crowd there was also an American director by the name of Michael Larsen. We chatted for a bit about the London premier of his U.S. stage show that's coming up in a few weeks. The show is called Menopause the Musical and I promised Michael I would give it a plug here. Good luck Michael!















Nearing midnight, 1am or 2am (no idea) Rob, Dan, Jo and I had a night cap back at our hotel. It was a bit of an emotional goodbye.
Thank you both for showing your city to us, we had one of the best weeks of our lives. We can't wait to return the favor when you come to Santa Barbara.

Last photos...

Before














After














Next trip - Greece!

Bonjour Paris

Wednesday morning started with a 4:30am wake up call. Poor Rob who was so disoriented, picked up the phone and repeated "Hello? Hello?", hee hee. We dragged ourselves into the shower and by 5am we were hailing our taxi that would take us to Waterloo station. Strong coffee in the form of Americanos kept us going until it was time to board at 6:15am.




















Breakfast on the train was what Rob described as 'a nice gesture'. A roomy first class seating area, we stayed awake until the train made it's way under the English Channel then dozed off. 150 feet under the seabed our train car went from English to French in one stop.








































































We arrived in Paris around 10am and set off on foot towards major landmarks. Somehow I pulled out my French vocabulary and was prepared to translate for the day. We had a long list of places we wanted to see, shops we wanted to collect goodies from and pictures Rob had to take. We had about eight hours to see as much of the city as we could and though we didn't see everything we wanted to I'm so glad we made the day trip.
We walked south then southwest, saw posh shopping areas where the air smelled wonderfully perfumed, Hotel de la Paix, were nearly killed by aggressive scooters, stopped for light lunch, met the Seine, gawked at the Obelisque, ooo'd at the Arc de Triomphe, ahh'd at the Grand Palais, kissed on a bridge over the Seine and walked miles up Rue Saint-Germain-des-Pres in search of the place I had a picture of on my wall when I was just a kid in Montreal - Les Deux Magots. We found it and snagged the last little table out front. We paused, toasted to each other, smoked cigarettes and I did a little writing in my moleskin. I know, I know what cliche but it had to be done! The whole time we were in the city I kept humming the song from Funny Face (1957).









































































































As the day started to fade away, shadows getting long, we walked a long way to see the Eiffel Tower. We could see the top of it and just kept zig-zagging through neighborhoods until we came to the base of this beautiful structure. It felt surreal. Rob and I kept looking at each other, looking up, looking at each other, looking up. It was wonderful. I'm so glad we were there together to see it for the first time in person. If this romantic day is making you sick sign off here because there is more...







































Fresh goods from a few patisseries, more kissing, photos and up to the Champs D'Elysees for a stop in our last brasserie.




















Traffic got very thick at rush hour but we waited until the last moment to jump in a taxi that brought us back to Gard du Nord so we could catch our train. So happy we got to retrace our steps and see the city all lit up. One word to describe us on the three hour ride back to London: giddy.

Again, Rob's more scenic photos will follow in later posts.

Next entry: We get to know the London police...

Here is London - Part 1

Returned to California from London to find 85 degree weather and a house full of friends. James and surprise guest Peter picked up Rob and I from LAX and we found Ginger and second surprise guest Adi waiting for us in Marina Del Rey. We are so lucky to have such wonderful friends. Bleary eyed and excited to tell them about our amazing trip to London + Paris, we stayed up as late as we could to reset our utterly confused inner clocks. Rob managed 10pm and I hit the wall close to midnight.

Day 1
After a 10 hour flight on Virgin Airlines we arrived at Heathrow around 6pm to find the weather we were expecting. Danimal picked us up with our colleague Martin, we jammed ourselves and our ridiculously large red suitcase in the front seat of the tiniest economy car I've ever seen. At the half way point we transferred to train, then tube and checked in at the Fleming Mayfair Hotel.
































A quick freshen up where I blew up my hairdryer despite the adaptor then off to a pub in Picadilly with Dan, Martin and Jo. Note: gorgeous photos taken by Rob and his 35mm will follow in dedicated blog post. For the time being, goofiness captured by my digi-cam will tell the story.











































Our first meal in London was in Chinatown, we scurried upstairs for a late night feast after being wooed in to the restaurant by an eager waiter. I do believe it was the best crispy duck I've had.
Our waiter set the table and served at lightning speed and only said either "thank you" or "yes" to anything we asked him. You can imagine how funny this was to all of us after a few pints.


































Ha ha, we made Rob sit on the other side of the table because he smelled funny from the flight. I keed, I keed! Starting to feel the loss of an entire day from travel, we made one last stop in Picadilly Circus for a night cap at Jewel. Seeing the chandeliers and jewel room explained the name. Jo knew about this posh spot that was peppered with fancy people. Throughout the trip we discovered Jo knew a lot of the best places all over the city, always in proximity to an important landmark or historical site. We were never thirsty or hungry for long. Thanks Jo!


































We navigated our way back to our hotel and discovered that the temperature was somewhere in the mid 80's. We slept with all the windows open and despite the winter weather outside we never used the blankets the whole trip.

Day Two
We were lucky to have Dan at our disposal all day on Monday. He took the day off from work though spent some time yammering away on his mobile dealing with file de-duping. I won't go into painful detail on that. Being the fine tour guide and good friend that he is, he set us up with our own mobile for the duration of the trip plus low cost tube passes called Oyster cards. Funny though, on average I think we walked 6 miles a day and only used the tube a few times. That's the way Rob and I like to see new places.
I'd scheduled a wake up call for 10am and forced myself to get up and head downstairs for some breakfast and writing time.
We met up with Dan around 11am and made our way past Green Park, said hello to Big Ben and the London Eye and walked all the way over to Tate Modern. Took the foot bridge over the Thames, passed the Oxo Tower (no, I have not been up the Oxo Tower, thank you very much) and stopped in at a two story pub overlooking the river. At last, our first English meal. Toad in a Hole for me, fish and chips with mushy peas for Rob and steak pie for Dan.
Can someone tell me how Londoners stay thin?






















































































The rain stopped and we moved on, considerably heavier from lunch. The Tate gallery was fantastic and I think every city could take a lesson in making such a space filled with famous and talented artists free to the public. Picasso, Rivera, Matisse to name a few. In the corner of one of the rooms I spotted a painting that I have always loved. I couldn't believe my eyes and stayed there examining the Portrait of Hermine Gallia (1904) by Gustav Klimt for a while.




















The Tate had a series of metal and Plexiglas slides shooting out in spiral from the 5th level, the 4th level and for the kiddies, on the 2nd level. The queue to slide down to the ground on the tallest slides was very long so we stood in line with the kids on the 2nd level and took our turns. Bundled up in a cloth sack, the momentum was unexpected and I think I shrieked all the way down.




















From the Tate we walked further into the city to Saint Paul's Cathedral. We just missed being able to go in as they were setting up for 5pm mass. It was really beautiful even if only from the outside.




















Rob referred to his unique guide book A Hedonist's Guide to London (Filmer Ltd) for our next destination that took us a long way up Farrington Road to Cafe Kick. I thought this was a pretty funny picture of the boys trying to figure out which way was east, to our destination.















Eventually we found this cute little space which was dedicated to football, or soccer as we call it on the other side of the world. A cold beer after a long walk and some foosball for the boys after the bartender gave Rob a free game for sharing namesake with the cafe.




















Later on, we hopped on a double decker and drove through Oxford, New Oxford, Soho and made it back to the hotel in time to change into our fancy duds (thank you Ginger for sassy boots and blouse straight out of Sex in the City) for our night out. Dan, recovering from bad cold bowed out to get some rest. I give Rob credit for planning this wonderful evening out. The man has impeccable taste and enjoys the good life. He made reservations at Fino a Spanish tapas bar in the West End. It was a beautiful restaurant with some of the best service I have experienced. We needed help decoding the menu - I love to try something new. Dried Spanish meats, olives, flat bread with garlic and tomato seeds, seared tuna with fresh tomato compote, rib eye with tarragon and a fascinating chick pea, Italian chorizo and spinach like stew. We had a few glasses of Temparanillo but had to cut it short to make our 9pm reservation at the elusive private club Milk and Honey in Soho.
Negotiated 20 pound fee down to 10 pounds with our driver (rain + sassy boots = limited walking) and found ourselves driving at top speed in reverse in the back of a silver Mercedes to 61 Poland Street.
We have a small collection of photos of each other in the back of taxis from different cities. It's where it all began for us!







































The door of Milk and Honey was a plain black facade, with a small opening at eye level. We were buzzed in to the foyer which was a small dark room with a man standing behind a tiny counter. He verified our reservation and called through to the next room to have someone come out to greet us. We slid into the same side of a booth and ordered martinis that arrived at our table in 1930's style champagne glasses. The room was lit only by candle light and was quiet on a Monday night. Would I say it was worth all the work to get the special reservation? Well, I'm glad we know what it's all about now but I wouldn't spend $1200/year to become a member.

Nearly tuckered out, we braved the rain for a night cap and found the Amber Bar. No joke! Of course we had to stop in. A giddy glass of red wine and a near fatal tumble for a neighboring chef who lost his footing on the wet floor in front of our table, grabbed one sassy boot but it didn't break his fall. We asked him if he was ok but in response we got "Did I amuse you?". Cheeky. Caught a taxi home to our hot little room and slept straight through the night.

Amber in Amber Bar















Day 3
On the good advice of James and Ginger, if you want to have tea while in London there is only one place to go.
The Palm Court at the Ritz...




















After a near meltdown due to our hot hotel room and my third hairdryer (sorry for being a sweaty maniac babe) we made it in time for our 11:30am reservation for tea. Rob looked gorgeous in his suit and tie. A lovely three tiered feast of sweets, scones and little sandwiches (no crusts of course), individual silver teapots (Earl Grey for Rob, English Breakfast for me).
Click here for the view from inside Palm Court.


























































After tea we strolled through Green Park heading towards Buckingham Palace. The weather was gorgeous and white and yellow daffodils were blooming everywhere. How did I manage to not take a picture of the palace? I know Rob did - so check back later for that. While sitting in front of the palace we saw Prince Charles zooming by accompanied by a motorcade, it was pretty cool.




















From here, the day took a turn for the worse. In every holiday a little drama must occur. I think it was a combination of fatigue and perpetual overheating at the hotel but when we returned to our room after seeing the palace we started thinking about our day trip to Paris the next day. Looking through our itinerary packet that held all of our tickets and reservation confirmations we realized that we did not have our Eurostar tickets we needed the next morning. A bit of a huff, a half hour nap for me and a trip to Kinko's in a little neighborhood near our hotel that we may have never noticed, Rob succeeded in solving the problem. Thanks to Elena our faithful cat-sitter who found the tickets in our apartment back in Santa Barbara and scanned them over to Rob via email.




















Paris once again the plan for the next day, we had an early supper near our hotel. We felt badly for cancelling our dinner with Dan and Jo but a 4:30am wake up call made us do it. Funny though, neither of us got more than a few hours sleep. We were so excited to see Paris we tossed and turned all night.

Next entry see Rob at 5:30am at Waterloo station...