Maeve visited me for 48 hours and left yesterday afternoon, she is the last of the people I will be hosting while I'm here. It's... odd, to say the least. While I feel that I am quite ready to move onto the next phase of my life, I will miss all the hidden corners of London I've discovered and learned to love—and frequent.
On our last night together Maeve and I went to the Duke of Cambridge (the organic gastropub I went to on my birthday). Afterwords, we went to see Sex and the City 2 at the Islington Screen on the Green—which is an awesome movie theater. There are "sofa seats" which are slightly bigger and have foot rests (though these seats costs £2 extra), and there is a bar at the back of the theater. Waiters bring your drinks/food orders to you. Although Maeve and I were completely full on delicious organic noms, it was still a cool experience and I'd definitely love to go back to that theater (if only I had the time...). They play lots of older and independent/foreign films as well (primarily, in fact).
The movie itself was ehh... horrible but still highly entertaining. I had extremely low expectations so I wasn't really disappointed, what little integrity Sex and the City had left after the first movie was lost and went into the negative numbers after this one.
Yesterday, as I was sitting on a park bench reading (italics here to emphasize the novelty), I was thinking about how lucky I am to be living in this amazingly charming part of London. It never ceases to amaze me how you can step two blocks out of the chaos surrounding the tube station and be somewhere that just feels like a homey little town. As I sat there, a squirrel eyed my sandwich (I cannot emphasize enough how bold the squirrels here are, I was quite convinced we were going to end up in a wrestling match over it). A couple of people got into an argument where the woman yelled that the man she was talking to was a "bloody fuckin tramp!" The cell phone of the woman sitting on the adjacent bench rang the tune of "Empire State of Mind," she answered with a British accent. Just as I was getting all misty-eyed over leaving this lovely place, I was reminded that my amazing home city awaits my return—and apparently it's not just the (not born, but) raised New Yorkers that know what's up. This became even more evident this afternoon.
Today, after absorbing sunshine in the Myddelton Square, Miranda and I walked around lovely Islington, where a six year old boy on a scooter asked us if we wanted to buy car insurance. Miranda informed him that we couldn't drive, and his companion, an older girl (around 10, roughly), asked us if we were from America. We responded that we were indeed, and she asked where about. "New York."
She said, "Ah, that's the place to be."
A fellow park dweller
Daisies!
Regent's Canal. People's backyards face this. *sigh*.
I almost lived on this street! Another sigh. Also the street on which the Duke of Cambridge is located.
Fairly common bike racks in london
Kids have been running around and playing in the streets all day
Early evening pub crowd—the London idea of nightlife.
It is a shame the weather here is so erratic and the warm and sunny days rare, because when you do get one of those perfect days, it's hard to imagine a place more ideal. It almost makes you forget all the shitty weather you've had to put up with to get there.
Miranda and I inevitably indulged in organic fro-yo at FRAE, which seems as committed to playing awesome soul jams as it is to serving deliciousness in low calorie form. Then in the evening the £3.95 vegetarian indian buffet which had been flirting with me from across the street last night, finally made its way into my belly. Today has been yet another money-saving fail. but a tasty win!
Oh, and lastly, I am not one who is often in awe of wedding dresses (or ever, really), but this vintage store in London has the most beautiful wedding dress in the window, I had to share! Don't mind the feathery thing layered over it...
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