the rosenblooms do london

Once again, I have been severely lagging on the blog posts, woops. I guess I have just been trying to make the most out of my last few weeks in London (a thought that utterly terrifies me)

Anyway, last Monday night, Jason and I went to this fancy restaurant called Homage as a part of London's Restuarant week promotion. We got a 3 course meal and a bottle of wine for 25 quid each, at this fancy shmancy restaurant (although we're pretty sure they just forgot to charge us for the wine..oops). it was really delicious and nice to not be eating chicken and pasta in our [un]lovely kitchen while drinking wine out of coffee mugs. Last Wednesday was St. Patrick's Day, so a bunch of us pregamed and then went to this super-crowded bar called Brogan's. I wasn't feeling well and thought I was getting sick so I came home relatively early, but it was fun to go out with everybody. Thursday and Friday I worked full days so that I could take the next week off and spend time with my parents, so nothing else particularly significant happened.

On Sunday I went to my first football match! Manchester City played Fulham at Craven Cottage, which is Fulham's stadium. (Fun fact: Craven Cottage is the only Premier League football stadium on the Thames River). The game was a lot of fun..football is relatively easy to follow without much knowledge of the game (and when I did have questions, I just asked Dolan). I had expected the game to be a bit more rowdy (maybe the afternoon kickoff time is to blame) but it was fun nonetheless, and Man City won 3-1.

Monday my parents got here! I had class from 10-5, but after class I met them at the tube station and went back to their flat that they rented. We decided to go see a show so Jason met us and we went to see Priscilla Queen of the Desert. My mom loved the movie, so I told her I would wait to see it with her. We got appetizers at El Pollo Bar beforehand, and then went and saw the show. I thought it was really well done, the costumes were good and it was really fun to watch. Jason was a bit uncomfortable with the subject material (hellooo drag queens!) but even he liked it more than he'd expected to, so that was good. Afterwards, I tried to convince my parents to find a place to eat in Chinatown, but Mom protested so we went to this little bar/grill in Soho and had dinner and drinks there before walking through Leicester and Piccadilly Squares and got on the bus home.

Tuesday I met my parents in the morning at the flat they had rented and we had a quick bite to eat at a nearby cafe before heading towards Westminster Abbey and Parliament. The first time we were all in London we hadn't really seen this side of town, so it was cool to take them there. We went into Westminster Abbey, which is absolutely gorgeous from the exterior but looks more cluttered than the basement of our house. We were entertained by the seemingly infinite tombs within the church (not a place you want to be if zombies come back from the dead to take over). Even people who weren't buried there had tributes within the church...it got a bit ridiculous. Once we left we took some pictures by Big Ben on our way to the Churchill Museum and War Rooms. I had heard for a long time that these were really cool and worth seeing, and I figured it was something that my dad might enjoy (read: not shopping). I thought the museum was really cool. They had left it set up largely like it was when it was used during World War Two, and I thought it was really neat to see how the government worked in this bunker that seemed like something out of a movie. Once we had finished the museum, we walked through St. James Park to Buckingham Palace and took pictures outside. We soon decided we were hungry and headed back toward South Kensington, where I showed my parents the magic deliciousness that is Ben's Cookies. We debated whether to go back to the flat and rest or do some more exploring, and ultimately decided to do quick laps around the Natural History Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum. We decided to try sushi for dinner and ended up at this place in Oxford Circus which was really promising but one of the rolls I got tasted like perfume so I was not a very big fan. We walked down through Soho after dinner and my mom made it clear that she wanted to stop for a drink somewhere. Since we were right by O'Neills we went there, and even though it was more mellow than a usual night there, it was still fun and we all had a pint before heading home.

Wednesday I had a full day of classes, so my parents slept in and then met me, Sarah, and Max out by Holborn to get lunch at a pub. Afterwards, they went and explored the British Museum and ended up by the Tate Modern. When I finally ended class at 7:45 pm I met Jason, Sarah, and my parents by a restaurant called Floridita (also a part of the London Restaurant Week promo) in Oxford Circus. Denise Noparstak and her friend who were visiting London also ended up coming there and meeting us. The food was great and they had this great band playing and the restaurant felt more like a nightclub than a dinner spot. Naturally, after my mom and Denise had each had a few drinks, they got up and started dancing together to the band. The food was great and the place was a lot of fun, plus it was really nice to see Denise. That night I slept in the extra bedroom in my parents' flat and truly was thrilled to have a real bed with amaaazing pillows.

Thursday morning I took my parents to My Old Dutch for breakfast. My mom ordered a pancake that was as big as she is and both my parents were amazed by the completely different style of pancake they have here. We then got on the tube and headed to Camden Market, so I could show them the area where I work and we also did a little bit of shopping in the flea market. My mom was impressed by the architecture of the Stables market itself, and we found some quirky things in the stalls in the market. We decided that we wanted to see a show that night so we headed back to Leicester Square and then to Covent Garden to get tickets to go see Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with James Earl Jones, Phyllicia Rashad, and Sanaa Lathan. We had a few hours to kill before the play so we went to Topshop and got some things for me and Myla (Dad was a real trooper) before heading back to the show. It was definitely completely different from Priscilla from a few nights before, but I liked it a lot even though I'm more accustomed to musicals than I am to drama plays. We all liked it a lot.

Friday morning we woke up early and met Sarah at the tube station to head to Stonehenge and Bath for the day. For some unknown reason, it was absolutely freezing by Stonehenge and had blustery winds. My mom walked around the whole time trying her best to not get her hair in her lipgloss, which I found pretty hilarious, and my dad was upset that we couldn't get up very close to the rocks. We all agreed though that it was something to see...once. Bath is this really quaint little town with these amazing ancient Roman baths in the center. Most of our time in Bath was spent at the baths, which were really cool. Personally, I think its kind of ridiculous when they try to tell you exactly what happened in these places thousands of years ago even though they actually have no way of knowing, but from what it seemed it was pretty much like an ancient health club and spa. It was very strange to me that this idea has been around for so long, but pretty cool that people always made relaxing a priority. When we got back to London we went and got drinks at the Trafalgar before taking the bus to get dinner at Bodeans, my favorite barbeque place in the city. Both were a hit with the rents, which I was very glad about.

Saturday was my parents' last day here, and we woke up to go to the Changing of the Guards to try to meet Elaine and her sister Lauren. We stayed through part of the ceremony, but it was really too crowded to see anything so we left and headed to Portobello Road Market. Elaine sat next to one of the most foul-smelling men I've ever encountered on the bus [the stranger sitting on the other side whispered to her "you're going to suffocate before you reach your destination"...pretty strange but this guy reeeeeked.] We finally made it to the market, and as predicted since the first time I went there, my mom was in absolute heaven. Her tagline for the afternoon was "I could come here for fifteen Saturdays in a row...I'm so overwhelmed I can't even focus to buy anything". My dad was able to handle it because a) the street market is so cool itself, and b) we all binged on market food. He got falafel, I got a chorizo sandwich, Lauren got this seafood stuff, Elaine got gumbo, and my mom got this gigantic donut/moon pie creation. All was delicious, and it was so good to see Elaine and Lauren.

Saturday night we decided to try Indian food, so we went to this upscale place called Moti Mahal. The food was completely different from anything I would've eaten but all very delicious (as were the cocktails). We made such a mess eating that they brought us out a new tablecloth before dessert (after my dad made a completely sarcastic request), and they might have thought we were retarded because it took us quite a bit of time to figure out how to configure the salad, which was served as a plate of uncut vegetables with a mortar and pestle full of spices. We had to ask 6 times, before the waiter just did it for us. At the end of the dinner, one of the servers came up and said the chef would like to invite us in the kitchen to see how Indian food is made. We were all very excited, and they showed us the super-hot (700 degree) oven where they make the  special flat bread and some other foods. It was really an amazing meal and really cool to see behind-the scenes...we all felt like real VIPs even though, well, we're not.

On Sunday we got brunch before my parents headed back to the airport. I was really sad to see them leave because it had been a fun and relaxing week (and I'm not even saying that because my dad makes up about 25% of my blog readership). I was glad to show them around where I live, and I think they were at least slightly impressed that I have a pretty good grasp of the city. All in all, it was great having them here.

I'm still about a week behind on the blog, but I'll cut myself off here and catch up later. Things to look forward to : Phoenix concert, passover "seder", and more!