London / Food Break

Not much happening today, so food post! As mentioned before, many meals include drinks, so why not take the opportunity to explore? Never liked 'Murican Budweiser, too watered down, but the Czech version tastes very similar to Stella, which I thought was acceptable. But according to the locals, Stella is their equivalent of Budweiser/Miller, so I guess it's still crappy? Idk, I've had worse (looking at you John Smith). 

One of the nicer cafes we visit; Goswell Road Coffee. A funky little cafe, but a really lax, safe work area and free (albeit limited) wifi with power outlets everywhere. 

 "My heart is yours, do you want it?"

Btw, one thing we've noticed is there's a lot of good Vietnamese restaurants. This place Keu makes some bomb banh mi sandwiches at pretty low prices. 

And lastly, my favorite workspace so far, Timber Yard cafe. A quite, well-lit basement with strong free wifi, relaxed environment, plus great tea and baked goods. And best of all, those who work there and visit are very friendly and you never feel like your stuff might get knicked if you turn away for a moment. This is something that I have to be aware of 100% of the time here in London where theft is extremely high, so it's really nice to be able to relieve some of that stress. 

London / Look Mum No Hands!

It's strange seeing "Type R" badges on Hondas and realizing that it actually is a real Type R. This EP3 was especially weird to see as these weren't that popular in the States, despite being essentially a Honda version of the GTi at the time. I wasn't really a fan of these and not big on red Civics, but this actually looked pretty sharp. 

Not bad right? Fits well on the tight London streets.  

Some more Stik

Lots of little parks throughout the city.  

Actually woke up in time for some breakfast today. Scandinavian style anyone?

Or maybe Egg Benedict with smoked salmon?  

Found a little bakery that sold these monstrous strawberry meringues.

Yum! 

Seems like someone's prepared for the next heatwave...

Cool bike shop/cafe to swing by.  

Starting to get a little chilly... 

London / End of Week

Back in Brick Lane again, making our now regrettable visit to the property agency Crestons (When an agent says the property owner approved an offer, double check with the owner that they indeed approved the offer before putting down a deposit. - Life Lesson) when something shiny showed up. Like the Magpie I am, I had to capture it. 

I used to not be a fan of the Continental GT, at all, but over time I began to appreciate it's handsome proportions and feel the styling (especially the later updates) will age well over time. I'd still prefer mine in a British Racing Green or dark charcoal, but admittedly, I thought the Bentley shape wasn't too bad wearing the audacious chrome vinyl. Reminds me of something Koons would make. 

Some people were more excited about it than others.  

Heading to a food court, going by some trendy stores. 

Oh my... 

Cool Citroen H Van in a fittingly French color.

Marinated fried chicken sandwich, scarily good. Most of the food here is pretty healthy, but that's not to say tasty greasy food is hard to find. 

Coffee, coffee, coffee...

Rovers can look just as tough in the streets as they do in the Sahara. 

Remember what I said about premium British marques being so prominent? 

 Maybe it's because they just fit so well. 

Always pay attention to what's around you, you might miss something.  

Gotta love the rally lights.

Some, ummm, unique styling here. Reminds me of something out of the original Midnight Club Racing game.

Restaurant name was fitting. 

Heading towards Camden Market.

Some interesting seating arrangement here. 

London / Discovering Brick Lane

Nothing like a Porsche sighting to start the day eh? Today we began exploring around Shoreditch, the area which we will soon have residence in, starting with artsy Brick Lane.

Honestly, while automotive culture might have deep roots in UK, it appears to not apply to London itself. 4 days in and it is clear London is not car friendly, particularly for those who want to mod their cars, which is understandable considering how the city is. It's like being in NY or Paris, if you live here, a car is just impractical so not so many people care about them. 3rd day in, this was the first "modded" car I saw, a stark contrast to my SoCal roots. Still, at least it was a clean example. Can't go wrong with a Mk I!

Speaking of foxes, turns out there's still some that run about London at night. Didn't see them, but I sure as hell heard them. Did you know they shriek? Yeah, coyotes ain't got nothin' on how loud these bastards SCREAM in the middle of the night. 

As we neared Brick Lane, we began to see more evidence that London really does have some world-class street art. 

Spotted this beefy looking Abarth. 500's are pretty common, more so than MINI's, which is kinda strange.  

Back to the art, this is definitely an area where artists really put in lots of time and effort into their pieces. 

A "modified" piece by well known local artist Stik.

There's pop up shops, and there's Boxpark, a pop up mall. Created by simply dropping a couple of shipping containers together and hooking up some wiring, this clever layout had several neat shops, including Nike Sportswear, VANS, and...

Milk tea! You can be sure that with Michelle around, we'll be visiting this place quite often. 

These Barclays sponsored city bikes are really popular out here, though I think they're also available in some US cities like NY and Chicago. SF next?  

Making our way towards Brick Lane.  

Again, not your usual "street art" over here. And no, those bars aren't there because its covering a window. They're actually part of the installation. 

Cannot say enough about how great the pieces here are. 

"Don't pet them, they're not in the right mood!"- crazy shop lady.

I think this was the first time I've seen a 'Ring sticker on a car and would believe that it actually ran the 'Ring. 

I ain't afraid of no ghosts! 

This piece seemed to be quite popular with the street art tour visitors that went through here. 

Curry; it was going to happen sooner or later, might as well get it over with now. Brick Lane had a LOT of Indian restaurants, all of which had greeters out on the sidewalks who would try to persuade each person walking by to come in and eat at their place. Had to say though, I couldn't recall better Indian curry than what we had. 

This shop owner wasn't very pleased for my picture taking, which is why Michelle and Steph are giving me the "Put that damn thing away!" look. Even with the camera away and us trying to buy his pastries, it certainly didn't seem like he cared for non-locals being in his store and just wanted us to be out ASAP. 

Back to the wonderful cafes! We headed back to Broadway Market before the end of the night to get a quick coffee and drink. 

Before heading home, we stopped by a lovely bar/kitchen/cafe where Michelle discovered this strawberry flavored cider which tastes just like strawberry Fanta. Hopefully we'll be able to come back Tuesday night where they have live jazz playing! 

London / Day 2

Day two begins! One things we've noticed about UK is the sheer amount of concerts, the quality of those listings, and best of all, NO TICKETLEAP! Hopefully while we're out here we will be able to catch at least one or two shows, because the music here is the right flavor here. Bonobo or Ghostpoet anyone?

Got pretty stoked to spot one of these driving by. A special version of the Citroen DS3, the "Racing" model features some pretty sporty colored trim and graphic decals with the better performance that's packaged with it. I've noticed that modern Citroens, in person, generally look pretty sharp and I dig the charcoal/orange combination this example was sporting. 

Some great deals with food out here, burger, crisps (fries still exist in UK, but refer to the skinny versions), some onion rings, and a draft beer sold as a package at £7. To give you an idea of how that compares to food pricing in general, a Starbucks drip would be £2-3 and a prepackaged sandwich would be about £4-6. Also, a lot of places offer meals that include draft beer or cider (also very popular out here). This is my kind of city :)

I'm in UK, I had to...

It seems that, as far as London goes anyways, the majority of high-end cars are British. This may seem like a "well duh, you're in Britain!" kind of thing, but as someone who was lucky enough to grow up around many high end cars, the lack of premium German or Italian cars (with the exception of the E/CSL's, 911's and Maserati Gran Sports) and the constant spotting of Bentleys and Aston Martins is a little eery. 

Not complaining though, who could get tired of these beautiful shapes? 

Rush hour in the tube. It gets a little cramped. Watch your pockets! 

Back to Oxford Circus. 

Another DS3 looking sharp in black. Peugeots are more popular, but the Citroens look better IMO. 

Michelle looking pretty happy with our friend and future roommate Steph. 

More tomorrow!

Entering London / Part 3

The 3rd and final part of the first full day of London. This one is going to be more images than talk, so here we go! 

A certain someone would be pretty happy around here considering there are SIXTEEN store locations here in London. 

It's weird seeing American cars here.  

Heh, AZZ.... 

We don't know how so many people can wear heavy coats riding the Underground considering how hot and humid it was. 

Murica! Fuck yeah! Apparently the 49ers will play an exhibition game out here soon, if we can get the tickets, we would definitely want to support their visit! 

My first Ford Capri spotting and what a find! I never knew of this car before this spotting, the Tickford Turbo. Tickford was a coachbuilder and took a couple of 2.8 Capris to turbocharge. The result was a very torque heavy and a unique (badass IMO) looking Capri. It may have been a bit of a failure due to a high pricepoint and (supposedly) an unreliable powertrain, but then again, many of the coolest cars out there are on paper failures. 

For a moment, I first thought it was an Aston Martin I was unaware of. Kinda reminds me a bit of a V8 Vantage. Anyways, moving on...

Great quote

I was surprised to see Texaco was even still around, let alone in UK! 

*whew!* Finally! End of day 1. From here on the posts should be more efficient. We're already a couple days in and I'm building up a decent stock to post now, so look forward for daily updates on the British travels of myself and Michelle!

Entering London / Part 2

One of the things people warned me about London was the food. "Say goodbye to good food, because it doesn't exist in England." Well, at this point, I can honestly say that stereotype is completely wrong. Since here, we've encountered nothing but great tasting food, and we haven't yet reached for the higher priced meals yet. If food like this breakfast on toast is what we have to look forward too, then we don't mind at all!

She's really excited to be in London, really.

We know about Dover Street Market and Goodhood, but discovering these other boutiques will be a fun experience. It's always great to discover dope pieces from brands you never heard of. 

Buildings definitely make up part of London's character. From old to new, none of them are uninteresting. Well, except for many of the flats which are often just bland bricks. 

Not the kind of water one would want to swim in. Remember, London is the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution and there's plenty of evidence of that to this day.  

Car time again! This is about as perfect of an all-round car to me as it gets. The only way it could get better is if it were an Alpina 2.7. 

Little Cappuccino anyone? 

Heading towards Central London now. 

Part 3 posting soon

Entering London / Part 1

Whew! Taking a new step in life and I find myself traveling to London for a few months. There's so much to learn and experience, but fortunately I'll be with my girlfriend Michelle for most of this journey. Company always makes experiences better. 

As soon as we arrived, we headed to our temporary location over in Hackney. Our hosts are very kind and the place was clean and modern, but what we (particularly Michelle) was really looking forward for was the dog. And what a dog! A beautiful golden German Shepard, she was massive! Fortunately, like most large dogs, she was a very kind and welcoming dog that loved attention and despite the long, extra thick coat she wore, shed considerably less than the Corgi and cats that I roomed with before. 

Honestly, the fur here is the only evidence that she sheds. Anyways, onto the streets! 

And of course, it'll be cars. Saw a fair number of these Nissan Qashqai throughout the day, looks a lot better than the Rogue they sell in the States. 

Next up was this E46 compact. They only sold the Compact model in the States during the E36 gen, and honestly, I don't think we were missing out on much by not getting this model. I do like that seagreen/dark grey (even though it's really just dirty wheels) color combo though. 

Vintage bikes (and cycles) are pretty common around here. While I'm a fan of the Cali-style cafes such as the creations by Deus, there's something pure about a stock, well worn but well maintained Euro bike. 

We made our way over to Broadway Market, a quiet but chic area with the main road lined with young cafes and art stores. Made it just in time to catch some filming, though we think it was just for a commercial. 

One thing I certainly noticed was the amount of street art. Even compared to SF and LA, areas that are quite liberal with such art, the amount and variety seemed to be greater here. Whether it be a scribbled drawing or a paid advert, everywhere you looked there some something. Small wonder why artists such as Banksy come from here.  

And here's another pic of a car, this time an old Citroen 2CV. Yup, definitely in Europe. Part 2 to be posted soon.