I'm a 30 year old born and
raised in Los Angeles

Now a Designer
turned Information Architect
turned Design Director
at a .com in London
with my new wife Leyhsa

Archive:
Apr - Jun 01 | Jul - Aug 01 | Sep - Dec 01 | Jan - Apr 02 | May - Jul 02
Aug - Sep 02 | Oct- Dec 02 | Jan - Feb 03 | March 03

Words here are usually more descriptive than the ones we have in the states and I keep trying to master replacing the ones I know with the ones they use. For example, I would not say 'stove', I would say 'cooker'. I won't say 'elevator', I'd say 'lift'. Nor would I say 'bathrooms', instead, 'toilets' (are you seeing the descriptive part working out?). How about 'way out' instead of 'exit' or 'mobile' rather than 'cell' or 'trainers' instead of 'sneakers'. There's others I don't get like 'pants' meaning underwear or 'jumper' means sweatshirt. So enough of the dialect for now.

Leyhsa and I have been enjoying the summer so far and have visited many attractions. One of them was the Hampton Court Palace where King Henry VIII had and decapitated most of his six wives. It's enormous with incredible tapestries and architecture. They have this one room called the waiting room where they had over 3000 swords, muskets and guns on these very tall walls (kind of like that sinking hallway room in the Haunted House in Disneyland). The king would make dignitaries wait in there for 4 to 6 hours just to be intimidating. That's pretty messed up. The gardens attached are stunning with lots of families running around enjoying picnics. It even has one of those mazes like they had in the Shining.

We also went to St Paul's Cathedral and sat in on an organ recital. The Cathedral was rebuilt in the mid 1600's and contains the second largest dome in the world, so the sound resonates with an awesome strength. I was wondering if the organ player was trying to make the walls come down or something because he was really trying to make some booming baritones.

We went with my company to the horse races in Kempton. It's much different then in the states. You bet on horses in the states by betting against the house. While here, there are forty or so bookies with chalk boards where they yell out the best odds they are offering on different picks. It's kind of like a seedy version of a stock market's trading pit with assistants signalling their bookies what others are offering and people bartering with bookies for odds. It's a crazy rush of people, cigars and money as the minutes tick down before a race begins.

We also went to the Tate Museum which was in this converted huge post WWII power plant. It's this ominous thing that stands 15 or so stories tall with a huge smoke stack in the middle as it faces the Thames River. The pieces varied from your required Warhol, Mondrian, and Dali to some obscure up and coming works that were truly different. They had this one huge installation where from the ground floor you could see this big open white floor about an acre in size with squares about 10 feet across either open or painted black spaced about 30 feet apart from each other with the ceiling going hundreds of feet in the air with, of all things, an strange looking elevator going up and down in the very back. If you then went to the basement level it was black and dark with a few of what you thought were just empty squares are now above you and they had grey mannequins staring down at you from the edges of the square. You could then go to the fifth floor and view it from above where you could see all of the square grids from an aerial view with even more grey people looking up at you. I have no idea what the artist was trying to do or say but it was pretty cool. I have said a mouthful so more later.
See Hampton Pictures

PS: Pub Name Search Continues:
Fox & Anchor, Fox & Rabbit, The Hound & Fox
Horse Head, Boar's Head, Queen's Head
The Coal Hole
Pitcher & Piano
Garlic & Shots
And the Grand Winner:
Butt's Sandwiches (home of the famous Butt Sandwich)

PSS: If you want any of the pictures in a bigger size, e-back a request and I'll send you one.

 
I'm here with Leyhsa and she had cramps today. Bummer for her good for me- she cleaned the house all night. We've done lots of traveling and went to Windsor Castle which was amazing. I'll write about that later once I have this site up and running.

So I bought a moped a couple weeks ago and I think I finally have it down. The 'it' I am referring to is not the bike but the 'it' of fleeting death. You must understand that this city topside is a death-trap. To understand what I mean, we will need to take a short trip back in time. To 220 AD to be exact. The Romans colonize Brittania and build Londonium. They architect the city to contain a series of small townships centered on baths and public squares that are then criss-crossed together with small roads. Now lets jump forward 1,781 years later: that system is exactly the same. Imagine a giant bowl of oversized spaghetti being thrown in the air. Where it lands makes a road. Now combine that visual image with two way roads that split into one-ways, streets that keep the same name only for 3 to 4 blocks, road signs that can appear at random on building walls atop the 2nd floor or at street level, and ofcourse dreaded round-abouts which spin you in a circle with cars coming from any one of seven intersecting roads. The fun part is that since no road goes in one direction for more then a block as it usually vears a few times, you also lose your sense of direction since most days are overcast and you can't find the sun. So if I want to go from EC1 (east central London) to W6 (somewhere west of central London) The last thing I will be doing is the silly thought of travelling on an east west street to get there. Instead ofcoarse, I will take about 30 different streets (which equates to about 75 different street names) zig-zagging and looping around to complete my journey.

I haven't even gotten into the actual hazards like most drivers ignore lane division and will meander back and forth between lanes, people constantly walking into the street despite oncoming cars, small in circumference pot holes that are about two feet deep, motorcyclists who only know one speed (50 mph) and only travel between lanes, any road can be improperly lit to signal that it has become an oncoming one-way street, and finally, as I have done three times so far, accidentally drive on the right side of the street rather than the left. And to seal your doom, if the madness does not kill you, the exhuast, soot and fumes will.

But the good news is I have learned the system and have improved my first travel home which took just over four hours to only 14 minutes. I actually enjoy the challenge of Man vs London and have seen much more of the city then I possibly could have using the underground. The best has been getting lost and finding somewhere cool that I had never seen before and then taking Leyhsa there later for dinner or to walk around. We have also been able to improve the number of things we can do in a day since we can avoid the subway system which can take a generous portion of time since it might go miles in the opposite direction to connect with the train needed. Some of the things we've seen by accident are the Wellington Arch commemorating the General who defeated Napolean (who ironically also has his own Arch). Or this great park near Westminster that had this beautiful lake and a full brass band we came across who has been playing summer weekends there for over a hundred and fifty years.

So I live to tell you of another day...

Now that I am finishing up on my project at work, we're gonna have some time to leave the island. Flights to places are super cheap and cost as little £40 to £120. Plus, the pound is so strong, we can afford a lot for the money. Because of that, we have many options for where we can go on 'holiday'. So I am puting up a Survey for you to vote on where we should go as our first trip. Keep in mind we are still a little wet behind the ears on traveling abroad so we want to ease into the traveling thing. So vote and I'll tell you the results!

Well the scooter phenom was over as quick as it began. My bike got stolen in front of the house a few evenings ago. The cops came and they said that moped theft is rampant in London and thieves take them just to go joy riding because they are so easy to steal. I have a feeling it's gone for good but I'm hoping it will show up with a severely maimed thief on top of it. So back to the underground with it's stinky people and delayed trains. I'll let you know how that all turns out.

Leyhsa and I did the ultimate tourista weekend and did all kinds of things that only people with cameras, and shorts with black socks do. We went to a reconstructed Globe Theatre and saw a lamish jazz-inserted version of MacBeth. The theatre is built in a circle with an open-aired center and is supposedly identical in every detail including wood benches for the rich peeps and standing room for the po' folks. Ironically the cheapest tickets are front and center, which is the opposite of modern theaters, because in the Elizabethan times people stank pretty rank and having them in the middle center where it's open aired was the best ventilation.

We also went inside Buckingham Palace which is only open to the public for a month and a half while the Queen is vacationing in Scotland (vacationing from what, I don't know). It is the most opulent, decadent, over the top incredible display of money and power I have ever seen. Imagine Liberace with the wealth of England at his fingertips.

We also went on the London Eye which is that gigantore super modern ferris wheel that goes 442 feet in the air and weighs 1,900 tons. You can see the entire city for miles. It was pretty spectacular. So that's it for today. I placed on the web my library of London pics from the last time we were here in February . They look great and I strongly suggest you check them out!

Bath (pronounced Bawth) is a beautiful little town that has existed since 40 AD of Roman times. It has naturally occurring hot springs that the Romans turned into a bath house. The main pool had a welded together lead-based bottom constructed over two thousand years ago and is still watertight. Now that's some good engineering. It seems so strange from the perspective of a Los Angelino where The Pantry in downtown LA was built in 1929 and is considered super old while we went to a pub that has existed for over five hundred years. Let me repeat that: FIVE HUNDRED YEARS. Just to give you an idea on perspective, the Roman Empire ruled Britain for 150 years longer than the US has existed as it's own country.

The town itself is very charming with lots of great restaurants, shops, and medieval sections. Almost the entire city is made out of stone dating to the Georgian period (early 1800's) and the architecture is beautiful. It's a teeny little town which leads me to my subject of this week. Teeny.

England is a land of everything in miniature. Because it's an island with scant resources and a high cost of living, everything comes wee-sized. From the size of the streets to the soda (9oz cans in many stores), it makes you appreciate the slothful waste of the USofA where you can get a decent 3 gallon tub of 7-Up at the movie theater. I ordered a large pizza for 4 of us at work and it was the size of a US-Medium able to feed 2 1/2. Their cars and trucks look like toys with a very popular one designed by Swatch Watch that's the size of a spare tire called the Smart Car. Dr. Shrinker went to town in this town with everything from milk cartons, bread loaves, toothpaste, and juice all sized so small, they don't even sell those sizes in US markets. Since most buildings were built before the use of indoor toilets, most places have converted their coat closets into bathrooms, so they are especially teeny. McDeath doesn't offer Super-Size here, not to mention that you have to pay an extra 10p for ketchup. I'm not particularly bitter about Super-Size not existing here- I never need the extra soda and fries; it's just hard to pass up for an extra 29 cents. So when I buy a shirt, I have to remember that a US-Medium is a Brit-sized Large. An American at work told me that the cigarette packs come with 6 less than in the states.

By the way last-minute voting is still available for the trip Decision 2001.

New Pub Names (all of which are so appetizing, I'm surprised they don't have lines going out the door):
Three Jolly Butchers
The Heart and Hand
The Stick & Weasel

I found all kinds of stupid broken links that have now been fixed. It's a good thing I'm not doing this for a job or I would be fired by now. So the weather here is taking a downspin from beautiful and sunny to nasty and grey. From what I've heard the four weeks of sunshine for summer is over. And the 10 months of rain and darkness are on their way. See, the lovely citizens of this country accept their fate of overcast skies and and rain by having a nice warm pub on every corner. And then there's at least two pubs on your way to the ones on the corner.

British pubs are usually of two types and usually have a sign in front saying which type they are: the tied house, which is owned by a brewer and serves primarily or even exclusively that brewer's beer; and the free house, which is independently owned and serves a variety of brewers' beers. I still don't understand why they name their pubs with such rediculous names (ie: Pig & Fiddle, Bag of Nails, the Bishops Finger). The insides of the pubs all look very similar with most being at least 200 years old. They usually have wood floors and a big oak bar in the center with benches and chairs surrounding it. They have lots of pictures on the walls and are always cozy. Apparently, you don't tip a pub bartender and instead should buy him a beer if you are going to stay awhile.

Though they definitely love their local beers with hefty long names like Thomas Hardy Oak Strong Ale, Felinfoel Double Dragon, Old Speckled Hen, Hook Norton Double Stout, or my favorite: Lords-a-Leaping Bitter, I have found though, that they prefer Belgian beer and stay clear away from all American beers other than Budweiser. There's Stella Artois (the most popular in England and tastes like pee), Hoegaarden (fruity) and Leffe (a tad sweet). My favorite oddity of England's life centered on beer are their ales. They take ales very seriously. They are only served from the tap and never in the bottle or can. They also make sure to serve it no less than 5 degrees below room temperature. They even pride themselves in non-carbonated ales. So picture this; a big pint of warm, bitter, flat beer with the flavor of rat poison. YUM!