3 posts tagged “london”
I loooove London, just went back there last weekend for a quick visit to my partner.
He is working in the UK at this moment, on the filming of Gulliver's Travels, starring Jack Black.
We stayed at the Bloomsbury Holiday Inn (Russel Square) again, a nice clean affordable hotel. And they serve a very yummy breakfast! Yes I do splurge on a heavy, fat, rich, big english breakfast when I am in the UK or when I get the chance.
I must admit, my best english breakfast I ever had, was in Tamesloth near Marrakesh, Morocco. In the catering tent on the set of 'Prince of Persia, sands of times' with Jake Gyllenhaal. It was hot, even early in the morning but it was soooo good. I thought I'd never be able to eat again after that breakfast. But then came lunch, also very good lol.
Ok, back to London. We strolled through Carnaby Street, had excellent noodles at Cha Cha Moon! Discovered lots of cool little vintage shops and boutiques. We hopped on and off the tube, all over London.
It always amuses me how they (who is they anyway?) announce 'Mind the gap' on the speakers. In one train station they are really nice and pleasant sounding. In the next station it sounds like Hitler himself is giving you orders!
After strolling around, we made our way to Covent Garden. I love that place :-) But hey, Nine West, one of my favourite shops, is not there anymore??! Anyways, we then made our way down to one of our favourite places in London, near the Freemason's building (went in there for another film shoot, Green Zone with Matt Damon :-). It is a grand cafe called Lowlander
We sat down and ordered Brugse Zot, Kriek, belgian pintjes, had the cheese platter with fries and then an Angus beef sandwich, very yummy.
Then a walk and many tube rides later, back to the hotel.
That was day 1... much much more to tell you about, but for now, I'm going to enjoy the sun and an apero with some friends.
Bye for now!
I travelled to London last weekend. Unexpected. Left on Sunday morning to come back on Monday night.
So, the day before, Saturday, I checked the prices online at Eurostar, expecting it to be insanely expensive. But hey, a trip to see my partner is worth it...
Much to my surprise, I found a rate for 160 euro, return ticket in first class, or Leisure Select.
Not too bad eh? Especially not when you book it 12 hrs before departure! And I must say I do like the service on board the Eurostar.
If you can travel to London at 80 euros for a return in standard class, go for it! But if you know you won't have time for dinner like when you are travelling in the evening or late afternoon, well then by all means, it is worth checking out the Leisure select rate.
Free champagne, a small but good dinner, wine, beverages...
Guess what, the girl at the travel agency, didn't know that sometimes first class tickets for Eurostar can be cheaper than standard tickets...
I love Eurostar.
For me, living in Brugge, it does mean an extra hour on the train to Brussels-Zuid but it is worth it. 1h51 later and you are in the center of London.
Euro-u are a-star!
Posh bangers & Naga peppers in the snowy land of make believe.
Sunday April 6th… Saddam International Airport, Baghdad. Errm no, make that Sandown Park, Esher, UK. After a very hectic public transport day, hectic but so much fun, I wake up in a single artist trailer at 5 am! It’s insanely cold outside, but I wake up in the arms of my special friend.Yay. Ah quick let’s get an authentic English breakfast in the diner bus. Then a little guided tour on the set of Green Zone. The horse race track lobby has transformed into Saddam International Airport for a few days. Complete with broken concrete, broken glass, wires hanging out the broken ceilings, stretchers, hospital material, dust, and plenty of GI Joe’s and GI Jane’s (feel a sudden urge to yell out loud Suck my d**k, thanks Demi!). Big lights create the illusion of sunlight shining down the departure hall of the Iraq airport, while it’s snowing outside! How did I end up here??
Thinking back to where it all started. Brugge. When: the filming of ‘In Bruges’. My life has changed so much. I love it. I am grateful for it every day again, and every day again amazed by the person who changed it for me.
Fast forward back to the UK… I visited London 2 weekends in a row, first weekend to visit my beautiful friend Sana. It was great to see her again, we caught up on lots of girl talk, went shopping, and then met up with mr F for dinner at Thai Square. Very yummy but very loud dinner! But a few Pimm’s and a lot of rosé wine made it all better.
The weekend after that I ended up in London again unexpectedly. Mr F wanted to meet me at St Pancras, but there was complete chaos in the underground and train system, but in the end we found eachother at Victoria Station. A long hug and lots of kisses later, we walked across the Tower Bridge, we went looking for Borough Market (keep practicing on being a tourguide a lil’ bit longer mr F ). We even walked past Tennis Street! Hey, who of you knows how to find Tennis Street in London?? Anyways…we finally found the market, in the pouring rain. London’s top chefs buy their fresh meat and vegetables there.
I wanted to try something typically British. Rigt across from the market we found a little place that had a sign out front: Posh Bangers! Sounds more like an adult movie to me but ok, let’s check it out, it smells good. What makes a banger Posh really? Anyways… sausages roasting over rosemary. I was sold immediately, I’ll take posh bangers in a roll please with chilli sauce! Very tasty!!
I loved the market. The smells of all the food, the colours, just beautiful. They also sold a large selection fresh and dried chillies including the world's hottest - Naga-Bih. 4 peppers for 2 pounds! I love chillies. I love insanely spicy food. And yes I can still taste the actual flavor of food even with a few chillies thrown in. Super-capsicum-powers!
This pepper is outrageous though, too hot for me!
But more about that in a later post. Really wanna post this one cause it’s been way too long!
I love London!! I loved my time there and I love mr F. Voila!
Up to the next adventure.
