Finally - A weekend in London!

We dedicated this past weekend to discovering London - atleast a small part of it. London has soo many things to see, to do.. no way we can finish seeing everything in these 10 weeks. The vibrant Camden or the fancy Canary Wharf, the charming Covent Garden or the happening Soho, the quieter St. John's Wood (where we live) or the ever busy Oxford Circus/Piccadilly Circus and I could go on and on...there is something for everyone!

On Saturday we went to the famous Portobello Market in Notting Hill - the world's largest antiques market! It was 1 mile long, lined by all these shops selling antiques, jewelry, clothes, bags, you name it...and sooo crowded but soo much fun!




The 2.99 pounds Lebanse "all-you-can fill in your small foil tray" buffet was delicious!!!
After that we walked around Notting Hill a little bit, then to the Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. It was a GREAT day and everyone was out enjoying the weather. We passed the Royal Albert Hall and the Albert memorial. On each of the corners of the memorial are large sculptures representing the four corners of the world. Africa is represented by a camel, the Americas with a buffalo, Asia by an elephant and a bull for Europe.

We had our own little picnic in Hyde Park with a lamb sandwich and some beer. :)

We then headed to Chelsea to see how the rich guys live! We took a little walking tour, starting from King's Road, to some Old Church street, to the Chelsea Embankment and back and passed the 'Cheyn' area which had all the fancy houses! Many rich and famous people live in that neighborhood. All we could do is wish.... *sigh*.




On Sunday we decided to go to different hemisphere or better still stand between 2 hemispheres! Yes we went to the Greenwich meridian or the 0'0' longitude. Erin joined us as Mike had to work. (Poor Mike!)

Mr. Mohan and the sundial. The sundial doesn't support daytime savings so it was 1 hour behind!

There was a long hike to the Royal Observatory through the Greenwich Gardens and Erin did better time than me even with Baby Featherstone in her!

The tired us..

It was really crowded but we managed to take some cheesy pictures! :)




Mike finally joined us..... here are Mike and Erin enjoying our most expensive plate of nachos ($14!)! They were really bad too...We then walked around and saw the Queen's Palace and the Royal Academy. Unfortunately the Cutty Sark was under conservation and not visible.

Pr-ahaaaaa!!!

Incase you'll are wondering what is Praha - it is the official name for Prague where we went this weekend!! It was really AH-MAZING!!! The beautiful architecture, the cobblestone paths, the yummy food, the drinks..

Our hotel Pav http://www.hotel-pav.cz/en/ was right in the center of everything which made it so easy! Next morning after a huge breakfast buffet we ventured out with a "free" city map and frommers printouts to get "lost" into the city .... Here is our weekend....

Outside our hotel...

The Prague Castle and the Charles bridge

Me on the crowded Charles bridge

As we were walking around, we fell upon this beautiful park...

The view from the top of the park..

The famous Prague castle is not a castle but palace grounds with a lot of palaces, cathedrals, etc. Here is us at the entrance

J outside the Vitus cathedral



For lunch we found a cafe in one of the sqaures...

We decided to try out a cool little restaurant just next to our hotel for dinner and that was the best decision ever! It turned out to be the oldest brewery in Prague. The architecture was wonderful, there were musicians playing everywhere and waiters walked around with their brewed beer and a drink called Becherovka. The food was to die for! Read about U Fleku -http://www.ufleku.cz/en/page.php?page=onas

In the evening we walked to the Wenceslas square where the famous National museum stands. The street was too big and commercialized. Czech out the tram cafe... :)

The view at night!
At a cafe ....

The next day -Me dancing outside the "dancing" building.. this was quite lame..

The city was so well connected by trams... we took a day pass and went everywhere in them!

we went to the Vysehrad castle... again no castle only cathedral *sigh*

It had a beautiful view of the river...

We finally reached the famous and beautiful Old Town Square surrounded with great architectural marvels such as the Tyn Chapel, the St. Nicholas Church and the famous Astronomical Clock. We had the best meal of our lives sitting in one of the cafes there!




I wish I could stay there forever.... but it was time to come back.... buh-bye Prague! Check out some other cool pics in the slideshow on the top.

My birthday!

I had a GREAT birthday this year!!! Thanks to everyone who made it sooo special......

My day started with a FULL English breakfast at http://www.vingtquatre.co.uk/- a cool place in Chelsea, London with Erin and Laura! After the heavy breakfast we walked around for a bit.

I then met my J at Canary Wharf for lunch. We found this cool place which served yummy Indian food in tiffins http://www.tiffinbites.com/. It is based on the Bombay dabbawalla concept (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dabbawala) where the lunch box delivery man picks up food from the office-goers residence and delivers it after a complicated (award worthy) supply chain to the office goer. It was soo much fun!! Check out the man with his tie tucked into his shirt enjoying the chicken tikka and lamb. :)

In the evening we went out for dinner to an EXCELLENT tapas restaurant http://www.theetoncollection.com/restaurants/ebar/ in Little Venice with Niki, Erin, Mike, Laura, Sid, Nelson, Hina, Shikha, Meghan and Kiran.

US

ALL OF US

Day trip - Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, Salisbury, Bath

On Saturday we rented a car and drove out to see Stonehenge and Bath with Kapil's brother Nikhil and cousin Shikha. Mr. Mohan didn't take any time to get used to the stick-shift car and opposite side of the road and off we were. At the last moment we decided to go see the Queen's house - Windsor Castle.

Here are 3 of us outside the entrance..

We then went on the Stonehenge. It is a World Heritage Site believed to be erected in 2200 BC! It looked amazing but not worth 6.50 pounds to see it from close so K and S went in and N and I enjoyed it from the outside. We were planning to buy the t-shirt 'STONEHENGE ROCKS!'

I had read that the Salisbury castle is really good so we headed there and it turned out to be nothing but the ground where the castle once was. The Salisbury cathedral was the famous place so we went there and oh we weren't disappointed - it was BEAUTIFUL! This 750 years old cathedral has the tallest church spire in the UK, contains the world's oldest working clock (from AD 1386) and has one of the four surviving original copies of the Magna Carta. There was a service going on - the music gave it a totally eerie feeling..it was LOVELY!

Bath was beautiful! Great architecture, the river, the Roman baths - absolutely amazing!

Bath at night..