This Ain't the Same Jolly Old England

Aaaaaaaand I'm back. Not for long, though I'll touch on that later. For now, I'd like to review my recently concluded trip to the Queen's land, London, England. For those of you back in the US, you'll know that England is the land of bad weather and bad food.

But that, interestingly, is untrue. Indeed, my long weekend in England was a stereotype busting one. After a neat trip on the Eurostar on Thursday evening, I awoke in England on Friday to a bright, seventy degrees fahrenheit London. Needless to say: mind was blown.

My ever gracious host and (fraternity) brother Daniel Sonabend and I set out to see the British Museum, which is as representative of the British empire as it is completely unrepresentative of Britain. By this, I mean that the museum is essentially an enormous temple to the various priceless artifacts that the British stole from other cultures and display as a part of their heritage. It certainly sets the looting bar high.

Following that, we headed to a pub for lunch and a bit of cider. This would be one of the few actual British meals I had during the week, and though it was delicious, it probably doesn't hold its own against the rest of the weekend.

Deciding not to waste the rare weather, we then headed to Hyde Park for a stroll, an ice cream and a look at Princess Diana's memorial fountain, which was more like a mix between a wading pool and a lazy river. After that, we headed up Primrose Hill in Regent's Park for a spectacular view of the city. Panoramic views are a particular pleasure of mine, and this one didn't let down.

Since it was Friday night, and Daniel's family is Jewish, we sat down after that for the traditional Shabbat dinner, something I had strangely never experienced before. The food was delicious, and the company was made even more delightful by the presence of a Canadian couple, friends of the Sonabends, who, despite being 50 and 70 something, regaled us with their pot smoking, hard drinking adventure tales. The university age kids at the bar afterwards seemed tame by comparison. (Though that was partially my fault; the heavy touring rendered me sleepy and unable to function).

The next day started at what was probably my favorite part of London: Borough Market. Tucked away under what appeared to be train tracks, the market offered up a wealth of expertly crafted specialty foods, from curries to olive oils to spicy African sauces to sausage. After about an hour and a half of wandering around and trying dozens of free samples, I settled on a lamb burger with blue-veined farmhouse cheddar and grilled onions. Twas delicious.

After that, we headed to the Tate Modern, where the main event was the vast and impressive exposition by the recently imprisoned Chinese artist and dissident, Ai Wei Wei. The exhibit was an enormous field of porcelain sunflower seeds, all hand crafted in a poor Chinese city. The space was all the more poignant watching sympathizers spread flyers urging the Chinese government to "Release Ai Wei Wei."

Following that, we wandered around some of the more famous areas of London, such as Trafalgar Square, stopping in at one point to watch the British Kentucky Derby, the Grand National. I only say it's their Kentucky Derby, though, because it's their most popular race. In reality, it is completely different. About eight times longer, it is filled with treacherous jumps and ditches, sending horses and riders flying to the ground at every turn. This running was a relatively tame one, apparently, as a whopping 19 of the 40 riders actually finished the race. I read somewhere that the lowest total of finishers for a running of the Grand National was 2. I now believe that the Kentucky Derby is for sissies.

Later that night, we met up with Daniel's friend Greg for some good old fashioned Thai food and city wandering. One note, apparently London shuts down half of its underground on weekends, meaning there was like a 20 minute wait just to get into the station. Other than that, though, it was an enjoyable but tiring night.

Sunday brought us to Brick Lane, one of the capitals of hipsterdom in England, a street that used to be characterized by delightful immigrant cultures now characterized by hordes of people in skinny jeans pillaging immigrant cultures. The atmosphere was raucous though, and the streets were filled with the scents of delicious food. We grabbed some of London's best bagels and headed on to Spitalfields, a historic area of London where most of the immigrant waves usually settled. There, we visited a house restored by an eccentric American to look exactly like it would have in 19th century London. And I mean exactly. Like, there were half eaten pastries, and open dishes of makeup. It was eerie, as if you had just stepped in to someone else's life. Utterly compelling, though.

From there, we headed to Hamley's, the British FAO Schwarz, for some well needed playtime. After a stop in a pub, and a gourmet burger joint, we headed to another weekend highlight.

This time, it was the Comedy Store, a comedy club where we saw the Comedy Store Players, Britain's premiere improv group, boasting Mike Myers as a co-founder. It was the best ab workout I've gotten in a while: two straight hours of gut busting humor.

The next day began with a nice walk around Daniel's nice Hampstead area, continued with delicious Portuguese chicken at Nando's, and ended with me on the Eurostar back home, marvelling at an amazing trip.