At this I have failed. What I haven’t failed at: delving into some of London’s quintessential experiences. The following is my take on the weeks that have passed since our return from Spain.
Week of June 29
Big screen for the big games.
Wimbledon: Adrienne, Emily and I ventured to Wimbledon after work on the Tuesday after our return to London. Our grounds passes were discounted since it was after 5, but unfortunately there were no well-known players left to watch. So we settled for watching a doubles match on the big screen outside one of the main courts. It was a great atmosphere. People brought picnics and drinks and sat on the hill to watch the match. The grounds were beautifully color coordinated with purples and greens everywhere. On Saturday, we were able to catch the Williams sisters battle it out from our local pub.
Grade: B+ Loved being on the grounds of Wimbledon but would’ve been better had we seen some big names play. Also, I was disappointed that I didn’t get to watch the two historic mens matches with Andy Murray, Andy Roddick and Roger Federer even from a pub.
Patriotism at its finest.
4th of July: Now this isn’t a classic London holiday, but the Brits were definitely involved in its creation, so it gets to appear in this recap. We weren’t entirely sure how our national holiday would fare over here. After all, it celebrates the fact that we aren’t English. Fortunately, most of London isn’t English either. The first sign of this was the American Independence lunch at the American company, Microsoft. On July 2nd (a Thursday), the group of interns that work at Microsoft walked into the cafeteria to find red, white and blue balloons and streamers, American flags and fliers boasting the “American” menu of hamburgers and waffles. We were all a bit confused, but I suppose the 4th of July is to them what Cinco de Mayo is to us.
On the 4th, a bunch of us got together to celebrate the only way we knew how. We broke out the charcoal grill (rusty but useable) and the Budweiser and had ourselves a little backyard (or concrete patio in our case) barbecue. We spruced up our rather dull locale with the patriotic decorations sent by Adrienne’s mom. It was a great time and one of the few days we got to celebrate being from the US without caring. Unfortunately, I celebrated a little too hard. No, not with the aforementioned Budweiser, but with the food. In true American fashion, I overate on a holiday and fell asleep on the couch. Everyone else headed to an Irish bar that was throwing a 4th of July party. Apparently the Irish love Americans.
Grade: A- It was a great taste of home, and we made the best of what we were able to find (Oscar Mayer doesn’t exist in London). Only thing that would’ve made it better? A little self-control when it came to the cheesecake and hot dogs.
Brick Lane: The Sunday after the 4th, four of us headed to the much talked about Brick Lane. Many had described it as having great shopping and Indian food. When we got there, it was one of those “Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore” moments. Every restaurant was Indian and every store was vintage. The streets were lined with people peddling everything from VHS tapes to used Primark shoes to remote controls (no kidding, one person was only selling a bunch of old remote controls). The bright spot of the day was finding a little indoor market that had stalls with vintage jewelry, boutique clothes and food from around the world. I managed to find some gold stud earrings and a floral skirt that were just what I had been looking for. On our way back to the tube station, every restaurant had a guy out front yelling out specials to us, which we politely turned down.
Grade: B- Even though I was able to find a few things at the market, the streets looked like the Salvation Army threw up on them, and the Indian restaurant pitchmen were a bit much.
To Be Continued…
Rachel Metzler - A Summer in London 