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We love the unusual perspective from the choir section of the Royal Albert Hall. At this Christmas concert, the choir and orchestra were enjoyable, but the Fanfare Trumpeters of the Welsh Guard (i.e. the guys in red -- click to zoom!) were what made it special.
This is Christ Church, perhaps Oxford's most prestigious college--or at least that's what 13 prime ministers would tell you. Nearby we had some fantastic deja-vu moments, having just seen The Golden Compass.
(Sorry, it was either that or whole hog.) Here's a butcher shop in a covered market we came across as we wandered Oxford the day after attending our first English wedding.
A friend of mine brought me along to a carol service at Holy Trinity Brompton. This is where I learned that Anglican Christmas carols have the same words as in America but are set to completely different music. Good fun nonetheless.
It's approaching the time of year when the sun setting while I'm at work is utterly depressing since I will have just finished my lunch.
I'm just being cheeky. Actually this was a really cool sky--so much so that it caused me to stop mid-commute and point my phone over my head to capture it, which generally makes passersby look at me like I'm an alien.
We went to Wembley to see the first non-North-American NFL game. Naturally England decided to show off the roof of the new stadium by chucking it down with rain on the field while keeping the spectators completely dry. Loads of fun and spectacle, actually.
It was probably hard to pick me out, though, as I was just one of a couple hundred audience members (including sis, bro-in-law and a friend) for Omid Djalili's hosting of Have I Got News For You?
We had a couple dozen international colleagues in town for a two-day summit. Naturally we showed our hospitality by taking them up on a private "flight" in the London Eye. Very cool.
We work with a couple of agencies in the Tea Building, where the cafe on the ground floor always has some sort of giant image projected onto one wall. Today it was a silent movie. In German.
This is the restaurant and river view out the back of my office building. And it only took two years and two months for me to see fog in London.
While waiting for people to turn up, I am reduced to trying to be arty with a candle on the table top.
Yikes. It appears that in the calendar of American retail, 'tis already the season for Christmas decor.
And I do love staying on Santana Row, even if it is a bit Downtown-Disney-meets-Bay-Area. After all, we did used to come here even when we didn't have to.
I am reunited with hubby after two months apart. Oddly it is not where we live now but where we used to live. Hence I am on holiday in the Bay Area for the first time ever.
Given that I was working in central London, not eager to be on public transport during the Tube strike, and suffering from not having seen my friend Barbara in ages, the two of us met up in the Strand and walked four miles or so to her place in South Ken.
I got to babysit in London and had a blast. Niece was utterly obsessed with the squirrels in St James Park, who oddly wouldn't sit still for a photo; hence this one is running out of the frame.
Every once in a while I have a moment of girlieness and buy shoes that are prettier than they are functional. This was my goal for spending bank holiday on a shopping spree in Dublin. Anything to avoid the pound sterling.
Sis will have to remind me where these gardens were. We spent her birthday weekend together at and around her place.
This is the largest insect I have ever seen in the wild. It's about two inches long and was in the middle of the pavement I walk down every day on the way to the train station. Bonus points to anyone who can identify it.
This clandestine photo is of A Midsummer Night's Dream performed in the open air theatre in Regent's Park--a very appropriate setting for this play and a very enjoyable evening. I do wonder what the fairies did to hold off the rain.
This guy drove past our pre-theatre drink venue singing Tequila Sunrise over a loudspeaker--pretty darn well, I might add. The soap bubbles were a nice touch, too. Why couldn't this guy have done our roof repairs last year?
Sis was keeping me company for the weekend, and the weather was outstanding, so we spent the afternoon at Kew Gardens. These lilypads were a highlight as they are absolutely massive.
I'm not entirely sure what this is. Unfortunately googling 'National Theatre metal dinosaur costumes' didn't help.
Here's the pavement, or lack thereof, at the White Cross, my preferred pub in Richmond Upon Thames. To state the obvious, look where the railing is.
Going back to the mother ship does allow for a bit of catching up with old friends -- and their new family additions.
I wish I could say this was some sort of trick photography. This 30-foot spider is at the National Gallery of Canada and is a tribute to the artist's mom. Touching.
We got to see the time trials of the Tour de France in merry olde Hyde Park.
Tragic, really, that my only time in Kew Gardens so far has been for this Hawaiian-themed summer event, wherein the vast majority of flowers were faux.
We went back again this year after such a great time last year. Here are two of the biggest draws: Antony Worrall Thompson and the roast pig he was serving.
It was a personal mission of mine to go to a match at Lord's before we moved away from St John's Wood. And so we did.
Having lunch in Vernazza after hiking from Monterosso, the westernmost of the cinque terre. More to come...
But I'm guessing these captures of the Florence duomo are pretty redundant.
It's the finish line for the MoonWalk, London's overnight marathon in which the walkers wear decorated bras--even the men. I missed out on my chance to walk it this year, so I volunteered to staff it instead.
Back at MIT for a long weekend and lots of bonding with old friends. Took a couple of strolls past the Stata Center. Campus architecture is most definitely cooler than it used to be.
Did aquarium planners always put Dory, Nemo and Marlin together?
People hang these things on their houses in Provence. You're lacking a sense of scale so let me tell you they're nearly a foot tall each. Seriously big fake insects. Makes you wonder exactly what herbes they're famous for after all.
Anyone who thinks London has bad weather has never been here in spring. Today is just plain achingly beautiful. Here a shot from Paddington Street Garden on my way home from Waitrose.
Three guesses where we spent our Easter Sunday.
This is New Carlsberg Way. As in the brewery. Sis and I toured and sampled here on our last morning in Copenhagen. It was a very giggly morning.
I don't normally hand my phone over to others, but today was such a nice day, it now being both spring and British Summer Time, that hubby and I took a post-work walk across Regent's Park to the pub. We commemorated this glorious event with a pint of cider and a silly blog photo pose.
This one has a decent garden but the commute isn't so good. That, and I'd get tired of spelling 'Alcázar' for other people all the time.
If it's Saturday, it must be Seville. (At the front of the bull ring, to be more specific.)
In Europe, everyone's car is small, which helps drivers to manoeuvre into tight parking spaces and squeeze through narrow alley ways. This guy, parked near the Marylebone market, clearly missed the memo.
Had a really nice lunch of genuine homemade tapas at the (temporary) flat of the Spanish girl on exchange to our office. Had fun trying to follow the conversation among her, another Spaniard, and a Venezuelan. It's all here.
Who doesn't love a rainy night in Temple Bar? Could have done without the gale force winds on airport approach though.
Went for dim sum before seeing the Prince Charles' screening of Borat. Both food and film were enjoyable yet went by more quickly and with somewhat less substance than expected.
Was going to dinner last night, just minding my own business, emerging from the relevant tube stop. And lo.
I forgot socks today. In my gym bag, that is. So while I was meant to be at the gym behaving myself, I wound up at the pub with the IM team, coming up with reasons why my job tangentially relates to theirs to assuage my guilt at drinking on their tab. Of course the penance is that I must take the tube home rather than the train, hence the fab upholstery.
When hubby is out of town, I tend to get lonely, and Schubie keeps me company. Sometimes he takes on shockingly human characteristics. This is exactly as I found him when I woke up this morning.
