London baby!

---

This morning, after another good night’s rest, Dave and I went out to look at a couple flats since he needs to move out of his current one this weekend. One was near his current place and the other at Pembroke College. While he looked at the Pembroke flat, I sat out on a bench in one of the quads. While I was there, one of the servers from the dinner the night before walked by. The guy looked exactly like Lloyd from Entourage. We kept doing Ari Gold impersonations. Lloyd!

After the flat search, it was time for me to go to the train station. After a quick sandwich at Said, I caught my train and made it down to London.

After getting an Oyster card for the tube and checking into my hostel, I hastily headed down to the Bond Street station to meet Robin, one of my former NYC roommates. She and Brian had moved to London at the beginning of the month so I decided to stop and see them while I’m in the area.

I realized along the way I forgot my camera. You’d think after more than two months of touring I’d remember to bring my camera with me. So I’d have to recycle pictures from prior London trips. But it would have been nice to have pictures with Brian and Robin.

I met up with Robin on Oxford Street (Brian was at work). We first went to see their new flat, where they’ll be moving on Friday. Nearby, she showed me London’s best butcher and cheese shops, where they’ll have the opportunity to shop for delicious food.

Afterwards, we walked around High Street and Oxford Street, two prime retail streets in the area. We also came upon an antique market before we headed off to nearby Hyde Park.

The weather was beautiful today, with highs in the upper 60s. It’s amazing how the weather in London isn’t much cooler than in Greece. I might be in for a rude awakening when I get home tomorrow.

We spent quite a bit of time in the park, chatting at a table and walking around the massive commons with its trees and great lawns. People were running along its paths, reminding me a lot of Central Park in New York.

Along the way, we found markers on the ground for the Diana trail, which takes people on a walking tour of the area. As we followed it, we came upon some flower gardens where we stopped to smell the roses that were surprisingly still in bloom.

We continued on our trail through Green Park, arriving a little later at Buckingham Palace around sunset. Continuing through St James Park, we passed a small home at the edge of the park by the prime minister’s residence. While it was well after sunset, the sky was still illuminated by the light pollution as the lights from the city reflected off the cloud cover above. I don’t ever remember seeing anything like this before.

Finally, we ended up by Parliament and the Westminster Abbey where we caught the tube to Canary Wharf.

Canary Wharf is London’s financial district, with skyscrapers that remind me more of lower Manhattan than the rest of London. The area is densely populated with financial and services firms, as well as the restaurants, retail shops and apartments that support the people working nearby.

We headed up to Robin and Brian’s temporary flat, where they’ve lived since they arrived almost a month ago. She shot Brian an email to let him know we’d be at his nearby office soon. Along the way to his office, we took a short walk around the area.

We went to dinner at a place in Canary Wharf called Browns Bar & Brasserie. Browns had something for everyone, with just about any kind of meat on its menu in some form. After we shared a flatbread with cheese and chorizo, Brian and I dined on pork, bacon, black pudding and mashed potatoes while Robin had lamb, mashed potatoes and vegetables. All our meals were delicious.

It was really nice to catch up with Brian and Robin. After living with Brian (and for the most part Robin) for the last four years, it was hard for us to part ways last July.

Overall, they’re still indecisive on the London move. Brian is working a whole lot as he had studied (and now passed) his FSA tests and is now getting up to speed on his large coverage universe. He expected to work a lot for the first couple months so he’ll hopefully stay on schedule and come up for air around Thanksgiving.

Robin is still working hard at getting their personal affairs in order. The move has been tough with getting the simple things taken care of like a place to live, bank accounts, cell phones, etc. And on top of that she has the wedding planning. But they’re both pretty resilient so they’ll ultimately be fine.

Tonight is my last night in Europe. Tomorrow I fly back home, arriving at JFK hopefully on time (or early) at 6:50, where I have to race to make the airport bus to catch the 8:30 bus back home. Otherwise, I’ll have to take the 10:00 bus home and that will put me home after midnight, feeling like 4:00 or after since I’ll still be on London time.

---

Photos

Buckingham Palace
The queen's crib. [i]Recycled[/i]

Big Ben
The famous clock tower by Parliament. [i]Recycled[/i]

Abraham Lincoln statue
This statue is near Parliament and Westminster Abbey. It seems strange that there is a statue of Honest Abe in London. [i]Recycled[/i]