Day 39...
I haven't had internet in my flat for several days now, so I apologize for the tardiness of my update. I've also been super busy. This is my next to last week in London, and I'm finally starting to feel less like a tourist and more like I'm settled here. I suppose that's the way things go; I get settled in just in time to uproot to New York.
This weekend was a lot of fun! Saturday during the day, several of us went for afternoon tea at the
Orangery at Kensington Palace and then out to the opera at the
Royal Opera House at Covent Garden. The opera was great; it was actually
two short operas and an intermission. The first was Bartok's "Duke Bluebeard's Castle" and the second was Schoenberg's "Erwartung". Not exactly toe-tapping, and we certainly didn't leave humming the theme song, but they were both really interesting. The Schoenberg was like watching the embodiment of paranoia on stage. Afterward, we had dinner outside in a courtyard where a guy was playing guitar and singing the kinds of songs you sing along to (Billy Joel, James Taylor, the Beatles, etc.). It was a lot of fun.
Sunday I went with another summer associate to the
Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew. Not spectacular gardens, but really very pleasant. And, some of the things they have there are amazing. Like, for example, the
oldest glass building (older than the crystal palace) in England, which houses the palm collection. Also, a really neat
little glass house that held waterlillies of all shapes and sizes, including several lilly-pads that were maybe six feet in diameter! I'd never seen such a thing. A life-size
Kermit could certainly take up residence on one of these. We saw some
wallabies and climbed the 11-storey
pagoda and enjoyed the
rose gardens which are in bloom. I'd love to go back sometime when their lilac garden is in bloom.
This week, I went for an english breakfast (this morning at 7:30am!!! can you believe I was awake and out at an event at 7:30am???) and have caught a couple of the World Cup matches. I'm going to see the new Tom Stoppard play this weekend, which I'm very excited about.
Day 33..."The ball is round. The game lasts 90 minutes. That's a fact. Everything else is pure theory."
Hello again! It's been a while since I've updated you. That's a bad thing for you, since you're missing out on all my news; but it's a good thing for me, because it means I've been ever so busy! Let's see...what can I tell you? Last time I posted, I had just had a night on the town at Kensington Roof Gardens. (Seems like such a long, long time ago...) The weekend after that, I spent Saturday with a couple of associate friends wandering around Greenwich as it was a beautiful day (the first nice day since I'd been in London, but the beginning of what was a full week of sunshine). Later that night, I had dinner with a couple of fellow summers and some associates at a spanish tapas place and then went out dancing. I've started to enjoy a music genre called Drum & Bass, and we ended up at a place where that was playing. Two late nights in a row, though, meant that Sunday was mostly spent relaxing, with one excursion out for a walk in Hyde Park.
Highlights of the following week are as follows: several yummy lunches, including Cicada for asian tapas, Shanghai Blues also for asian tapas, Smiths on Smithfield where I had my first
pork belly (have since been back for my second pork belly!), and a lunch here at the office with 10 of the partners. Very informative...but I shan't bore you with work details. On Thursday evening, we went for a ride on the
London Eye, which is the world's largest ferris wheel and which distinguishes the London skyline. You can see EVERYTHING from up there! You don't sit, but rather ride in a large glass pod-like enclosure that holds lots of people, so it was kind of like a party in the sky. Our hostess (who poured the champagne) told us about kind of a funny thing that happens frequently on the Eye: couples will reserve a whole pod just for themselves (
Cupid's Capsule), and guys spring marriage proposals on their (sometimes unsuspecting) girlfriends. The girls, of course, are TRAPPED in a big glass enclosure, with some stranger standing within earshot pouring champagne. And sometimes, they say no! How awkward! After our trip on the Eye, we went for dinner at
Oxo Tower, and were the happy observers of some impromptu fireworks (which, of course, the firm suggested they had planned just for we special summers! ;o) ) . It was great fun.
The next weekend was the firm's annual European Outing, which takes place at a resort in the English countryside with all the attorneys from each of our European offices. Don't want to get into too many details here...but suffice to say it was a really fun time, and if you want to hear amusing stories, we can chat in a less public domain. Saturday morning, we went on a tour of
Windsor Castle (where the
queen lives) which was just beautiful. So much history there. Strangely, also, so much commercialism. There's a gift shop around every corner and a veritable shopping mall on the way into the grounds. Apart from that, it was three days of lounging in the sun, clay pigeon shooting,
ferret racing, tennis, and (for those who could provide proof of their handicap) golf. Further solidified my belief that I'm going to have to at least learn to lose convincingly at golf if I'm going to survive in the legal world. Sunday, upon my return, I went for another walk in Hyde Park, as I've come to enjoy doing. This time I saw the
Peter Pan statue and the
Italian Fountains. (Warning: That last link will make you dizzy!) Really neat.
This week has been action-packed already. On Monday afternoon, I had lunch at a place called the Bleeding Heart, which is named after a
horrific event that happened near its location many years ago, having to do with a brutal murder by a scorned lover of some princess or other. The story ends with her mangled and dismembered body lying in pieces all over the courtyard, and her *bleeding heart* still pumping blood onto the cobblestone. Creepy. Amazing food, just the same. I had venison with a spiced chocolate sauce. Mmmmmmmm. Later that night, I went out to see a play with a friend (
Enemies by Gorky...pre-Russian Revolution drama...very, very good) and then out to eat at a Turkish place. Very nice evening.
And, now for the title of today's blog. Today was the
England v. Trinidad & Tobago World Cup match. Now, I assume that if you're reading this you know me, and if you know me, you know that I don't like sports. At all. Not even a little. While at
Cornell, I embraced
Big Red Hockey, but
Lynah Rink is more about
rink culture than about hockey (or at least it was for me). For much the same reason, while in England, I've been persuaded by the rather compelling argument that, should I NOT take part in World Cup culture, I will be the only one in all of England missing out. So, along with everyone else in my office, I packed into our big conference room today to catch the match (taking work with me, like most of my colleagues). We won. I cheered at all the right times. That's really all I have to say about that.
Tomorrow I'm off to a Ladies'
High Tea at the Savoy, and this weekend I'm going to the opera. I'll update sooner rather than later this time...but please comment! I love hearing from you!
Day 20 (I think)...a follow up on the idea of too much good food
and further wondering whether there's such a thing as too much good wine! I'm pretty sure not. A couple nights ago, I had a lovely glass of Dom Perignon before dinner. Very ritzy.
Let's see...as promised, much as happened in the latter half of this week, and much is still to come! On Wednesday evening, I had dinner at a restaurant called The Pearl, which was french and fantastic (and the venue where I enjoyed the Dom from above). I ALSO enjoyed my very first frog legs. Not bad...not bad. A little like extra juicy chicken, but green.
On Thursday, we went on a 2 hour guided tour of the area around the office and up the Thames toward the London Bridge. It was really very informative and a lot of fun to see nooks and crannies of the city that I otherwise might never have found. My favorite place now is a church that was heavily damaged by bombing during World War II, leaving only (most of) the external walls standing. Instead of rebuilding the church, the city turned the interior into a gorgeous garden. It's so neat. I will definitely go back and take some pictures to share. Then, after the walk, we went to a medieval banquet. It was...um...amusing.
Tonight, we have an informal cocktail hour on the building's roof, followed by a 3-course barbecue at Kensington Roof Gardens, and then off to a private table at a club afterward. Busy busy busy. I'm looking forward to some relaxation time this weekend, which I'm planning to spend here in London doing some more exploration. I'll post again later this weekend.
