Happy Birthday To Me!

Happy Birthday to me! I woke up this morning not really feeling any different--it's strange not seeing my Mom though. Olly offered to take me for lunch to celebrate, so I met him at his office near Victoria station and we went to this cute place called Bumble. I tried lamb meatballs with spaghetti (SO not a fan), and tried to order a mimosa but discovered they don't exist in England. Olly was very amused. After that, I went back to Gavin's and just relaxed for a bit before heading to Gordon Ramsay's York & Albany restaurant for a birthday dinner. He has seven different restaurants in London, but this one was the closest (and most affordable--Savoy for $300 each? Maybe after I head to Mumbai and  become a famous Bollywood star. It's obviously going to happen. Can't wait to write that post). It was, in a word, disappointing. 

Gavin had the asparagus for an appetizer, and I had the warm goat cheese salad, which wasn't warm at all.  For some unknown reason I decided to be adventurous and order the "fish of the day", which was haddock with braised cabbage and mustard-egg ravioli. I thought, why not try some true English cuisine? 

Should've known it would  be terrible. The fish was overcooked and unbearably salty, and the egg ravioli...well lets just say I hate eggs for a reason. Gavin had the pizza, which he actually enjoyed, but I was so disappointed. Also, our food didn't come out to the table together; I was waiting about 10 minutes for mine. I've watched chef Ramsay yell at his contestants on Hell's Kitchen when this happens, so I just assumed he would require the same standards of service at his restaurants. GUESS NOT. I definitely will not be returning, I should have gone to Nobu instead. Maybe in October. I do think it's funny that the worst meal I had while in London was:  -on my birthday -supposed to be the best meal I had in London

After dinner, my friend from home Chris and his girlfriend Jen came by Gavin's flat, and we all headed out to go dancing. I had no idea Chris wasn't 18 yet, so he couldn't get in to the places we wanted to go--they ended up parting ways with us, and Gavin and I wandered around endlessly because he was SURE there was a great "hidden club, very posh" that he was at earlier in the week. Problem was, every time we used our GPS to locate it, its location would move. Walk to one spot, it jumps on the map. Walk again, it's no longer where it said it was. Damn you, Blackberry!

After a quick pit stop at McDonalds (.99 chicken burger, unreal--I would definitely be obese if I lived in London), we took a rickshaw (those tricycle things that the guys bike us to where we want to go? Not sure if this is the right term) to G-A-Y Late, one of London's best gay clubs. I'd never been to a gay club before, but I honestly had the time of my life there! It is definitely strange being on the outside of what's going on...no one cared what I did while I was there haha but at the same time that's what made it amazing! I could dance and just have a good time celebrating my birthday and the fact that I'm in London, for goodness' sake! We were also celebrating Gavin that night, as it turns out, he was named one of Canada's Top 40 under 40--so congrats Gav! So proud of you!

The night ended with a wander into Leicester Square, and finally a taxi home, none of which Gavin remembers. Good thing someone's responsible on her birthday :)

Rain Means Retail Therapy

Today it rained, so Gavin and I went shopping on Oxford Street. I needed to get at least a raincoat and a jacket, and ended up buying some shoes too. Oops. I tried to remember I have to carry this stuff with me everywhere I go, but a girl's gotta do what her feet tell her to, and mine said "wear these!" I listened. And now I regret having an extra pair of shoes.

We grabbed a quick lunch at Pret a Manger, this chain of sandwiches to go,  and then headed home in the afternoon.

I forgot to tell you yesterday that I had an authentic English Lunch! Fish and Chips...and mushy peas. Blech! So disgusting. We also had Pimms, an english drink with strawberries and cucumber in it, very summery.

Alright, where was I? I think I went home and napped for a bit, then got ready to meet Olly in Covent Garden. I underestimated the amount of time it took to get there and was almost half an hour late--I felt awful! Thank god Olly was a good sport about it and actually waited for me! We had a great time learning about our cultural differences, me trying not to let it show that I couldn't understand about every other word...those English accents are tricky! He took me to a pub called the Porterhouse, where they brew their own ale, so of course I had to try it--surprise, I loved it! He was a great host, and I wish him luck on his adventure race this weekend...hopefully he makes it through 2 days and 12 hours of racing! CRAZY I tell you. I hope we can meet up again when I go back through London in October. I forgot to take a picture with him, so you'll just have to imagine a dashing young Englishman.

Tomorrow is my birthday (23rd)! 

London Cold-ing.

Holy crap it's freezing. I packed light, considering it's summer and I thought I'd be worried about getting sunburnt everyday. Instead, I'm worried about having feeling in my toes when I wake up in the morning. Why is it so cold!?! I had to go shopping and buy a jacket, and I may buy some sweaters too. of course, I only brought one pair of pants, so these jeans are getting broken in pretty quick.

I hope the Mediterranean is warmer when I head there in september or I'm in trouble. At least this means I should be pleasantly comfortable in India this summer, right?

Anyway, I took the Gatwick Express ($17.90 one way) to Victoria station, where my friend Gavin met me. He's a friend of mine from Guelph who is potentially doing his PhD at Oxford, so he decided to move to London for the summer. He found this amazing loft on sabbaticalhomes.com, so I chose that over a hostel (tough choice, I know). So we are staying in a prof's flat who teaches political science at LSE, and is in Africa for six months. Pretty neat set-up.

Gavin convinced me not to nap when I got home, so instead we got changed, dropped my stuff off, and went on a walking tour of london. I saw - Buckingham Palace - Parliament - Big Ben - The London Eye (but we didn't go up, I refuse to waste money on that unless its a date in which case I shouldn't be paying anyway) - A telephone booth -  A traditional English Pub - The Prime Minister's House - St. James' Park

which is quite a lot for one afternoon. I was frozen and exhausted by that point, so we headed home for a nap. When I woke up we wandered through Belsize Park (the neighborhood we're in) and found "Chez Bob", a (you guessed it) french resto. It wasn't bad, I had chicken kiev--although I thought that meant broccoli inside--apparently in England it means liquefied butter. Bring on the heart attacks.

After that, I had a quick experience in a gay karaoke bar in Soho, which we exited promptly after a rousing performance of Celine Dion's "All By Myself." If you keep singing, I'm fairly certain you'll know why, buddy.

We headed across the street to O Bar, where they had amazing music and old couches with wood paneling-kind of reminded me of Pravda in Toronto, but authentic. At the end of the night, Gav and I managed to navigate the late-night bus system (the Tube stops at like 2 am I think) and found our way home.

 Tomorrow I am meeting up with Olly, (for you Beacon Hallers, Mr. Jeffery's nephew that was kind enough to meet me for a drink and chat for a bit) so I'll keep you posted. Until then, a good first day!