Bond....James Bond

The new Bond film "Quantum of Solace" comes out today in the UK. We were in the neighborhood of Leicester Square (my favorite place in London!) on the evening of the 29th and, as luck would have it, we stumbled right upon the "Royal World Premiere" for the movie. I wasn't sure why it was called the "Royal" premiere at first, until we found out later that Princes William and Harry were in attendance (no, we didn't see them).

However, we did see the director, Marc Forster, and the man himself, Daniel Craig. As you might expect, he pulled up in a really expensive car. I have to say, even though it was from a bit of a distance and only briefly, it was pretty darn cool seeing 007 in real life. However, I don't think he's the best of the Bonds - long live Sean Connery!!

Here's our best shots:

the Odeon theatre

Marc Forster

kind of fuzzy, but it's really Daniel Craig

And, since I can never turn down the opportunity to begin a new collection, I snagged myself one of the posters from the barricades. This is the same type of poster that I nicked, 6 years ago, from the Star Wars episode II premiere. My goal now is to collect as many as I can:

We are doing lots of studying and going to classes, too. Really. I promise....

But who wants to read about that? :)

Get Lost!

Out for the week!
This week was my reading week, so I didn't have classes. Between catching up on my reading and putting in hours for IHC, I was ready for an outdoor break. Rick Steves, our favorite travel writer, recommends being a tourist in your own city when you are preparing to leave on a trip, just to see how things might go. I recommend this to get to know your own city better, and so you can do touristy things you might not otherwise do. I also recommend it if you live in London.

The aptly-named Sermon Lane in view of St. Paul's Cathedral

I took a break from work & study, took the tube to St. Paul's, said farewell to Ben on his way to class and walked the other direction with camera in hand. It was so much fun.

I saw several plaques commemorating buildings that were destroyed in the Great Fire

I had some general ideas in mind of places to go, but mostly I just wanted to get lost. I think I clocked about 6 hours of walking that day.

Me on the Millenium Bridge between St. Paul's and The Globe Theatre

Ben, after we met up for lunch, on the sunny but chilly Thames, just outside the Globe Theatre.

13th century wall built on the foundation of an ancient Roman wall!

I took lots of pictures, and at 4:00, I met up with Ben so we could head to Leicester Square where the premiere of James Bond was taking place.

Double self-portrait! Heather finds white heather

My advice to you? Even if you don't live in London, take a break to get to know the place where you live. Discover new streets and places... go ahead and get lost! And take your camera!

Free Museums - The Victoria & Albert

Most of the major museums in London are free! And as Aaron says, if it's free, it's for me.

Yesterday, Ben was helping with an all-day conference at the Globe, and I was running errands and happened to be near the Victoria & Albert Museum. I wasn't going to stop in because I thought Ben might have wanted me to wait until he could go, too. We like heading out to places like museums together. But... try as I might to resist, the big "Admission Free" banner grabbed me like a tractor beam. "It's free - Ben can come back with me anytime, " I thought. "I'll just pop in."

Two hours later...

I decided to go to an exhibit that Ben probably wouldn't like - the fashion exhibit. Hopefully my sisters aren't laughing - I'm not exactly a "fashionista" as you would say. But it was so interesting! They had shoes and wedding dresses from the 1700s! You have to love that. And this dress of Princess Di's (I didn't have my camera, so you get internet pictures):

It's covered in pearls. I looked at it and thought, "I have one pair of pearl earrings. I thought that was a big deal. I guess not." I think I had this dress in paper doll form when I was young.

I was going to leave after seeing that, but then... Raphael beckoned from across the hall. There were some large religious tapestries by him called "cartoons".

I was really going to leave after that, but... I noticed the British galleries just up the stairs! Portraits that I had seen in documentaries, such as this one of Charles I were staring right at me.
He liked himself so much that he wanted a head shot and both profiles in the same portrait. So, as you can imagine, I couldn't leave just yet. Then, I saw this (apparently) famous bed called "The Bed of Ware." Sounds cheeky, right? It was famous for how many people could fit in it (15 - really, the plaque said that). Apparently, it's about as old as Shakespeare's earliest plays (1590s), and he references it in Twelfth Night. The carvings and figures in the woodwork used to be painted with bright colors, but the paint has mostly faded.
If you were on the bed and looked up, you'd see carved wood panels on the inside as well.

I gave up on leaving, walked through the gift shop, already decorated for Christmas, and through THIS courtyard (but not at night-time) to the cafe.

In lieu of a museum donation, I bought a slice of chocolate cake at the cafe, where the prices are akin to buying a year-long membership at a paying museum. Then I left... for real.

Ben gets a guitar

Thanks to the generosity of one of our new British friends, I am now the proud owner (long-term borrower) of a Fender 6-string acoustic guitar. Hooray! After 6 weeks or so of not practicing, my hand is pretty sore, but it's worth it!

It hasn't got a name yet....still working on one. Any suggestions? :)

Feeling Like Locals

Today, we were walking out in St. John's Wood (which is where Abbey Road is located) , and a British gentleman stopped us asked us if we knew where the local Jewish Synagogue was located. Amazingly, we did, in fact, know where it was and gave him the directions to get there. It's happened several times already, in fact, and every time, the British person looks a tad embarrassed afterward, having asked a Yankee for directions in London.

And so the trend continues-for some reason, wherever we travel, Heather and I frequently get asked for directions by citizens of the place we're visiting. And, as luck would have it, we usually know how to give them. I have no idea why. There must be something about us that's approachable. Or maybe we just blend in like chameleons with our incredible cultural camouflage....

PS - we also saw the house that Paul McCartney lived in around the corner from the Studios during the 60s and 70s. Apparently, he still owns it, but hasn't lived there for quite some time. It was a nice house (big surprise).

River Trip and Temple Trip

Last Friday we took a river trip on the Thames through Camden, Regent's Park, and "Little Venice" (really little Venice). Then, on Saturday, we went with our ward to the London Temple, which is actually about an hour away in Lingfield. The weather was absolutely gorgeous both days and I took lots of pictures.

Who knew London had canals?

This house backs up on the Thames River. If you look you can see a little Indian woman standing there waving. She is very rich. That is why she lives in a house in St. John's Wood in London that backs up on the Thames. You'll notice her very big rich-person smile. She was out on her deck with several other women all dressed up in their colorful saris.

Magical floating Chinese restaurant.

London, England LDS Temple

Self-portrait

Temple Square done English-style. Lovely.

Full-On Shakespeare

I bet that title got your attention.

One of the best things about our school program is the connections it has with Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. First, Heather and I each have a class here:

Second, we get to see all of the shows performed here. So far we've seen 2 plays - The Merry Wives of Windsor & Timon of Athens. The first was very funny and enjoyable; the second was...interesting. It was the second time that we've seen naked men running around on stage in a Shakespeare play. The first was at The Taming of the Shrew, in Stratford-upon-Avon by the Royal Shakespeare Company. I'm not sure that this is what he had in mind when writing the plays, but there seems to be a theme happening here...can't wait to see Julius Caesar! :)

America vs. England - top 10

Since we've been here, and seen the non-touristy side of London, I wanted to do some comparisons. There are some things the British do better, and some things that we do better. Here's some of them:

Better in Britain
1. the electrical system - it's much safer, easier to use, and makes more sense
2. public transportation - the mighty Tube, plus really good bus service
3. the cost of British food - obviously; Hob-nobs & Cadbury's are a fraction of the cost in the US
4. social services - we get full, 100% free medical coverage from the NHS - wow.
5. chocolate - makes most American chocolate taste like wax

Better in America
1. doing the laundry - the British don't get this. Washing machines in the kitchen? Line drying?
2. signing up for new services - it takes much longer and is much harder; even for basic phone
3. dental hygiene - what can I say? It's true...
4. peanut butter - America seems to have a lock on this one
5. prices - for the most part, everything is more expensive here; sometimes by a lot.

Ben contemplates doing his laundry while simultaneously eating lunch.

Chiswick - or, Main Street, UK

As promised, this entry is all about our temporary hometown of Chiswick (pronounced Chis-ICK; the 'w' is silent). Now, you may be thinking, "I thought they were moving to London." You'd be right - let me explain. When most people think London, they actually think Central London - Big Ben, Parliament, Leicester Square, etc. This is where the insanely rich or the very lucky live. Since we are neither, we live where most normal folks do: in "Greater London."

London is divided into neighborhoods called boroughs, which in turn are divided into towns. But, they're all considered part of London as a whole. In fact, Chiswick (in the Hounslow borough) is only 6 miles west of Trafalgar Square - about a 20-minute ride on the Tube. Here are some photos taken along the Chiswick High Road (British for "main street"). You can see why we loved this place as soon as we found it:

wide, pedestrian-friendly sidewalks

lots of small, independent shops & boutiques

the same famous red buses as in Central London

and our very own visiting Fun Fair carnival, at the local Cathedral grounds!

It's a beautiful place and we feel very blessed to have found a place here. In fact, so far, we've spent more time here than in downtown London! Oh, and here's a few fun facts about Chiswick: 3 of the 4 members of The Who were born and went to grade school here; the actor Colin Firth lives here and owns a restaurant & shop with his wife; and Gordon Ramsay has a pub/restaurant here - just about 1 block down the road from us on our street. We haven't tried it yet, but I plan on finding the cook and yelling at him a lot if the food isn't good. :)

Yay for Chiswick! Say it out loud - it's fun.

The Agony and the Ecstasy

Well - after an intense couple of weeks, here I am getting to finally sit down and start contributing to our blog. I thought I would share a few of the challenges we've faced recently (that's the "agony" bit), and the resulting good times that have followed (the "ecstasy" part).

Renting an apartment in the UK is almost as involved as buying a home in the USA. Not only did we have to open a UK bank account, have piles of letters & references, pay a series of ridiculous fees, and do a lot of waiting, waiting, waiting for paperwork to go through....we also had to find a British homeowner to act as a guarantor for us. Ugh! Luckily, one of Heather's choir friends from Citrine is from Scotland, and her father was kind enough to help us out. Extremely generous of him, considering we've never even met him!

While going through this series of hoops, we bounced around from hotel, to hostel, back to hotel, to ward member's spare room. Here is a picture of the lovely Cherry Court Hotel and its spacious rooms. Note the luxurious king-size bed we got to sleep in:



You wouldn't believe me if I told you how much this place costs per night. :) London can be so cripplingly expensive that it amazes me so many people can afford to live here. Of course, with the US dollar being relatively weak right now, that makes things even more costly. Heather and I have decided that London (much like New York) would be a super fabulous place to live if you're really, really wealthy. There are some unbelievable flats and homes here once you can spend more than 3 million dollars on a 2-bedroom!

Last Saturday, however, our period of transiency finally ended and we moved in to our flat in the lovely town of Chiswick. It's such a lovely town, in fact, that it deserves its own post (coming shortly). The last few days, although they've been tiring, have been very rewarding and, as I write this, I'm happy to report that we're relaxing in our lovely British living room.

Cheers!
Ben