Jan's and John's Peripatetic Adventure

Dinner in Covent Garden

Ok, we live in Covent Garden, but I didn't have any other photos to use. Some people are camera shy and I have no problem with that. I am grateful to our friends who agree to let me take their photos for the blog but totally understand that some people are not comfortable with it. Not everyone is a blog photo-slut like me. '-)

Last night we had dinner with our friends Sonja and Paul. Sonja is the author of the amazing play we saw a few weeks ago.

We had dinner at our local favorite Moti Mahal which remains one of our favorite restaurants ever. It was most definitely not one of those "check please!" evenings. It was a luxurious 3 hour dinner. Sonja and Paul are extraordinarily intelligent and fun. A fabulous evening!

BTW, I have been taking photos of all the signs at the tube stations I travel to and will be including them on the blog at appropriate times as well as uploading all of them to Flickr soon. Every station has its own personality (patterns in the wall tiles, etc.). Some are nicer than others. Or perhaps I should say some are less ugly than others =:-0

The Two Hour Dining Deadline

Last night we had dinner with Sarah Bardwell, Director of Handel House. She's brainy and beautiful and so much fun to hang out with.

We had dinner at Benares on Berkeley Square in Mayfair.

It was our first time there and we loved it. It is now on our list of favorite restaurants you see in the column to the right on the blog. It was fabulous. The atomosphere was elegant, the service was excellent and, most importantly, the food was exquisite.

We had an amazing meal and a delightful evening catching up with Sarah.

A curiosity: when Benares called to confirm the reservation they said to note that the reservation is for two hours. Two hours? That's usually plenty of time but of course depends on the speed and quality of their service. It also depends on the quality of who we're with. John and I have been known to skedaddle within in an hour (check please!) or stay for four hours (yes, we'll have that third bottle of champagne, merci).

Also, what happens at the end of two hours? Do they throw you out? And here's the thing: we finished dinner after two and a half hours and the restaurant had many empty tables. So, did they not throw us out because they had many empty tables? Or were they bluffing? Or... what?

We loved the restaurant so we're not going to hold it against them this first time. But we'll be skeptical for future visits.

Here is a funny story I didn't tell when it happened but have decided to tell now:

We were stung by a similar policy at the Neal Street Restaurant a couple years ago. I called and asked them to hold our reservation for a half hour because our guest was late (who ended up only being very slightly late). Their response was "ok but we need that table at 9 o'clock." I said that would not be a problem.

When we arrived, as they took our coats, the host started giving me attitude about being late and we had to be finished by 9, etc., etc. He was making quite a fuss and I was completely mortified hoping that our guest didn't hear him chastising me. I leaned over and whispered to him, "Could you please just seat us; our guest is Fay Weldon." I assumed he would not want to appear rude in front of so well-known a media personality. Wrong. He had no idea who she was. I guess they don't have the BBC in Kazakhstan.

Not surprisingly, our dinner ran over the 9 o'clock deadline. I kept an eye on my watch which, frankly, did not contribute to the enjoyment of my meal. Thankfully they didn't throw us out. In fact, the restaurant was half empty. Seriously, it was half empty. As we were leaving, the host smirked at me and said "So, we were able to allow you to keep the table later as it was not needed." He really said that. I said, "Well of course it wasn't needed, the restaurant is half empty. I don't know why you were making such a fuss about it in the first place."

Yea, I was pissed off at that point so I decided to let him have it. And Fay was in the ladies room so she wouldn't see me nail him to the wall.

He sneered and said, "So, did you enjoy your meal? Is this your first time dining with us?" I said, "No, we eat here often. I'm surprised you don't remember us. We live upstairs." He had a confused and then suddenly panicked look on his face, which was my intention. He said, "Oh no, but upstairs is offices." I said, "Well, yes there are. On the first floor is (I named a famous theatre's management office), on the second floor is (I named a famous oscar-winning director's production company office) and on the third floor is our flat."

He turned into a blob right before my eyes and handed me his card and said how pleased he was to meet us and to please contact him in future if there was ever a problem etc., etc. I was not amused and we have not been back there since. Besides, no restaurant should treat any customer that way, particularly when they charge $25 for a bowl of soup.

Dinner in South Kensington

Last night we had dinner again with Claire Hammett and her husband Dan.

We tubed over to South Kensington for dinner at the Patara there. We usually go to the Patara in Soho so we were curious to try out this one. It's lovely, with the same exquisite menu and charming service.

South Kensington is a neighborhood we're not very familiar with and it's really nice. It seems kind of quiet and civilised compared to Covent Garden. Hmm....

Claire and Dan are so much fun; we really enjoy them. And dinner (avec champagne) was completely delicious.

Sliding

Today John went with our friend Esha to the Tate Modern. I stayed home because I'm museumed out after Paris.

I had heard about the giant slides and asked John to take a photo for me. Wow, that's scary!

They didn't go on the slides because there was too much standing in line with screaming children which, for me, is scarier than going down the slide. I would have been too chicken to do it anyway.

One little rant about contemporary art: we are appalled by the amount of money wasted to build these kinds of installations which are then torn down. It is a global disease. Building artistic, very expensive, slides in the Tate Modern would almost make sense if they were permanent. But building them and then tearing them down is just money badly spent that should have been spent elsewhere.

For example:

The London Underground is falling apart, filthy dirty, an oven even in the winter, and something in it breaks nearly every day (e.g. Esha was trapped on a train for an hour and a half this morning on her way to meet John on what should have been a 10 minute train ride).

Perhaps The Tube needs to be declared an "art object" to get some funding.

Not that they would put that funding to good use. The London Underground itself has been a sponsor for a temporary art installation at the Tate Modern. Stupid is as stupid does.

The New Cat

No, I didn't get a cat.

Although I crave one all the time, I travel too much to own a cat. That's why I love my neighbor cat Clyde in California so much.

I desperately want one of the Sega "Near Me" Robot Cats. But they are available only in Japan. I've searched all over the web and they really are only available in Japan. Sigh.

Actually, John saw it in a toy store in Japan when he was there recently and said it was incredible. I still haven't forgiven him for not bringing one home.

There are a couple different versions of the cat, one looks slightly more realistic than the other. The video of the cat on YouTube is amazing.

So this past week on my solo day in Paris I was strolling through Le Bon Marche and I found a pile of little I-Cat robots. They also had dogs and fish. Fish? Whatever. But I thought the robot cat was cute so I bought one. It's as different from the life-like Sega Robot Cats as a skateboard is from a BMW. But I couldn't resist.

It's stupid, cheap, ingenious, adorable and annoying. Just like most electronic toys '-) But it's fun having it on my desk. You rub its cheek and it purrs. You pull its tail and it screams. One of the cutest (and annoying) things is it "craves" music. So you play music, which it can hear, or you plug it directly into your stereo or iPod and it moves its head and makes light patterns on its face in rhythm to the music. It even responds to my singing to it. That's funny. It's also annoying because when you pet it a few times it wants to play a musical imitation game and plays a drum-machine pattern on its face that you are supposed to match. It's fun a couple times but then just gets annoying.

If you leave it alone it will meow for attention. And certain colors of flashing lights mean it wants more music. It's cute, it's demanding and can be annoying. Just like a real cat. Well, a cat that requires batteries, doesn't pee on the sofa and has an off switch.

The Newer Cat

Holy shit!

While I was writing the blog entry above, my email went "ping." It was an email notification from my eBay saved searches and it was the Japanese Robot Cat! Seriously, it just happened. That is fate. So I bought it with "buy it now." I love eBay.

It's the newer, less sophisticated but also less expensive Yume Neko Smile version but it still looks amazing. I had them ship it to California so I'll get it about the time I arrive there in a week. I'll definitely be blogging about it.

I'm going to bring it to London when we come back in January so I have a cat here. Well, a cat that requires batteries, doesn't pee on the sofa and has an off switch.

Saturday Countdown

One week from today we will be in California.

The final week in London, especially the final couple of days, are always tough for me because I start thinking about seeing Clyde, and my friends, the sunshine, etc.

Of course, then I go through anticipation anxiety again the final week in California before coming to London. It's a kind of endless cycle of anxiety (yea, I'm a little neurotic) but it's worth it because I love living in both Berkeley and London.

Omg, Clyde, I can't wait! And Rego, and Stan, and Blackie and...!

I hear Clyde's fine and that when our neighbor comes over to bring in the mail Clyde stands on the front porch and screams. I just know he's saying, "Where is she?! I want my big chair! Where is she??!!"

Soon, Clyde. Soon.

Paris to London

We're back in London.

It was a particularly pleasant train ride this morning. We waited in the Eurostar Business Premier Salon at Gare du Nord for the first time and it's really nice. It really makes waiting for the train much more pleasant.

John watched dvd's on his computer for most of the ride while I just listened to my iPod, which is what I always do. A quick taxi ride from Waterloo Station and we're home!

Wow, what a fun week. I'm more in love with Paris than ever. I think it's the most beautiful city in the world.

P.S. After I took the first photo of the Eurostar Lounge one of the women who works there yelled at me that taking photos is not allowed. WTF. I just don't get that "no photos" stuff. It's everywhere and getting worse. So, of course I had to take another one when she wasn't looking, just on principle. I'm such a rebel.

Paris: Dinner with Dunford

This evening, we had dinner with musician Jonathan Dunford.

We've been fans of his recordings since he's been making them and have a shelf of his cd's in our music collection. His recordings are our first experience hearing the viola da gamba and we immediately became fans of him, the instrument and the genre.

We got into contact recently about the possiblity of his releasing something on Magnatune which would be fabulous. Also, by sheer and amazing coincidence, Jonathan's son Thomas played at our most recent house concert and dazzled everyone with his extraordinary lute playing.

We met at Helen Darroze, the exquisite restaurant John and I loved on Tuesday evening. This time we ate in the downstairs restaurant which is less formal but just as amazing (I had truffle blancmange, omg).

Not only was the food fabulous but so was Jonathan. He is incredibly nice, funny, interesting and has none of the "diva" attitude that we come across sometimes. We're delighted that we've met him and look forward to getting together again on future visits to Paris.

Paris: Do Not Disturb

I thought "do not disturb" meant do not disturb. Apparently not. After walking around Paris all morning, we put the "do not disturb" sign on the door so we could nap. I was particularly exhausted. We were both asleep at 3 in the afternoon and the phone rang. It was the hotel front desk. When can they clean our room?

I said: we do not wish to be disturbed for the rest of the day.

They said: yes but when do you want us to clean your room?

I said: not today but please bring some sparkling water for the minibar.

They said: you do not wish us to clean your room?

I said: no, thank you, but we would like some water.

They said: the water is in the minibar.

I said: I know. We drank it, we need more sparkling water.

They said: ok, we will not clean your room today.

For a while I thought they might actually send up some sparkling water but I realize now that was not their perception of the conversation we just had. Pfzzt!

Anyway, how dirty can a hotel room get in one day? Well, a lot I guess, depending on who you are. But for us it's really irrelevant, the room looks fine. There are piles of towels in the bathroom we haven't even used yet. Many hotels we've stayed in pester us about cleaning the room. They slip notes under the door expressing their disappointment that we did not let them in to clean the room, etc., etc. "Call us when you are ready for us to clean your room" etc. etc. A snottly little note is one thing but calling on the phone is unacceptable. Enough already.

Ok, here's the thing: we were walking around Paris for 5 hours and when we came back they had not cleaned the room. They had 5 hours and did nothing! And now they're pestering us to clean the room. It has happened in other hotels, even the posh one we used to stay in in London before we lived there. BTW, I used to call it the "staff are required to slam doors all day" hotel. It must be something they teach the staff in hotel school because they do the same thing here in Paris. (Slamming doors is one of my pet peeves, in case you can't tell.)

Pfzzt!

Update: We're very unhappy with the hotel, in general. There are many problems, e.g. the constantly slamming doors, bad wifi, and their inability to find us an extra duvet. We loved the neighborhood so we'll be looking for a different hotel in the area next time.

Paris: d'Orsay to the Runway

Thursday in Paris.

This morning we went to the Musee d'Orsay. Although sometimes I feel museumed-out from visiting so many museums in the last few years, I enjoyed the Musee d'Orsay. First of all, the building itself is spectacular. The layout of the interior is clever and attractive and the art is excellent, particularly the sculpture. On the top floor is the cafe with a giant clock. We stopped for some coffee and had a lively chat with an enthusiastic young American couple who were visiting Paris for the first time.

Then we set off for my tourist destination of the day: Parsons Paris where the designers of Project Runway visited for one of their challenges.

We decided to walk because it's more fun to see more of Paris that way. We walked past the Eiffel Tower so I got to take some photos that are very very different from the ones I took in June. You will see that Princess Jan was not having a good hair day, thanks to the rain/drizzle and wind. Eh, pffzt! C'est la vie.

After what felt like a very long walk (probably 1/2 hour) we got to Parsons. There were some snotty, smoking fashion chicks standing in front blocking the sign so I asked them to move and, surprisingly, they did. So I got some nice photos of the entrance that they showed on Project Runway in the Paris episode. Sigh. Project Runway was here! Damn, I love that show. I want Tim Gunn as my best friend (who doesn't).

Then we got on the Metro and landed at Le Bon Marche for another smoke-free and delicious lunch at their terrific restaurant, Le Cafe. Then back to the hotel and a nap from all that walking.

Paris: Seul

Wednesday in Paris.

Today John met the French Ministry of Culture to discuss something about making culture more open on the internet in France. (Update: John's presentation at the Ministry of Culture went extremely well. He was excited that they were very receptive and interested in his ideas and business model.)

Usually when John is out at a meeting I sit in the hotel room all day and get bored and very crabby. Staying in the room during the day in almost any hotel is a hellish experience because of the noise (maids slamming doors, vacuum cleaners, construction and general annoying, non-stop noise) and this hotel is no exception. I've also been known to eat the entire minibar which is bad news.

So today I decided, what the heck, and went out.

I decided to walk to the Champs Elysees. Google Maps told me it would be 3 kilometers. I went to the Virgin Megastore to look for the cd I want. Nope. I take back what I said about French cd stores: Fnac is fabulous; Virgin sucks, just like it does in London. The classical selection was terrible. No cd. Oh right, the Virgin Megastore isn't really French. Not like the Fnac and Harmonia Mundi stores are. Pfzzt.

But I did have an amazing walk. At one point, after I crossed the pedestrian bridge over the Seine, I was walking along with the Louvre behind me and the Eiffel tower in the near distance in front of me and I got totally verkempt when I realized "omg, I'm walking alone in Paris and it's beautiful!" It was an amazing moment.

After the Champs Elysees I headed back to the hotel and my mobile phone rang. It was John calling from the hotel, back from his meeting, wondering where I was. He was as surprised as I was that I ventured out alone in a foreign city which is something I never do.

We decided he would walk to meet me and using our mobiles to coordinate our locations along the way, we rendezvoused at the bridge that crosses over to the Louvre. Wow, could that be any more romantic? Then we went to Starbucks because I was exhausted and hungry from my very long walk.

For dinner we tried to get into L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon but they were full (bastards). So, we tried a restaurant literally across the street from our hotel called "Yen." Delightfully Japanese. Oh, and a bottle of champagne so I'm drunk, btw. It's a small, lovely restaurant with excellent food. As an idiot American, I can't get over hearing someone who is clearly Japanese speaking perfect French. It's delightful. While we were there a couple young Japanese girls came in and had their dog with them. Charming! John says that it is common in Paris for people to bring their dogs into restaurants and I've actually seen it a few times. I love it. The dogs are, of course, very well behaved. And adorable. What a lovely evening to conclude a fun-filled day!

BTW, the photos from my walk are from my mobile phone since John had our good camera with him. They came out pretty good considering the low pixel rate and that it was really gloomy out.

Paris: Saint Germain

Tuesday in Paris.

Today we decided to just walk down Saint-Germain (main boulevard) and look at the stores. Our ultimate goal was lunch at Le Bon Marche, like we did in June. But we started by walking toward Notre Dame to look at cd shops because there's a particular cd I'm looking for. We ended up at the large Fnac in Les Halles.

Although I've pretty much given up on cd's (I prefer buying downloads), Paris is the best city in the world for cd's. The classical section at Fnac was jaw-dropping. I didn't find what I was looking for, naturellement, but John found a couple cd's of beautiful renaissance music.

That was a long walk and my elderly legs couldn't handle much more so we took the Metro back to the Saint Germain area for lunch at Le Bon Marche. It was fabulous again and we've decided we're going to have lunch there every time we visit Paris.

On the way to lunch we passed by a hotel and when I looked at the sign I exclaimed: Project Runway! Indeed, it was Hotel Lutetia, which was featured in an episode in season 3 of Project Runway, when they surprised the designers with a few days in Paris. Actually, we had planned to stay there but when we looked at the suites online they were too ugly, especially for the outrageous cost. Ugly. So we decided not to stay there, sigh.

After lunch we walked around Le Bon Marche. The store itself is very nice. The clothes were a combination of gorgeous and hideous, just like every other department store on the planet. One very interesting aspect is that they play classical music out of the ceiling in most areas, instead of the horrible noise that most stores elsewhere play (London stores are the worst ever). We headed for the toy department and bought Scrabble and some simple word games for a friend of ours who wants to improve her French. John also bought a toy stuffed chicken which is one of the cutest things we've ever seen.

On our way back to the hotel we passed a shop that had amazing umbrellas in the window so we went in and bought several. The woman in charge of the shop was completely delightful and told us it has been there since 1836. I love Paris.

Dinner in Paris is always a problem because there are so many choices and they are almost all unpleasantly smoky. (Smoking ban in France in 2008. Hurry!) So, we're always looking for that rare non-smoking restaurant that also serves exquisite cuisine (e.g. L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon). We were excited when we discovered Helen Darroze. Amazing. The amuse bouche was foie gras creme brulee with pistacchio sorbet. Incredible. The prices are shockingly high. But the food is exquisite as is the service. A lovely experience; we're going back on Thursday to the downstairs restaurant to see what that's like.

Paris: Arrival

We're here in Paris!

As always, the Eurostar was fast and easy. This time we waited in the Business Premier Salon at Waterloo which is really nice. We're staying at the Bel Ami Hotel which is one of those "design hotels" only this time there is a sofa which is one of my requirements for a nice hotel. More about the hotel later.

I had the idea that we should have dinner at L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon and it turns out it's only 2 blocks away. I love having comfort food when travelling. It was fabulous. The food was as exquisite as it is in London. But the service was not. It took them 20 minutes to take our order while we sat there watching them take everyone else's order. Hmmm... But once we got our food it was amazing.

(P.S. The photo is from a different day when we were just walking past since when we went to dinner there it was evening.)

Paris: Encore

Today we're going to Paris for a few days. Yea, again.

As always, I find blogging on the road to be difficult so I'll probably put in some place markers each day and then add photos and descriptions when we get back on Friday. Assuming I have any internet access at all. We'll see.

On the menu is: shopping, museums, and... champagne, naturellement!

Sunday at Kew Gardens

Today we went to Kew Gardens.

It was an easy tube ride with one transfer which takes you to Kew, a lovely little village. Kew Gardens is literally a 10 minute walk from the station, if that.

It's one of those places I've been hearing and reading about my whole life so I was very excited to go there. It's lovely. I think because it's November there wasn't much in bloom but the grounds themselves are beautiful. There are also several conservatories filled with exotic vegetation and were really steaming hot inside which was an interesting contrast to the quite chilly and brisk day. But the sky was blue and it was a perfect day for walking through Kew.

(Speaking of the sky, a strangely disturbing element of Kew is that it is under the approach to Heathrow Airport and there are planes flying very low overhead literally twice a minute. Awful. I can't imagine living there. It was very distracting while enjoying the beautiful nature of Kew Gardens.)

It was a gorgeous day. We only saw a small portion of Kew Gardens so we plan to go back again, especially in the spring.

Afterward, we had lunch in Kew village at The Glasshouse which was fabulous. Posh, delicious and right next to the tube station. Definitely a destination in the future.

As always I took a zillion photos (ok, 150) so this blog entry is again graphics heavy. But I really wanted to show how lovely Kew Gardens is. I'll put them all up on Flickr at some point.

Mooching at the Minibar

Last night John presented Magnatune and BookMooch at the OpenBusiness BarCamp "MiniBar".

He didn't take any photos (grrrr, well ok, he was busy). I was hoping someone who attended would upload their photos onto Flickr so I can use one for the blog. Ironically, the only photos of the event, so far, have "© All rights reserved" on them which is kind of hilarious considering it was an event sponsored by OpenBusiness who promotes the Creative Commons.

It was very well attended; we're always excited when people are enthusiastic about Magnatune and BookMooch. John met a lot of terrific people, including a few people who were already members of BookMooch which is always exciting.

I didn't go because it was held in a bar, albeit a trendy one, and the idea of being in a room with over 100 smoking people made me ill. John got home around 12:30 and my fears were realized when he walked in and the smell was horrendous. He took a shower immediately. His clothes still reek today so I put them on the roof deck to air out. Thankfully, once the upcoming smoking ban takes effect, events like this won't be smelly (or unhealthy), and I'll be more inclined to go. In fact, I really really wanted to go but I'm glad I didn't.

Today, John is on a panel at PodcastConUK 2006 which is also very cool. And not smelly (fingers crossed).

An Afternoon At The Opera

Today I went to a dress rehearsal of Rameau's opera, Dardanus at the Royal Academy of Music.

Our friend Laurence Cummings is conducting and kindly invited us to the dress rehearsal, since we're going to be in Paris next week and would be missing it otherwise. John was busy preparing a presentation for this evening (more on that tomorrow) so I went to the opera by myself.

I knew the way to the Royal Academy of Music because that's where our friend Janet gave us a little tour this Wednesday.

The opera was fabulous. Fabulous! I didn't know what to expect but as soon as 'Venus' started to sing I knew this was going to be wonderful and it was. What incredible voices! The orchestra was also excellent and the production was lovely. I loved it.

I took a zillion photos because... I could. I have no idea whether or not I was allowed to take photos but since it was a dress rehearsal I thought I'd give it a try. So did many other people in the audience, (which was very small btw) so I didn't feel like I was doing something bad or at least I wasn't the only one. BTW, I know that's a lot of photos to download but I've never had an opportunity to show how fabulous something I've seen is, so I decided to go for it.

I had a chance to talk with Laurence during the interval to express my enthusiasm and admiration for his incredible hard work. And talent. There was a lot of talent up on that stage, it's really amazing.

Thank you, Laurence, for inviting me to a special afternoon of amazing music.

Lunch Paradise

We discovered a new restaurant: Paradiso Olivelli. (Well, it's not new but our discovering it is.)

We walked past it one night on our way home from somewhere (I forget) and noticed the no-smoking sign. For us, that is an attention getter. It's actually right across the street from the Drury Lane Theatre. (They have several locations, that's just the one nearest us.)

John tried it out recently with some friends and declared it fabulous. So we had lunch there today. We both had pizza although there are many other wonderful things on the menu. We just felt like having pizza. I also love Pizza Express but this is slightly nicer, definitely quieter (less family-oriented), and the menu is more varied and authentically Italian.

The pizza was excellent. Oh, and so was the Prosecco.

Academy Royale

Today is a typically gloomy London day. Dark, raining but the temperature is mild. However, this is London, so there is a very good chance that by this afternoon the sky will be blue. (Update: no, it stayed dismal all day.)

Last night we went to The Royal Academy of Music in Marylebone for a little tour by Janet Snowman, who is a regular attendee of our house concerts.

The Academy is fabulous. There are several gorgeous recital and concert halls and it was exciting to see them all being used for rehearsals of upcoming fabulous music.

While she was showing us around, John and I realized that we had been to the museum many years ago when we were tourists, before we lived in London. Only now it has things like a Stradivari violin on display which is so exciting to see.

Then we went to dinner nearby at Blandford Street which was nicely swish and delicious. We really enjoy Janet; she's incredibly smart, knowledgeable and very fun. Thank you, Janet, for a lovely evening!

Rock Star

Today we met Magnatune artist, John Jackson.

We love meeting Magnatune musicians and quite a few live in London. John took some photos; the one you see is my favorite.

We also went to lunch at Moti Mahal, which was incredible as usual.

John Jackson is not only extraordinarily talented, he's incredibly nice. His music is fabulous. Go buy it right now!

Those Pesky X's

As much as I don't want to be adopted by the conspiracy theory loonies, this morning's contrails were particularly spectacular.

We had lunch with friends (guess where? yea, L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, again!) and they said they looked up this morning and were amazed by the x's in the sky. They said they had never noticed them before which just adds to the mystery of why didn't we notice them until recently.

When we go to California in a couple weeks, I'll be very curious to see how the sky in Berkeley looks since there are only 2 airports nearby instead of 5 like there are in London.

Dinner with Laurence

This evening we had dinner with one of our favorite people ever: Laurence Cummings.

We had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants ever: L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon. It was an amazing meal, as always. There was pink champagne, as always.

Laurence is one of the nicest people and so funny. We somehow managed to eat in between the laughter. He's one of those people I feel so lucky to know.

Those X's in the Sky

It turns out the x's in the sky are not even remotely related to the World Cup as I previously thought.

While drinking my morning latte I looked up through our skylight and saw many x's in the sky. At 8:00 a.m. on a Sunday? wft? So I googled and found this.

Here are my photos from this morning. I was shocked to see that within an hour of the x's appearing they had expanded and created a haze over the entire sky. You can see from the dispersion patterns that they have been at it for several hours. What started out as a day with a clear blue sky is now partly cloudy.

Apparently it's happening all over the world. I'm not a conspiracy theory fanatic. IMO, conspiracy theories are wishful thinking by people who need therapy. I don't believe the government is spraying us with chemicals. As evil as governments are, they have to breathe the same air we do so I'm tossing that theory out.

I do find it hard to believe these x's and grids in the sky are contrails from passenger plane flight corridors but even the astronauts looking down from the space station say that's what they are. I guess I shouldn't underestimate humanity's ability to fuck up its environment.

Regardless of the alleged cause or the crazy theories I will say this: I find it odd that we're seeing these x's and grids now. I've been looking at the sky for decades and I have never seen anything like this, so often and so widespread. So there.

Lunch in Dulwich

Today we went to Dulwich.

First we went to the Dulwich Picture Gallery. It's lovely. Small enough to do in an hour and the same high quality of gorgeous art found in many of the central London galleries, just less of it. The reason we went now in particular is because they have an exhibit of "Sir Joshua's Mona Lisa" which is an exact copy of the original. It's gorgeous. After having seen the original recently, it was really fun to see this excellent copy up close and without the barriers and crowds of the Louvre.

After the gallery we took a brief walk through Dulwich Park. It's beautiful, I particularly liked the ducks. The curving wooden bridge that goes over the water is really interesting. Also, the goose fence around pond has little square openings in it that the ducks fit through so they can get to the ground. Adorable. You can see it in the center photo.

Interesting: the Google Satellite Photo shows the pond and curving bridge as under construction. I think the bridge is new and the pond was simply being renovated/restored at the time.

After our stroll in the park we walked up the road to have lunch at Beauberry House. Exquisite. Their weekend menu isn't as varied and interesting (or French) as their weekday menu but it was fabulous. We had a £160 bottle of 1996 Bollinger pink champagne. The sommelier told us they only had two bottles that he had gotten at an auction. Ok, we're in. It was amazing.

After lunch it was a short walk back to the train station. The train stops at London Bridge Station. Then we took the tube Jubilee Line to Waterloo, then transferred to the Northern Line to Leicester Square and walked home from there. I swear the whole return trip took about 45 minutes.

Lunch in Hampstead

If we didn't live in Covent Garden, I would want to live in Hampstead.

Today I got on the tube and went up to Hampstead to have lunch with my friend Helly. She suggested The Wells Tavern. I had never eaten at a pub before so I was dubious but game.

Once I saw it I was relieved. It's a "nice" pub, as opposed to some of the dives I see in Covent Garden spilling out drunks at 3 in the afternoon. Unfortunately the upstairs was not open for lunch. I did take a peek at it when I went to the ladies room and it is lovely. But I won't be going there until after the smoking ban takes effect because it's too small a space to deal with that unpleasantness.

As it was, while I was waiting for Helly, a family of chavs came in and proceeded to roll their own and chain-smoke in the far corner. They were far enough away that it wasn't too bothersome. But they did sort of stare at me with my glass of champagne and talk amongst themselves and I heard things that resembled "I'm not bovvered..." Thankfully, they didn't stay that long and the rest of the customers that came in where more civilised and even posh. I love Hampstead.

Lunch was delicious. We both had the fish cakes. Even though I'm not a fish person, I adore fish cakes. As long as they're not too fishy. These were great. With salad on the side. Coffee after and lots fun conversation. Thank you, Helly, for a lovely afternoon!

Comics with the Master

This evening we attended another meeting of the Art Workers Guild, as guests of The Master, our friend Stephen Gottlieb, and his wife Jane Dorner.

This time it was comics guru, Scott McCloud. John was very influenced by Scott's book "Understanding Comics" and had suggested it to Jane and Stephen. They also enjoyed it which led to Stephen's inviting Scott to present last night.

Scott is remarkably talented and personable. His presentation was fascinating and filled with the kinds of clever visual connections and jokes that make his work so amazing. After his presentation his daughter Sky did a short presentation about their year-long tour of the U.S. and she was fantastic. She's extremely articulate, I see a bright future for her.

After the presentation was the members' dinner to which we were kindly invited. I sat next to John this time so I was guaranteed I had someone to talk to. Then an older woman sat on the other side of me. I thought to myself: here we go again. But she was delightful! Really sweet, lovely, intelligent and graceful. Everything that awful woman from last time wasn't (who wasn't there last night, btw). So, it ended up being a fun dinner and I was so pleased to have the opportunity to meet her. I'm going to invite her to our next house concert.

Scott and John got to talk quite a bit which was terrific. Scott is incredibly nice, has no "diva" attitude at all, and is a terrific thinker. We're so glad we got to meet him.

Crocodile Tears

This evening we saw a play, Crocodile Seeking Refuge by Sonja Linden. Sonja and her husband Paul are our new friends that we met recently and who had the fabulous party we went to.

The play was at Jacksons Lane Theatre in Highgate. Before the play, we ran into our friend Stephen Gottlieb and his lovely daught