London 6 Best of Weekend Dec 9-12

Friday I took the train to Canon Street and walked up to Bank where I found

myself across from the Bank of England and the Stock Exchange.

St. Pancras International in the morning

unseasonal cherry blossoms

Went to the British Museum during my lunch break, the covered courtyard is breathtaking!

Visited most of the highlights: the Rosetta Stone, Lion's Hunt, Parthenon

but my personal favorite was this from Lykia

Saturday

Beautiful crisp morning, smell of autumn, except that it's December

On the way to Maida Vale tube stop ...

Arriving at Tower Hill Station

(5.7 miles)

and onward to Tower Bridge

City Hall and Tower Bridge City Park

The Tower from the other side of the river.

30 St Mary Axe "The Gherkin"

Hay's Galleria

More fun pub names "Mudlark" check out the sign.

Southwark Cathedral

Didn't stop by Monmouth because of the lines, must go back!

Burough Market, foodsie paradise!

Shakespeare's Globe Theater

View of St Paul's and Millenium Bridge from the Tate Modern.

Looking back at Charing Cross from the Southbank Christmas Market

after visiting the Southbank Center and British Film Institute

Southbanklomdon.com

on Westminster Bridge

spectacular London Eye

Big Ben

Parliament, hope to do a tour there while I'm here.

Westminster Abbey

I took the train back to Mansion and walked along Canon Street to

Saint Paul's, upclose this time!

I continued along to the Barbican where I met Alina and Harry.

We went to the arts and crafts festival at Barbican, then Alina

showed me around Shoreditch, Spittel Field Market and Bricklane.

We went to Owl and Pussycat Pub.

(3.2 miles)

I took the tube to Green Park walked to the Winter Wonderland Christmas Market (1.2 miles)

in Hyde Park but it was too crowded, they weren't letting anyone in. Took the bus to

Piccadilly Circus and walked up through SoHo Brewer, Wardour St, and all along

Oxford Street to Holborn Station (1.2 miles)

with Evelyn at Jish's housewarming party in Finsbury Park

Sunday

I walked along Randolph Ave to Saint John's Wood, by the big London Mosque, all around Regent's park including Queen Victoria's Garden, I absolutely loved the park and adjacent Primrose Hill.

(5.5 miles)

From there I walked along one of the adorable canals to Cambden Locks Market

Stopped by Lidl and found sunflower seed bread, muesli bars, supposedly they have good salami, proscuitto, parmesan, mozzerella, next time. The Camden Town tube stop was closed to prevent over-crowding so I got on the Mornington Crescent tube stop and took the tube to Nottinghill Gate. Without intention I quickly stumbled upon Portobello Road and found Charlie's, an excellent recommendation from Alina. I stopped to rest and have a Latte.

(1.5 miles)

Walking back through Notting Hill I thought of what my students have told me that Meguro is the Notting Hill of Tokyo, it's true, not quite as pretty but just as peaceful. I could imagine living in Notting Hill

Took the tube from Holland park to Charing cross (Central and Northern Line0

I met Evelyn and Peter at the National Gallery.

Took the tube Bakerloo line back up to Maida Vale

Persian dinner w Thalia

Walked back to Thalia's place along Edgeware Road - Middle Eastern (1.3 miles)

View from Thalia's kitchen

View from Thalia's kitchen. Monday morning means back to reality and work ...

London 5

Took the 8:21 am train to Charing Cross and headed to work. After a meeting with my advisor which included plenty of London recommendations, here's the shortlist weekend itenerary:

Tower Bridge 9:30-17:00 http://www.towerbridge.org.uk/TBE/EN/

Borough Market *day/times Th, F, S http://www.boroughmarket.org.uk/

Southbank Xmas Market next to London Eye everyday 10am-8pm market http://www.xmas-markets.com/en/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=33&Itemid=3

Westminster/big Ben/parliament

National Gallery -Davinci

Camden market everyday 10am-6pm http://camdenlock.net/

Primrose Hill http://www.primrosehillvillage.com/

Regent's Park http://www.royalparks.gov.uk/The-Regents-Park.aspx

Notting Hill http://www.thehill.co.uk/

Chelsea/King's http://www.kensington-chelsea.com/

Hyde Park Xmas market 10m-10pm http://www.hydeparkwinterwonderland.com/

I had a lovely lunch with my friend Michelle from Tokyo and her cousin

I think I need to have a whole blogpost dedicated to funny pub names in London. Themed posts are a good idea I certainly have enough food and flower pics.

Waxy's Little Sister

"The Porcupine"

London 4

Dec 6

Met with some JFKsers Josselyn is at UCL, Thalia and Julian L are at SOAS just done the street.

Dec 7

Today's route to work included a stroll by Covenant Garden, the Royal Opera House, the British Museum. Have seen far too many people almost be hit by cars because everyone jaywalks. Was almost hit by a branch today. Sitting on one of those fun red buses #3 taking it from Mortimer where I had Japanese near Oxford Circus down to Trafalga Square. great way to explore the city. It's so festively decorated. Piccadilly Circus.

As much as I complain about the long commute, it's a new experience for me. A lifestyle I wouldn't choose permanently but it's ok for a short time and like this morning, there are so many different ways to get from Charing X or Victoria to Tavistock place, passing so many historical sites along the way. It also means I'm outside walking for about 1-1.5 hours a day, fresh air and exercise, can't go wrong with that

Covenant Garden Market

beautiful morning sun against the old brick buildings

The British Museum, might check out the Hokusai wave exhibit during lunch on Friday.

Russel Square

National Gallery at Trafalga Square at night

London 3

Took the 7:05am flight from Schoenfeld, Berlin, arrived

in Gatwick at 8:10am, took the train to beautiful

St. Pancras International which is only a 10 minute walk

from the school.

At my sandwich at Travistock Square for lunch. I found

an article that my advisor was very interested in about

relative food prices in the US and helped my other

coworkers with some excel formatting:

format - rows - autofit.

I attended the 5:15pm lecture on Maternal Health, quite interesting.

Klaeschen in Lemgo

London 2

Nov 30 took a walk to a nearby town. Worked from home. Walked around Oxford Circus which is all festively decorated. It' like a mini 'Big Scramble' in Shibuya, plenty of shops and lots of people. Went to Japanese with my host. The teacher was good, she have us strict correction, which I'm not user too. We studied transitive/intransitive verbs and the volitational form. I studied that last fall but have forgotten it all in the meantime.

Dec 1st rainy London weather. Decided to take the bus which doesn't go into town at this time but it still takes 20 minutes, definitely better just to walk, but I'm still experimenting. Most people dont use umbrellas, not even rain jackets. Second lesson I already learned today and it's not even 9:30am - don't take the train to London Bridge During rush hour to changing to Charing X. It' like the Hibiya line in Tokyo at 8am. Walking to the office from Charing X Loving the old buildings, red buses, cabs, so many musicals, Shrek, Mathilda, Legally Blond. Got a little distracted and lost. No harm done.

Work was good we had a department meeting, which was nice to give me an overview of everyone's work. I'm really not cut out for an 8 hour office job, nor a long commute but I feel privileged to live in one of the undoubtedly best cities in the world for 2 months working with amazing people. It's only been 4 days, but I miss my peaceful Noting hill of Tokyo, the streets are all crowded and people don't know how to mind umbrellas even though far fewer ppl use them. Happy that I am staying a bit outside the city, might limit mu days in the office to 4. Must not stick out too much, I was asked for directions. Got to Charing X which was a madhouse the trains were all delayed, luckily the fast train to Orpington came right away but is now delayed because of signaling problems between Charing X and London Bridge. Cozy evening at home: laundry, bath, Glee and studying Japanese.

The Royal Courts of Justice