The First Weekend

Hello Everyone!
Thanks to those of you who are reading this and bugging me to update. It's difficult to find the time to write about what you're doing when you're doing too much! Friday was a lovely day...I caught up on my sleep until 3 in the afternoon...which was sort of a shame on such a gorgeous day in London...but hey, I needed some serious rest. Then I made some quinoa and zucchini, and enjoyed a beer on the patio with the local kitties. There are so many stray cats here, and I have a favorite one who has not been coming around since I started getting desperate to see it. It's small, black, with green eyes, the cutest face I've ever seen, and a missing tip of its left ear.
Then I was off to Vinoteca where I enjoyed a Pinot Noir that didn't give me a headache! In fact, I ended up drinking most of the bottle along with some cured meat, marcona, almonds, and some olives. mmmmm. mmm. mmmmm. It's a cute little wine bar and we sat outside on the little sidewalk. It was such a nice evening. We also had this really funny French waiter that kept insisting, when asked to take a photo of us, on taking one regular one, and one "wis za legs." Oh frenchmen....
Then we were off to Movida, an apparently posh night club where we had an in to the VIP of the AKS party. We had no idea what that meant, but went along with it....and ended up in a Kazakh party...which was all good. We made some friends...which ended up being quite a global group. There was the French Panamanian, his gorgeous Kazakh girlfriend, her Russian friend, and his Venezuelan friend...and no, I don't remember any of their names...but I do have an email address and several pictures to mail them...so perhaps we'll all be friends by the time I make it back to London in July.
Needless to say I danced my socks off...and was carefully warned by Ida when we returned that my American dancing would not be looked on favorably by Brits...to which I said, "well at least I was dancing with a south american." So...that was very very fun...and I've decided I think I'll only go to clubs where I can go to the VIP room...it was ridiculous how they were treating all the other club goers.
Saturday morning we had Adam's (Ida's husband) friends over for breakfast. A lovely couple expecting their first baby in 3 weeks (the baby put on quite a show moving around in the belly so we could see...so strange to watch...IT'S ALIVE!), and his friend Guy who is a really interesting and funny Belgian guy. There are several great stories that are incredibly funny, but that I must tell in person...so ask if you'd like some story telling. Then we went to a Thai festival, which was sort of boring, but where I got to eat a coconut so I was a very happy camper.
We quickly lost interest in the festival and headed over to Portabello Market in Notting Hill which was really fun. There were tons of antique vendors, produce stands, and food stands. I tried some Ghanian food which was AMAZING...spicy spinach with this grain that is Lauren friendly that I cannot remember the name of. mmmmmmm. PS I'm starting to get fat...just in time to go hosteling where I wont be eating as well (I think).
When we got home Ida made a gorgeous dinner for us...pork loin with parsnip puree and asparagus and raspberry salad...AND rhubarb sorbet....and she made almond cookies that I can eat. She's a major talent in the kitchen, and I'm being completely spoiled.

Today was a lazy day. I started out at the Spanish festival, and then we went on to the only Swedish pub in london to watch the French Open. The Swedes were all sad, understandably, when Nadal won...but it was nice to go drink beer and eat in the middle of the day. Ida and I left and went to the Royal Academy of Art and saw an exhibit of Paul Sandby, a brilliant and under appreciated British drawer. It was really beautiful, and he did some amazing landscapes of really beautiful trees. You should google him! Next we spent some time laying on the grass in Green Park before heading back home for dinner.
I've spent most of the evening planning for the next leg(s) of my trip...so far leaving early Tuesday for Bruges, then off to Berlin, Prague, Vienna, and Budapest....I'm getting too tired to start working on getting to Croatia....it's really really really late here...yay jet lag!
I hope everyone is doing well! Love you all!

Lauren