Tuesday 21 June 2011

London

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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.

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Lunch at the Tate Modern.


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Liberty!


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Antique shop on Portobello Road.


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Passionfruit meringue tarts and tea.


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Stuck on the Circle Line.


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The Saatchi


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Art.


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John Sandoe Books


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


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Marks & Spencer picnic in Green Park.


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Notting Hill Gate tube station.


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Tea and scones at the Victoria & Albert.


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


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More picnic-ing.


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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.


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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.


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


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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:


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


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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).


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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!

Thursday 9 June 2011

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.

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

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... 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.

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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.

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

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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 ...

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

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Really good used book stores.

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An Indian cafe for mint tea and a delicious lunch.

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

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

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Some light reading: Kierkegaard in old Danish.

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Apricots!

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

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A bench pic nic!

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

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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:

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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!