Hello everyone!!
After several hours on the phone with Virgin Media and a shopping stop at the Pound Saver to buy an adjustable wrench, we are finally connected to the internet! Yay! Now that we are electronically connected to the world, I feel more at home! :)
London is beautiful, busy, and boisterous. We live in a one bedroom apartment (flat) on the third floor (second floor to the Brits) of a triplex row house-like building. The street we live on, is a nice quiet residential street lined with three story row houses in a neighborhood nestled between Islington (an upscale, middle class neighborhood), Holloway (a multi ethnic working class neighborhood), and Camden (a Berkeley-esque community filled with young wanna-be bohemians and lots of avant-garde shops). We've spent the last couple of days exploring all of these neighborhoods on foot and we love where we are, right in the heart of all these different microcosms. But I guess that's the story of London, a city of microcosms. By foot we can access Waitrose (an upscale Whole Foods type market) Iceland and Morrison's (two averaged priced super markets) and tiny Indian and Arabic markets and stalls where you can buy everything from kitchenware to clothes to huge bags of spices and produce for hardly any money. I think we'll be covered for all our culinary and shopping needs. :)
We've also ventured into central London on several occasions the last few days. This weekend was the end of summer festival on the Thames, meaning two full days of food, vendors, performances, and one massive fireworks show Sunday night. I think it's the most fireworks I have every seen! We've explored all the old book stores on Charing Cross Road (reminds me of CityLights in SF), walked through Carneby Road (now gentrified), explored the endless maze of industrial horse stalls turned bohemian stalls in Camden, noshed on delicious sausage and caramelized onion sandwiches at the Borough Market underneath the train tracks just south of the river, and had drinks with some of Boyfriend's Spanish friends in a downstairs Chinatown bar decked out in an old cathedral interior with Celtic quotes on the wall! The bus system has proven cheaper and more convenient than the tube, because we have bus stops 50 yards from our house that take us straight to Trafalgar Square and Bloomsbury, where my school is! We're slowly getting our bearings in this massive metropolis and have learned to avoid certain touristy areas (Leicester Square) between 5 and 10 pm, which become a sea of drunken debauchery, like something straight out of a Hieronymus Bosch painting! Haha!
Now that we have made peace with our jetlag and are slightly oriented with our neighborhoods, we are settling into more serious things, like starting to study, write, and make our bright and creaky flat home. I've bought some potted herbs for our window sill in our kitchen: thyme, parsley, basil, and cilantro (coriander). The leaky faucet (tap) has provided the perfect drip system for the herbs! :) And just today I bought the ingredients needed to make some good old fashioned chocolate chip cookies! We still have lots of things to get, but having all the basic kitchen wares from David has made all the difference and we are making our own meals in the kitchen. I can't wait to use the oven tonight for the cookies (biscuits).
Today has been the first day of rain and the air has gotten a bit colder. But it is a very gentle and peaceful kind of rain; it feels as if the fall (autumn) is here and summer said goodbye with the fireworks on Sunday. We plan to see another play at the Globe this week, where you can pay 5 pounds to stand as a groundling right in front of the stage! Their season comes to a close at the end of this month, so we're trying to sneak in as many shows as possible. While standing, looking up at the actors in their period costumes, it feels like we've really stepped back into history. But then a big airplane flies over the open air roof, and I'm reminded of my place and time in modern day London. There is such a wonderful collision of history and modernity, cultures, languages, fashion, and art here. I am looking forward to the next year with great anticipation. I can hardly wait to experience it all and recount it all in emails.
Thank you for all of your emails! Keep staying in touch and come and visit!!!! Hope all is well in sunny California! Miss everyone so much!!!
Much love,
Emily
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