Bring on the Sun!
It’s amazing how the weather can affect your mood. This past weekend was a long weekend here in London, their version of Labor day, and the weather was perfect! I decided to venture outside without my coat…oooh, daring I know, but when I stepped outside and realized it was 68 degrees, I was glad I left it behind.
Chaitan was in town this weekend, taking a pitt stop on his way to India. The other Jain kid decided to quit the corporate world and has opted for a public sector job based in Bombay with the Give Foundation, helping companies with their community development programs. I think he’s quite excited about the opportunity, and a bit nervous at the same time. He’ll be fine though…all that globetrotting has made us rather resiliant when it comes to moving around. I’m quite the proud big sister, it takes a lot to just up and leave when things are comfortable…I’m sure he’ll find it to be a great experience.
We started the weekend on Friday night with a trip to Edgeware Road, where we met two of my friends for a Lebanese feast at Al Dar Restaurant. A visit to this part of town will send you back to Damascus…women walking around in their burkhas, men sitting around smoking shisha (hookah), and Arabic newspapers lining the stalls of the corner stores. Only a nearby Underground sign reminds you that you are actually still in London. After a great meal, we decided to venture to the cafe next door, called Al Dar Cafe (how original) to smoke some shisha ourselves. We opted for the apple flavor, which was quite nice. Of course, every other table around us was doing the same thing, and the smoke was just a bit too overwhelming for the smoke detector, which unfortunately, was situated just above our heads. The normal reaction upon hearing the blaring would be a rush to turn it off or vent the place. Nope. Nobody moved…in fact, nobody acted like anything was happening! We asked a waiter to do something, and his response was "You know, it’s loud for me too!". Huh? Annoyed and slightly deaf at this point, we got up to leave…of course, as soon as we stood up, the alarm stopped. I’ll remember to bring my ear plugs next time!
On Saturday, we first headed to Tottenham Court road, the electronics mecca of central London. Not feeling like spending 400 quid on a new TV, I opted for window shopping instead. Our next stop was the half price ticket booth at Leicester Square where we managed to score 4th row seats to Stomp that night. Somehow, after all these years, neither one of us had managed to see it. From there, we walked down toward the Thames, and crossed the bridge to head to the London Eye (which I luckily had booked tickets for the day before…it’s very rare that you can make plans in London and have the weather actually cooperate!). I had seen it from afar, but never really grasped the enormity of it until I saw it up close…it’s huge! A massive ferris wheel, where each pod holds up to 20 people. It took us up slowly, and the view from the top was amazing. The Thames, carving its way through the city, the whole of Westminister Abbey…I’ll post the pics later this week. We killed some time at the park nearby people watching before heading into Theater land to see the show. Stomp was a great show…if you haven’t seen it yet, it is definitely worth going to. I had no idea it was possible to make music out of brown paper bags, kitchen sinks and newspapers!
The show ended after 10pm, and we decided to meet some friends back in Leicester Square for a drink. By the time we got organized, it was after 11pm, which means we missed last call at the pubs! Yes, oddly enough, pubs here close at 11. You can’t even buy alcohol after 11 in central London, it’s crazy. The only way to get a drink is to pay cover and go to a club, which we weren’t in the mood to do. Instead, we headed to the east part of town where the rules are bit less strict, picked up some wine and went to a friend’s place. After watching Top Gun and Shaolin Soccer, we took a cab home at 5AM, and saw the beginnings of a new day as we ended ours.
