London

From Copenhagen, Elaina and I flew to London (I stole her away from Mark). We had a but of a rough start (a $150 ticket from the Danish transit police for not stamping our train tickets properly - I still haven't fully recovered from this), but the rest of our stay was fantastic. We even had lovely warm and sunny weather most days.













Lunch at the Tate Modern.














Liberty!








Antique shop on Portobello Road.








Passionfruit meringue tarts and tea.





Stuck on the Circle Line.





The Saatchi





Art.








John Sandoe Books








Piccadilly Circus (we were smart enough to somehow get ourselves stuck here during rush hour).





Marks & Spencer picnic in Green Park.








Notting Hill Gate tube station.





Tea and scones at the Victoria & Albert.








We also saw a really great exhibition here on the Aesthetic movement.





More picnic-ing.





We stayed with Bibi in West London (I only have pictures of her lovely house/neighbourhood on film, which I have yet to develop). One night she took us to a really great hole-in-the-wall Thai place, run by the cutest Thai family.








Saturday was the day of the big Epsom Derby (pronounced "darby" in England, for some reason? At first I thought Bibi was off her rocker, but it's true!) It was a big deal because the Queen's horse was racing. That morning we sipped coffee and prepared/studied the odds printed in the Guardian.





Then we placed our bets! I put £2 on 'Pisco Sour,' and £1 on Carlton House, the Queen's horse.



We headed East to Shoreditch/Brick Lane for some shopping, and spent a good hour running about trying to find a plain old PUB in which to watch the race. The area is too trendy, I guess - there were pubs but most of them were too 'fancy' to have TVs. BUT with 5 minutes to spare, we found a place with nice big screen and watched while sipping on some cold Strongbow.





Bibi's horse came in 2nd! And Carlton House came in third! It was pretty exciting and all over in about 45 seconds. Here is Bibi discussing her winnings with Shirley:





That Sunday I headed back to Bristol, via Paddington Station.





In Bristol I spent the day loading up on English souvenirs (mostly Kate & Wills postcards), then spent the night half-sleeping at the Bristol airport (as my flight left at 6am).





And now I am home!


So, that's all, I suppose - I'll try to post some of my film photos later on, when I get around to having them developed.


Thanks for reading!

Copenhagen

My first day in Copenhagen Elaina and I took the obligatory canal tour, which was actually a really great way to see the city! I would have missed a lot of things (like the opera house and the library) if we'd skipped it, plus it was a great way to spend a rainy morning.

We then headed into town for tea and berry crumble at the Royal Cafe (as in, Royal Copenhagen).

... and some window shopping in a giant design shop. I didn't make it to the official design museum, but this store was HUGE/probably sufficient.

Elaina and her Danish pals took me to Ruby, a fancy ($20 per drink fancy) cocktail bar full of leather sofas, fireplaces and books - it felt like sitting in someone's dark, cozy den.

Coffee/tea and croissants the next morning at a little cafe near Elaina and Mark's. Scandinavians serve hot drinks in glasses! Why!

So many bikes! Literally more bikes than cars, everywhere; the bike lanes are harder to cross than the main streets. I saw so many beautiful bikes go by with giant baskets full of flowers, groceries, dogs ...

Everything looks like Playmobil! If there isss an ugly building in Copenhagen, I did not encounter it.

Really good used book stores.

An Indian cafe for mint tea and a delicious lunch.

A day trip out to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art:

A home-cooked Danish supper with Mark's brothers/family - so lovely:

Some light reading: Kierkegaard in old Danish.

Apricots!

Nationalmuseet/ The National Museum of Denmark. SO great - I can't believe how many amazing museums are free to the public in Europe.

A bench pic nic!

The most beautiful church interior I've ever seen, at Vor Freslers Kirke.

We also walked through Christiania (no photography allowed!), ate cupcakes with some of Elaina's pals and visited Kierkegaard's grave. I want to go back!

And last but not least, my lovely hosts:

Thank you thank you thank you to Elaina and Mark for making room for me, feeding me and even supplying me with a Copenhagen LonelyPlanet and several bus tickets. I can't wait to visit again!