Disorderly Conduct

After two days in Frankfurt, my work brought me to London for the remainder of the week. Jenn met me there, which was nice for both of us. Jenn loves London. I could go either way on it. I definitely like it more when it's not as crowded. Unfortunately, our timing wasn't great as throngs of rioters were wreaking havoc in different areas of the city. This was the epitome of mob mentality as they seemed to be rioting simply for the sake of rioting. Buildings and business were vandalized and looted and people were killed as a result of this nonsense for no reason at all. I know these were teenagers and most teenagers are idiots (I can say that because I once was one), but the human race is so disappointing some times.

The fact that we were in London seemed to scare the crap out of our friends and family who actually knew we were there (or were watching the news), but we were fine. It doesn't matter how old I get, my mother will never stop worrying about me. I guess that's what mothers do. I can't fault the media for making it look awful, because it really was awful, however, we never saw any signs of disorder in the center of London.

Working out of London for a few days was really nice. The sun was out every day. I felt a sense of calm in the rhythm of the morning and afternoon commute. With my earbuds tucked securely in my ears, I glided through the turnstiles, minded the gap, and hopped on the morning train, not oblivious (as I can be), but perfectly cognizant of all the people around me. We were all in this together. I also liked how many good food options there were around the office within walking distance for a quick lunch. The daily routine there felt so sophisticated, so adult.

I could get used to this life, if only I could figure out a way to afford it. London is so excruciatingly expensive. The only way to ease the pain is to not feel the pain, which means thinking about the prices in pounds and nothing else. It's not easy to do.

WIA (What I Ate): We met some of my co-workers for dinner on the first night at Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Italian at the Westfield Shopping Center. Sarah, another American who is working on the Europe audit team (who also writes a blog), picked the place, but gave me a hard time about being picky. I am not picky. Maybe I'm a bit particular (at times), but not picky. I like to eat good food. I feel like I'm getting a bit of a reputation at work from those who have traveled with me, but if that's the worst thing people say (and I do hope it's the worst that people say about me), then I can live with it. My dish that was sort of a take on eggplant parmesan was great. We also had a good meal at the Duke of Wellington pub the second evening. I am not a big fan of fish and chips, so I only ate a little of that, but the sticky toffee pudding for dessert was outstanding. I tried Black Sheep Ale, which was served warm, and didn't overly impress me. Jenn and I stuck close to our hotel on Friday night and ate at Canteen, which is a casual restaurant that serves relatively simple English traditional dishes. The roasted chicken was fine as was the bread pudding for dessert. I did like the beer I had, which was Meantime Helles. Saturday night, we ate a late dinner at Les Deux Salons, a brasserie which is a stone's throw from Leicester Square. We split a cheese burger which was really good. We also enjoyed the iced peanut butter parfait for dessert. I loved the beer I had there, a lager called Innes and Gunn. I had never heard of it, but it was smooth and really tasty. Our last bit of eating was a return trip to Tom's Kitchen for brunch on Sunday. We had eaten there a couple of years before on a trip there on the way back from Israel. It's still terrific. Jenn had french toast and I had a smoked salmon eggs benedict. We also picked up sweets during the weekend from Ottolenghi in Notting Hill, which Jenn is now obsessed with, Pierre Herme, one of our favorites for macarons in Paris, La Duree, the other favorite for macarons, and ice cream from Scoop by Covent Garden, which Timeout calls the best ice cream in London. It was good, but it wasn't that good.

WID (What I Did): This should probably fall under the above section, but since all we really did was eat, I consider our trip to Borough Market to be more of an activity. We crossed London Bridge, which to our surprise was not in fact falling down, and strolled through the open market full of people and food stands. There were little markets, small specialty shops, stands selling produce, dairy, and meat, as well as stands cooking, preparing, and selling hot food. It was right up our alley. London seems to be really big on locally sourced and organic food, so this market just reinforced what we'd seen throughout the city. Jenn had to see everything before deciding on something, but I quickly chose the bbq chorizo sandwich from Brindisa, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It could have been spicier, but it was really delicious. I topped it off with a chocolate chip cookie. Jenn had a chicken and mushroom pie and also a doughnut from Neal's Yard Dairy. The whole place was super crowded, which kind of sucked, so if we went back, maybe we'd go a little earlier.
We spent the afternoon walking around Notting Hill with thousands of other people who apparently had the exact same idea or were looking for Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts. The area is cute, but I was having personal space issues walking down Portobello Road, so we bailed after a while. We looked into going to the theater in the evening, but there was nothing we really wanted to see, so we ended up seeing a movie, Beginners, starring Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer. The plot centers on McGregor who is a graphic artist starting to see a woman while reflecting back on his relationship with his parents, but more specifically on his father who came out of the closet at age 75 when his mother passed away. He (the father) is then diagnosed with cancer and recently passed away. I realize it may not sound that appealing, but it's a great movie. The writing was clever, crisp, and funny at times, though I wouldn't call the film a comedy. However, I would call it entertaining. I highly recommend it.

WIS (Where I Slept): During the week, for work, we stayed at the Hilton Paddington Station, which was decent. The fact that it was attached to Paddington Station was its most appealing feature. For the weekend, we switched to the Montagu Place Hotel, which is a small boutique hotel off of Baker Street in a very quiet neighborhood. It wasn't anything fancy, but it was simple, clean, and in a convenient location. The big plus for Jenn was that they had Molton Brown toiletries in the bathroom.

WAM (Worth a Mention): I really like using public transportation, but the fact that tube lines can shut down at any instant and stops where transfers occur aren't available certain days or at certain times is a real nuisance. One of my biggest pet peeves in life is when things are supposed to go a certain way and they don't.

WTF (What the Fuck?): When we went to Scoop to get ice cream on Sunday, they had about 12 flavors available. Conspicuously, there was one missing. Chocolate. What kind of ice cream place doesn't stock chocolate ice cream?