I like Lon lon lon lon lon don, in the sun!

For those of you who have never heard of Stomp!, it’s a wonderful show where the actors use household items and rubbish to make music. It is very intense because it is essentially a whole lot of drumming. They use brooms, plastic bags, even water to form their sounds. And it’s very funny. There’s one guy who’s the ‘runt’ of the group, and the other actors make fun of him. There’s also another one who’s kind of a maniac, he had this crazy laugh that even made the guys on stage break character! What’s most interesting about the show is that all the emotion is conveyed with body language- no one speaks throughout the whole show.

After our show, we walked around the West End, which was bustling! The area has lots of little streets, so it’s really easy to get completely disoriented. After roaming around for quite some time, we found ourselves in Piccadilly Circus, which is the British equivalent to Times Square in New York.

Following the advice from the tour guide from the morning, we decided to stroll around Fleet Street in Old Town.

This, as we discovered, was a terrible idea. Apparently come nightfall, Old Town becomes Ghost Town. We were the only people around, aside from a drunken youth heaving his stomach contents by a tree. The streets were dark and the buildings were, as you might have guessed, old. Basically, we jumped right on the next tube stop, and went back to the hotel for an evening cocktail.

For our last day, we were planning on watching Batman in Imax, but the show was too late, so instead we decided to check out Camden Town and Regent’s Park. Oh, I loved it there!! It's so hippy and cool. And the homes are bautiful, too, with excellent gardens. I got myself a cute little dress at the Market, had a fresh juice, and then relaxed with Bret in the glorious, expansive Park.

But after some time, we were suffocating, so we decided to head over to the Science Museum where there would be A/C. Still feeling the need for a massive 3-D screen, we decided to watch the Deep Sea Imax show. It was amazing, aside from the Italian teenage boys talking next to us throughout the entire movie: “La barracuda es bellisima!” “que cretino!”

Exhausted from a fun-filled weekend, we made our way back to King’s Cross for Newcastle.

Well, I'll be damned! London Bridge fell down!

After having lived the urban life in Newcastle for several months now, I’ve become especially aware of public transportation. And as far as I can tell, The famed Tube is amazing. Walk anywhere for 6 minutes, and a tube station will pop up. Better yet, the trains come every 2-4 minutes, so there’s virtually no waiting. And there are loads of connections, so you can get anywhere in just a few minutes.

Our hotel, called Kensington Rooms was located just 2 blocks from the Gloucester (pronounced ‘gloster’) Road stop on the Picadilly Line. The area of Kensington is super nice, with huge, well-kept homes, frequently painted white with shiny black doors. Our hotel was very nice and simple- modern, stylish, and a very good deal. The room was very small, but clean and neat, so for 90 quid a night, we were quite pleased.

After Harrod’s and checking out a few shops in Covent Garden (Paul and Joe was my fave), I made my way back home to meet my Bret and get ready for a night on the town.

A work colleague of mine who used to live in London recommended a Russian restaurant in Kensington called Nikita’s. It was lovely, and the food was AMAZING! To start, we ordered flavoured vodkas and caviar with hot, fat blinis, sour cream, egg, and onion. YUM!! Then for our main course, I had a juicy tender duck with mushrooms and Bret had the most delicate filet of steak, cooked medium rare. Oh, so juicy!! To finish, we ordered a hot, honey vodka . To end our night, we strolled around the neighbourhood and made our way to the gorgeous Kensington Gardens.

The next morning, we woke up bright and early to get tickets for The Lion King. However, as we found out, the cheapest tickets were going for £50 per person!! So we opted for Stomp! Instead. The show would be at 8, so we had plenty of time to enjoy ourselves.

First on our list was the Thames (pronounced temms) River, where we hopped on a tour boat. We saw the lovely bridges, the Houses of Parliament, and Big Ben. The tour guide recommended that we amble along Old Town and Fleet Street to get a feel for Old London. So we decided we would do that in the evening after the show.

After wandering around a bit, grabbing some sushi, and making our way closer to the hotel, we decided to check out the Victoria and Albert Museum. I had heard marvels about this place, so I thought surely it would be worth going. Even though the fashion section was cool, I have to say, the rest of it was too…knick-knacky. There were all sorts of little things, little rings, little plates, little saucers…I can’t cope with all the tiny old stuff. I like big modern paintings and museums with action and adventure, so this wasn’t my kinda thing. Exhausted from a day’s walking, we went back to the hotel, to recharge for Stomp!

Pass the Oxygen Shot to the left hand side

Hello Friends. Braudia, despite wading aimlessly through the treacherous seas of poverty, has gone on a fun-filled adventure once again. This time to London, the fab capital of England (and arguably the world). I hadn’t been to London since 2003, so coming back was a wonderful surprise. I couldn’t believe how many people were swarming the streets- it was exhilarating!! And wonderfully multicultural. So many Arabs, Indians, and South Americans. I was in heaven.

But that’s not all. Get this: it was hot. Not warm- HOT! I actually sweat!

I arrived to the steamy capital at 10am on Friday. Bret was still in Cambridge for his conference, so I took advantage and went off to do girly things, namely comb through the floors of Harrods!! What a display of conspicuous consumption! Everywhere you turn there are signs for Dubai Properties, opulent weddings, and glittering displays of Tiffany, Cartier, and Dior Jewellery.

Despite the fact that there was a 70% off sale, I still couldn’t afford anything. The beluga caviar in the food halls started at a hundred quid for a little vial (the most expensive being escargot caviar for about 400 quid). The food halls are glorious, with fresh exotic fruits, delicately prepared seafood, and decadent desserts. I got some loose mango tea for Bret (ok, so I could afford something) and then grabbed some cute canapés and a prawn pancake for myself. After I wolfed my food down, I went back for a bit of relaxation. Though I contemplated taking a bit of aloe vera juice, I opted instead for a healthy high of oxygen. No, not outdoor air, literally a tank of oxygen. I had seen oxygen cafes become all the rage in LA a few years back, and for 5 quid, I couldn’t say no to 15 minutes of lightheadedness at Harrods.

The spa woman disinfected the nose piece and started the machine of pure, unadulterated O2. I breathed in the fresh air, hoping to get a bit woozy, but nothing happened. After the 15 minute session, I realized I would get a better high checking out more merchandise, so I paid my bill and headed up to the ladies clothes. It was lovely. Diane von Furstenberg and Chloe have the best collections right now. But, as is often the case, the clothes I liked was not the clothes on sale…

While it was getting late and I was getting shopper’s fatigue, I knew I had to check out one more floor: the pet section upstairs. I had read that Harrods carried hypo-allergenic cats, and my desire to interact with fuzzy felines once again was strong. I made my way through the rows of doggie leather jackets, kitty ballet tutus, and delicacies from the Pet Patisserie, complete with ‘mutt-fins’ ‘e-claws’ and ‘pawfitterols’. When I arrived to the pet section, I learned the cats are called Siberian Forest Cats, and they are hypoallergenic because they lack the protein in saliva that makes people allergic. They were going for a mere £1200. Unfortunately, I couldn’t pet them because they were behind the glass. This was rather lame, as was the fact that they were sleeping. In the room next to them were the Papillion pups going for £1500. They were cute, but I think actually Andre is way cuter and more pure bred.

After hours of this mayhem, I decided it was time to leave Mr Fayed’s little shop and head over to Covent Garden…

Forthcoming

Hi all,
For those of you that have been missing our little updates, rest assured that this weekend, Braudia will be partying in London Town!

So details to follow...