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!