London / Getting Our Tourist On Pt. 1

I woke up this Sunday around 7:30 and as soon as I saw the weather for today, I knew we had to take advantage of it. Early Sunday mornings are clearly Michelle's favorites. 

Despite the fact we've been here for over a month, we actually rarely see the Thames, mostly because we rarely have a reason to go near it. Today though, we planned on playing tourist and hitting some of the major attractions London has to offer. Stop 1; Tower Bridges. Cool battleship though, yeah?

The weather was a little chilly, but otherwise perfect.  

On our way, we swung by the Tower of London, an old castle that houses the crown jewels. Unfortunately, we had to meet with some of Michelle's classmates around 2, so we didn't have time to check it out. 

Perfect place to just relax and stroll on a day like this. 

And here it is! Fortunately, it's a lot easier to walk on than the Golden Gate. 

This building, the Leadenhall Building is a little crazy. Standing far above every other building in the area, I can't compare to the few other skyscrapers in London but it looks like it'll be the new tallest building once complete. 

Neat ferries, they look like they could go a lot faster than what they were doing though.  

Of course....

Yeah, it's a real drawbridge. A little unsettling how big the gap was.  

Guess where we're going next? 

London / Victoria & Albert Museum

After the walk through Holland Park, we headed over to a nearby art museum, the Victoria & Albert Museum. One of the great bonus's of England is that most of their museums are free, so there's really very little excuse for not going to one!

The museum housed mostly older, classic art, but there were still a couple of cool newer pieces, like these lights "pouring" in through the ceiling. 

"Back off! She my woman!!" 

Lots of religious art housed here.

Jesus! Have some decency!  

This room was pretty incredible. Those pillars were absolutely immense, the largest easily over 120 feet tall with a spiraling sculptures around it. 

Now THAT'S a beer mug.  

Some kickass crossbows...

...as well as some real medieval suits of armor. Interestingly, the REAL suits that were used are actually quite flexible and didn't hinder the soldier's movements, countering how hollywood often depicts them. 

London / Holland Park Pt 2

Oh hey there. 

While roaming around Holland Park, we found Kyoto Garden, a zen garden complete with Koi fish and water falls. 

Animals here can get pretty nosy. 

Peacocks...   they're basically turkeys dressed in drag. As I've often seen in gardens, these guys were just roaming about where ever they pleased. 

The weather and surroundings offered a great opportunity for some folks to do a photo shoot. 

Even Michelle got in on the action. #selfie

After leaving the park, we started heading towards a nearby museum. On the way, we spotted a fewer rare cars including a Spec V. 

And a real Exige S, though the wing and front splitter don't match. Owner likely added the newer wing to an older model; looks good!

Astons are almost a daily sighting here, not that I think I'll ever get tired of their looks.  

London / Holland Park Pt 1

Once again we find ourselves in west London, this time heading towards Holland Park. I normally don't like the 1 series (1 M Coupe being an exception, of course) since I'm not big on the styling, but in this dark grey, I gotta admit it looks pretty good.

Our first American store! Unfortunately, it didn't have much and whatever it did have was either too overpriced or available in other stores. The best place to buy American food is still Chinese grocery stores.

Great cafes and bakeries everywhere you go.

Like Michelle's new haircut? She loves it!

Some nice cars over here, like this RS5.

And some really, really nice cars. Black Bentleys in autumn…

The wheels have seen better days though.  All those leaves must be hiding some nasty curbs, er, I mean "kerbs". 

The park had a pretty fancy entrance.

Did I mention I miss nature? Because I really miss nature.

I will definitely be coming back here again. 

London / Portobello Market

Picking up where we left off, we're still over in West London which we're starting to really, really enjoy. East London has its perks, but personally, I miss some of the little things, like trees. East London can be pretty grim at times, so it's nice being able to head out to the west to get a breath of fresh air. And great Defender right? Perfect base model in a lovely colbalt/grey. I'm sure the locals think its pretty odd I find such a mundane truck to be so fascinating. 

Coffee, paninis, ice cream and waffles. Sounds like the perfect diet to me!

So we're here in Portobello Market to check out all of the knick-knacks they have for sale. The weather had started to get pretty dark at this point, but against the colorful buildings, it still felt a lot more cheerful than Shoreditch. 

If you ever need something a bit useless but at the same time a little fascinating, this is a great place to go. Opera binoculars? A set of tea spoons?

Or maybe a vintage set of boxing gloves? You won't find what you think you need. Here, you'll find what you never thought of. 

Despite the recent attention Banksy has been getting in NYC, he's still quite popular here in UK, which leads to a ton of people selling copies of his work... 

I'm honestly not the biggest fan of R8's, but here in the London streets, they look outstanding. There's a white V10 model I've spotted several times that just looks amazing under the dark skies, but this black one looks just as sharp. Also, never seen one with the RS wheels on it before, I really like it. 

Neat Samsung shop tucked among the shops, very welcoming and friendly vibe to it. Felt a lot less corporate than an Apple store, though whether the lower impression of professionalism could be a good or bad thing depends on your point of view. 

This Milktea shop was still being built when we went by, we'll definitely need to check it out later on.  

Ah the California...   One of those cars I secretly hope the car community continues to hate so that it'll drive down the residual value for me to pick up later in life. ;P

Had to get at least one pic of these, the Honda HR-V. It's like the Honda version of the original 3 door RAV4. A little cool in the weird-Japanese-car-from-the-90s kind of way, but at the same time, really really dorky. 

Oh yeah, since everyone has a mobile nowadays, they've cleverly started converting some of them into ATMs. And if you look closely, you'll see they still even kept the phone.  

Never cared for the brand in the States, but they're actually kinda nice here in UK.  

Started looking a little bit like SF here. Maybe that's why we grew so fond of the area... 

Sort of strange seeing an old church converted into a modern art gallery.  

Mmmm, that foliage. Seriously though, I cannot stress enough how refreshing all this has been since living in East London. I really, really miss nature. 

This was more of what I was expecting while being here in UK. Looks more Spring than Autumn here.  

And to end the day, how about some pizza in an original 500? Cute little car. 

London / Hyde Park

For the first free day we've had since we've been here, we decided to get out of our concrete and brick neighborhood and get some fresh air around some greens, so we went to Hyde Park, London's equivalent of Golden Gate Park.

The weather was cooperating with us for the first half of the day with blue sky and puffy clouds, though we were warned of some showers later in the afternoon. Like cities like Portland, the weather changes very quickly here so it's best to be prepared and keep a watchful eye on the weather reports. 

So many dogs here and not all of them were very good at staying out of the water. No regrets on this guy's face though. 

Hi Peter!

The Serpentine Pavilion is a metal structure shaped similar to a cloud with various seating and passages places throughout. Wish we came by at night where it is supposed to light up, but we were pressed on time to meet with someone.   

Oh yeah, London loves Granturismo's. Not uncommon to see several within a few blocks, I've seen more of these than M3/M5's combined. 

London / Chinatown

And we're back! After some time away from the blog, here's a little of what's been going on.

Somehow, despite traveling around the Holborn and Oxford areas often, we rarely find ourselves in the Soho district of London, which is a shame really. 

Here there are many great little restaurants and some well known shops, like Supreme, for those who care about that sort of thing... 

But tonight, we're more interested in seeing how this city's Chinatown compares with the others. 

First though, some ice cream! Or gelato, technically I guess. For the most part, London seems to have lot of good things going for them, like coffee and tea. But one thing we miss about SF was the great selection of ice cream parlors (Mr. & Mrs. Miscellaneous, Bi-Rite, Humphry, Mitchell's, Swensen's, I could go on and on). 

I never saw such nice ice cream toppings available in such well packaged boxes like this! But for more than £20 ($32) for just ice cream toppings, I think there may be a reason for it. 

Anyways, onto Chinatown! 

Yeah, this Chinatown checks out, unlike LA's sad little block (their real CT is Monterey Park anyways).

Duck anyone? 

Kowloon reminded me of the Kowloon Tong Cafe in SF. Unfortunately, we have yet to come across any HK style cafes yet. 

This isn't just any arcade. Apparently there's some degree of gambling allowed here in UK as we've seen betting centers and places like this one with slot machines inside. Heck, even some restaurants or pubs have them! It's like little pieces of Vegas scattered throughout the city. 

Red & gold everywhere.

As we got out from Chinatown, we started to wander around Soho for a little bit before heading home. Since we've been here, I've noticed theater (broadway style) is pretty popular compared to SF or LA. NY may be the top location for actors, but London couldn't be far off. 

Oh yeah, as expected, Defenders EVERYWHERE, which is perfectly fine by me.

As constricting as the city can feel at times, you can still find little neat places down the most random alleyways. This little restaurant was quietly bustling with activity while away from the activities packing the main streets. 

And of course, we already know where all of the milk tea places are, including Chatime! In London! Who knew? 

And right next door to this popular little place. Being from LA/SF, these places wouldn't normally grab my attention (other than the cool neon signs that is), but what did catch my attention was how many people, men and women, were going into the place. Must be one heck of a peep show!

#azntouristlife

London / Getting Darker

Weather is starting to cool down now here in London, with the skies getting a little darker. Still, nothing to keep us stuck indoors!

Old building everywhere. 

Personally I think the new Range Rover is a really elegant looking thing. The upcoming Sport looks "cooler" of course, but this car has that quiet class that I find really impressive. 

Such a great name.

Smart cars are a lot more popular here, but with these streets and parking, they almost make a good selling point. Only if you get the Brabus versions though, like this one. :P

Pretty cool flat.  

Michelle giving her best kitty impression.