New in Notting Hill: April and May

Okay, here's my usual 4-month-late attempt to catch up on what's been going on in London!

At the end of April Rebecca & I went to see Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Rebecca & I met at church- she's from Arkansas!

This picture was taken after a curry dinner in Brick Lane on 24th April.

There were actually 15 of us, but the girls with me are all colleagues.

From left: Kirsten, Siew, Claire, Megan, and Sarah.

My friend Sarah & I were on our way to watch the London Marathon on Sunday 25th April.

It ended up being a beautiful April day for the race.

Here's Mike, a lifelong friend of Rosie's, who we went to wach run the marathon. He was such a rockstar! After the race we went to the pub, then we walked to Covent Garden for a late lunch, and the day kept going until we ended up at Gabriel's Wharf on the Southbank.

Here's Sarah with Mike's medal

This is the pub we went to- supposedly the only pub in London that occupies 2 buildings (separated by an alley).

Gorgeous flowers in St. James's Park on a gorgeous day

May Day Bank Holiday Trip to Brighton

4th May

Rosie in the gardens of the Royal Pavilion

Outside the Royal Pavilion

Famous beach huts

Rosie & I took a coach down to Brighton and met her friend, Tom.

He and 2 of his friends cycled 4 hours from London!

(We all took the train back)

We found an old-fashioned sweet shoppe....

....and Tom's Bar!

Brighton has a great area for shopping and eating called The Lanes.

This is a puzzling advert I had to show Rosie on our way home. Since she drives in London she doesn't see all the ads I see in the Underground. I asked her what it meant (being British, I thought she would know), and she had no idea. Apparently it has to do with an antenna / WiFi.

This is the next musical Rebecca and I went to see.

Amazing singing...quite controversial.

Tricia, Annabelle, and Rosie celebrating Annabelle's birthday at the

Anglesea Arms pub in Chelsea.

Something you definitely don't see everyday here!

I found this flag flying outside a hotel near the Anglesea Arms.

TRICIA'S FIRST VISITOR IN LONDON

On 21st May my friend, Amy, flew from Dallas to Europe for the first time to come see me!

On Saturday 23rd May we went to Holland Park.

This is the Japanese Kyoto Garden.

This is some "American Popcorn" we found at Portobello Market.

Never knew American popcorn was any different than other popcorn (?)

After Portobello Market we went to Borough Market, where I found this great sign.

Taken from the Southbank

An artist's chalk picture on the Southbank

On Sunday Amy & I took a "Celebrity Planet Tour" of Notting Hill.

The tourguide was great, and I learned a lot about my neighborhood. I liked how he had pictures of people he was referencing, which was helpful.

This Banksy graffiti is on Portobello Road. Banksy is an English graffiti artist who is known internationally, but whose real name is unknown.

http://www.banksy.co.uk/

This is the hotel where Jimi Hendrix died of a drug overdose in 1970.

This grey house used to belong to Richard Branson, and it's where he signed the Sex Pistols to Virgin Records here in 1975.

This is Mr. Christian's Deli, where Annie Lennox first worked in London.

This is the famous blue door from the film....I know it's not blue! The movie used this doorway because at the time it belonged to the screen writer, and after the popularity of the film, he moved. But the lady who bought the flat was so tired of people always coming to her home, that she sold the blue door to charity for over 5,000 pounds and replaced it with this black one. You can still see the blue paint under the white paint on the columns though. I previously thought I had found the famous blue door next to the Travel Bookshop, but I was wrong!

Notting Hill's 2nd Banksy

This one has plexiglass covering it because someone bought it for 200,000 pounds.

Not quite sure how they will ever take it home with them...

This is the Basing Street Studios where Bob Marley recorded his Exodus album after fleeing Jamaica in the 70s, where Do They Know It's Christmas? for Band Aid was recorded in the 80s, and lately where Madonna & Justin Timberlake recorded 4 Minutes to Save the World.

St. Luke's Mews is an area famous for being used in a film, but also for its tragedy. Two famous Brits have died here from drug overdose, one in 2000 and one this year.

This is the house in St. Luke's Mews where a few scenes of Love Actually was filmed.

On Monday 25th May, Amy and I went to the Tower of London. I was so excited to see the Henry VIII exhibit. 2009 is the 500th anniversary of his coronation.

On Wednesday 27th May, we went to Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guard. But it rained (shocker) and they cancelled it. Which I find so strange. First of all, this is England, where it rains A LOT; secondly, they are soldiers so they should be able to handle the rain!

So our Plan B was to go to the Royal Mews, where the royal stables and horse-drawn carriages are kept. We were lucky enough to catch these carriages leaving to go pick up the new Amabassador to Ireland and Ambassador to Croatia, who were then going to meet the Queen to present their new credentials.

Part of the stables, where all stalls have the horse's name inside them.

The Queen names each horse from 4 choices given to her by her staff, and it often is a place she has visited recently (like Sydney).

The Gold State Carriage, which was last used in 2002 for the Queen's Golden Jubilee

Paris Trip

28th May - 30th May

This was my 2nd trip to Paris. I had such a great time and was surprised that this vacation could be so different from the first visit- I saw some of the same things I had already seen, but for the most part it was entirely new!

Memorial at the Arc de Triomphe for the Unknown Soldier lost in WWI

I liked this restaurant on the Champs Elysees-- I loved

the spoon decorations and pots/pans on the doors.

The Hotel des Invalides- where Napoleon's tomb is

Notre Dame

Amy and I took a Bike About Paris bike tour- and it was our favourite thing we did!!! We saw the brochure in our hotel, and although we couldn't figure out how to make a phone call in Paris the day before, we showed up at the Charlemagne statue at Notre Dame and were lucky enough to get the last 2 spots in their 10:00am tour. They keep the tours at 12 people max, which is such a great idea because that way it's easier to hear and stay together. We were able to see a Paris that just isn't possible to see in a bus or even a car, as well as learn so much about the history. And Paris has done such a great job of creating a bike-friendly city, it wasn't scary at all. I HIGHLY recommend this small company's tours to anyone that goes to Paris!
http://www.bikeabouttours.com/

Holocaust Memorial in the Jewish Quarter

One of a few fountains in the city that supplies fresh drinking water. They were given as gifts by a man who loved Paris, and he paid for all the pipes and drains.

The brown building in the centre is Paris' oldest house

A small castle in Paris--

the black spot on the left of the gargoyle is from a cannonball

Part of the old city wall

Place des Vosges

This grand area was built by King Henri IV from 1605 to 1612 to

celebrate the wedding of his son Louis XIII.

The sign marks the house where Victor Hugo lived, who wrote Les Miserables.

Inside a public "secret garden" inside Place des Vosges

Where Jim Morrison (The Doors) died of drug overdose

Along the Seine River where it forks. I never realised before that Notre Dame was on an island, which is where the "old Paris" was established. The rich used to be too afraid to leave the island!