What to do with a rainy Saturday in London? Sleep late, breakfast on Nutella and English muffins (here they’re just called “toasting muffins”), and head out to see some of London’s indoor sights. The Churchill War Rooms were at the top of my list, but the line — I just couldn’t even. So I went […]
Major bucket-list item checked off today: I finally saw Puccini’s Turandot. Been on my list for years. It’s a pretty great opera, too. It’s Puccini, so the melodies are gorgeous, but he was also trying to modernize Italian opera, so it has elements of the German tradition (massive orchestra with a story-telling function separate from the […]
You guys. It’s a travesty to all that is bloglike that I have not been live-blogging my flat search here in London. Talk about trials and tribulations! To catch you up, let’s start with the cast of characters. Where would you rather live? New River Head — A tiny one-bedroom flat on the third floor […]
We did nothing “interesting” at all — just dinner together very night after work, lots of walks through London to visit the neighborhoods and flats I’ve been eyeing. He saw Kew Gardens without me and waited ever so patiently while I worked (first on actual work and then on lease-related stuff) most of the day […]
In 2003 I went to the opera in Rennes, France, and during intermission met an English guy roughly my age named Ian. He had studied literature at Cambridge and had come to France to visit a professor and see the opera. He offered a the floor of his flat if I ever came to London, […]
So the English have this thing called “country house opera”, which involves traipsing out to an ancient English country house in tuxedos and evening gowns to see an opera and picnic in the formal gardens during the intermissions. Seriously people, how is this the first time I’m hearing of this? I went with a group […]
By complete accident I completed my business trip to Luxembourg on the eve of Luxembourg’s national holiday, which is theoretically a celebration of the Grand Duke’s birthday (despite the fact that his birthday is technically in February). To kick off the holiday, the city turned out in droves for fireworks and a massive all-night street […]
Two types of sparkling water (plus regular flat) on tap in the kitchen at work.
I’m in Luxembourg for a couple of days this week for work. I left the office at 10pm thinking I’d get an Uber to the hotel and then get some dinner at one of the nearby places recommended by coworkers. Here’s what I discovered: The building closes and locks the lobby sometime before 10pm, so […]
My apartment is on the edge of what they call “The City”, which is short for The City of London. Nowadays it’s the financial center of London, full of shiny modern skyscrapers (which may or may not look like pickles and/or walkie talkies), but back in the day this was it — THE city of […]
A More Gentlemanlike Manner 