The black Prince

In the end, after several weeks planning to escape from London to the countryside, we did it. We swept to do a nice excursion, leaving the city. The destination: Canterbury. This resulted in a proper long Spanish lunch, in Whitstable a nice harbour, rather than a trip but we had still room for a special cultural visit. By the way, lunch was terrific; the seafood was comparable to the one from Galicia.

It was 5.30 in the afternoon and obviously the Cathedral was closed. But by trying every door that we found we could go into through a little one. We had the feeling that we were breaking some rules when we run into a priest who was entering some seconds after us.

‘We are sorry, we saw the door opened and we thought …”
“We are out of time, but don’t worry I can show you the black Prince’s chantry and even you can take a look at the Crypta”

That’s very kind of you!

‘Now, let me tell you a story - It seemed that in this time of the year, before the summer, there are no many visitors and the priest was no very busy -In the mid-sixteenth century, many French-speaking Protestant Walloons and Dutch-speaking Flemings came to England to escape the turmoil of warfare and religious persecution by the Catholic Inquisition. – I thought, we were not very open minded in Spain at that time! - . From 1661, persecution of protestants, became general and systematic and a huge numbers of French Protestants, known as Huguenots, fled to England. Some of them were settled down here in Canterbury and they were hosted in the crypt of the Cathedral. Some years later they were moved to this Chapel”

- Why is called the “black Price’s chantry”? we asked.

Well, in the 14 century, it was given its marvellous vault on the instruction of EDWARD the Black Prince to thank God the Pope’s absolution for his marriage with his cousin Joan, "The Fair Maid of Kent” despite her chequered marital history and the fact that she was a blood-relative. She was known at that time as "the most beautiful woman in all the realm of England, and the most loving." (you can see her in the picture, guess!).

Edward was an exceptional military leader and popular who died one year before his father and therefore never was ruled as king. He participated actively in the Spanish policy by supporting one party in the civil war in Castilla in favour of “Pedro el Cruel”

We come from those victims from Catholic persecution and we still keep meeting here to pray every Sunday. You are invited to stay for the next service”.

- Thanks a lot, but we are going to take a look at the crypt and we will come back to home. I thought that it wouldn't be a waste of time either to meet the descendents from those French people, what curious history.

This casual guide, propolled us to try other doors and again we succeed with another one. It led us to inside. The awesone interior left us without a word to say. It was empty and we couldn’t move freely as it was clearly forbidden by a sign in the entrance but at least we could catched an idea of the magnificient atmosphere that intended to reflect the heaven in the earth.

Snowing in April

It has been a very busy week at work, with my manager still on vacations. Hopefully he comes back tomorrow to the routine, welcome!

My only going out before the weekend was to watch the match “Arsenal-Liverpool” in a Pub very close to Lonsdale. No so many differences compared to the atmosphere that you can view in a Spanish bar. I liked so much every time the presenter shouted “Torres, Torres” with a fun English accent. After enduring my bad English accent for these months I have fun when I see the other side and hear English people pronouncing Spanish words. Afterwards we went for dinner in the same place. Upstairs there is a Thai food restaurant more than ok which name is “Walmer castle”.

But the main event of the week was planned for today. We had planned our first excursion out of London but weather forecast announced sleets during Sunday and they were right. You can see the picture taken at 10 this morning from my bedroom, what a disaster.

I had organized my time thinking of the excursion and that’s why I went out for dinner on Friday instead of Saturday. This time the chosen place was “Ping Pong”, in Notting Hill as usual, to have dim sum food. To be honest taking into account my experience so far, I’ve decided not to go to trendy places anymore; just well known restaurants because of its food, pubs and restaurants specialized in Asian food. This was ok. When I was having dinner I could realize the strange combination of people that had joined that plan: A Peruvian woman in her early thirties, a Peruvian colleague who is 27 a Dutch colleague and I in our mid-thirties, a group of 7 Dutch friends in their mid-twenties! When you are abroad, given that your social network is smaller than in your home country, you are willing to socialize with people that in principle don’t have so many things in common as your usual friends. But in the end the differences emerged and after the dinner we split into several groups and I end having some beers at Harlem, a pub in the same area, rather pretending dancing than doing it with only two friends out of the original group with more common interests I guess. We had a great time; we met people from different nationalities that reflect how international London is and how people from around all of Europe choose this place as a destination to live or just to spend a good time. For instance we met a group of Danish people that had came to London just to celebrate that they had been over budget in their company and their manager had paid it for them.

Yesterday I stayed at home as planned, and today after such surprise with the snow dropping intensely early in the morning, I decided to do the same again and stay at home. Soon I’ll be swamped with some visitors and I’ll have to take them to the most tourist places. And to be honest a lazy weekend from time to time is well appreciated. I’ve been reading the newspaper and watching TV although here although I haven’t found my favourite media company (the one that should equate El Mundo). On the other hand, even if you are very choosy, it is easy to find rewarded documentaries on TV. Today I was watching one about Stephen Hawking and other about Seton, the first ecologist in USA, both very interesting. A quiet week in the end, but next weekend no matter how the weather will be, I will dispose of it to be in the countryside, I can ensure it.

Mayfair

Yesterday I was strolling around Mayfair. I needed fresh air in a very lazy Sunday. It was due to a very lively Saturday when I attended two Birthday parties until very late ... too much for my age!.

Mayfair emerged in the eighteenth century as one of London’s first real residential suburbs. Soon it started to attract aristocratic London and set the westward trend for middle-class migration and you can see now the touch of luxury and elegancy in every corner. The borders remain among the prime shopping streets (Piccadilly, Regent Street, Bond Street). Too many things to see during one afternoon so I decided just to address the less popular streets, and I walked down from house along Park Lane until Picadilly street, but once I headed this street, after two intersections I turn on the left to get to “Shepherd Market”. A little warren of alleyways and passages now occupied by swanky shops and restaurants, plus a couple of Victorian pubs that I presume are extremely popular during the summer. Even yesterday there were plenty of people at their surrounds having beer and it reminded me somehow the atmosphere of people having the aperitif in the Barrio de Salamanca. It was too formal to be close to “La Latina”. Anyway this area is very charming and I recommend going there and I’m sure I’ll come back but next time with company to have a good Belgian beer. I’ve read that Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis spent a cool 17,000 pounds on a meal. Unfortunately my budget is not so high for a dinner but still I think I’ll be able to manage a good company.

Afterwards I headed Old Bond Street and after passing by the most expensive and well presented shops I’ve ever been so far in London, being home to all the leading multinational designer clothes outlets like Prada, Versace, Donna Karan, Chanel and so on I got the Royal Arcade an example of the traditional and elegant English shopping mall. Close by, are the auction house “Sotheby’s”, 34-35 Old New Bond St, where I stopped to admire the oldest outdoor sculpture in London (it dates from 1600 BC) and nearby a popular double statue of Winston Churchill and President Roosevelt. American bonds continue in Grosvenor Square where I went afterwards and where you can find the ugly US Embassy and a big statue stands in memorial again of Roosevelt. From there, I reached Oxford Street that led me again to my apartment at Kendal Street. I found out why that name, Oxford Street was the old Roman road that linked Londonium with Oxford.

In the end it was a nice walk, a little step to keep knowing this great City of London.

The Spanish connection

I’ve been enjoying a long Easter vacations: 6 days travelling around the south of Spain, and 4 days in my hometown… So let me tell you about my last interesting day in London: visiting Marylebone.

The outlying village of St Mary-by-the-Bourne was swallowed up in the eighteen century to become a mesh of Georgian streets and houses much of which survives today.

I usually visit this neighbourhood twice a week when I go to the Gym, it is just the one besides Paddington in the east, and I was curious to know what I could find there.

Last Sunday before Easter I decided to walk around it and it was worth it. I started at “the Wallace Collection” that is a national museum in an historic London town house. There are 25 galleries with French 18th century painting, furniture and porcelain with superb Old Master paintings and a world class armoury. In the middle there is the typical dinning room to have the English tea, really nice. I stopped to see “woman with a fan by Velazquez” in the great gallery, the largest room in the house. It was interesting to read about the identity of the woman, who was decided to be French rather than Spanish by experts, due to her neckline. Spanish women haven been always more traditional! The “treasure of the month” was a Bohemian Welcoming Glass dated 1609. ‘Lift me up, drink me up, set me down, fill me again and bring me a good brother again’ was written on its surface. It seems that the tradition of making toast is not new.

But the most special interesting moment in the afternoon was my visit to St Jame’s Church, the “Spanish place”. A Catholic chapel was built in 1791 thanks to the efforts of the chaplain at the Spanish embassy and It become a neo-Gothic church designed in a mixture of English and French Gothic. Inside you can see the Spanish Royal features and thre are even two seats reserved for the royals, denoted by built-in gilt crowns high above the choir stalls. That’s the first Spanish connection with London that I’ve discovered here.

Afterwards, I was walking down Marylebone High Street, much nicer than Oxford Street to see shops although the offer is of course much smaller and I found a very interesting place, a lovely library specialized in travel books, with a galleried hall at the back and a stained glass roof. Even if you had not the intention of buying something, you’ll do because of its super nice atmosphere.

And tomorrow, back to office, I’m really lazy to come back to work, but at least I’ve practiced a little tonight English. Let’s see if I haven’t forgotten to speak tomorrow!.

London, a quiet place

Since the last week I have the feeling that I’ve lived in a small town. This sounds very strange living in London, isn’t? Before moving here I had London in my mind as a very stressful city. But the reality has been very different. I might not be very objective because I live in a very central location and it might not representative of how London in general is, but the thing is that I feel more relaxed here than in Madrid since I moved here in July. Why? That’s because London is very much spread. There parks in everywhere, the buildings normally don’t have more than three or four floors that result in a lot of open spaces so in the end you never have the feeling that you are shut in, on the contrary, sometimes when you are walking down the streets it seems like you are not in a big city at all. Traffic is not so high except on the main roads like Oxford Street or Bayswater road. There is a little church besides my apartment that play its bells every hour the same as if I was in my parents house!

As I promised myself, I didn’t go out at night either last Friday or Saturday. I think it was a good disposal. In the end it was so calm that I almost didn’t leave my neighbour. Saturday in the morning I took the bus to go to a farmer market at Orange Square, corner of Pimlico Road and Ebury Street, SW1. http://www.lfm.org.uk/ I was talking with the farmers about cheese, meat, fish…I was queuing for fresh fish and I started to talk with two women about recipes, at some moment the grocer tells us “check in internet”. The funny thing is that she is telling this not only to me but also to the two women that are 50-something. Here, new technologies are quite popular! If you see the square, it could be a typical scene of a small town.

In the afternoon I was walking across Hyde Park. I’m drawn to come to this place almost every weekend. I was surprised because of the high number of people riding horses. Coming back to home, I cross Hyde Park Garden Mews, with the horses in the streets, and it seems like if I was in a small village. Looking at the entrance of the houses and at the little gardens I could appreciate the first flowers of the spring.

On Sunday, I organized a lunch at my apartment with an American girl, a New Zealander girl, a Spaniard and I. Very nice conversation and as usually when people don’t each other very well, we started to speak about trivial things like work, renting expenses, our countries but we end up talking about relationships. We hadn’t seen each other since beginning of December and all of us had something interesting to tell so that’s why after two bottles of wine nobody wanted to go home and the chat was still very lively.

Today I’ve had more social life in my neighbourhood. In Spain, social life at work is done at lunch time. In England is after work. “Do you fancy going to the pub? Already, it is only 5.30! Come on, let’s go to Victoria!” Victoria is a pub located only 200 m from my house so I couldn’t say “no”. “One of the best pubs in London” they told me very excited-. In addition, some English people came so it was a good chance to exchange opinions and views about our cultures. My colleagues were right, Victoria Pub has the typical warm atmosphere of the best English pub. They were speaking about the passion that English people have for team sports but they admitted that although they made up a lot of them like football, others have learnt to practice them better! “Dam it; it is incredible that we are not going to play the Eurocup!” “I have to admit the Cesc Fabregas and Torres are ones of the best of the Premier League!” After two pints of Leffe, Belgian beer that I’m getting used to having, I decided to go home, a little drunk to be honest. Instead my colleagues drunk at least 3 pints and they were fresher, how can they make it?

My neighbourhood is very nice but I’m thinking of making last weekend up by going out a little next weekend… !

Paris, city of light

Paris is part of my new life in London. Once a month I have to go to the capital of France because of business travels.

I’ve kept always good memories of Paris. It was the destination of the trip that we organized when we passed the third course of my degree. It is the place when I met for the last time a good friend. And now it is part of my new life here.

On the other hand, I didn’t have a good feeling of French people in general before moving here because of the typical competition between neighbours. In my subconscious was the fact that my parent house was burnt during the French invasion in the XIX century, we discovered this by doing some improvements some years ago when we knock down a wall and we could saw how some burn rests still remained. In addition I got quite upset when I read all the damages that they caused in Burgos at that time. Still if you go to the “Monasterio de San Pedro de Cardeña” you can see how the French soldiers damaged the faces of the sculptures because in their leaving they didn’t have time to devastated everything. And look, this is the worst part: In this sacking, they desecrated the tomb of the most important hero in the Spanish history: “El Cid”. Fortunately, a French man gathered his rest scattered on the ground, he kept in a little box and that’s why after the war they were found in a house near the Cathedral. God bless you, my friend.

But that is history. We can not judge people nowadays because of the acts done by their ancestors, it is ridiculous. So in the end I’ve changed my concept about France and even I was supporting them last weekend during the 6 nation’s championship. It can be also because a French company pays for salary me every month!

Travelling is a good thing to leave chore for some time. The trip to Paris is easy, only 2.15 hours via high speed train. I took the train early in the morning. Some workers like but also I could see in my couch two couple in their mid forties drinking champagne (an obsession in London as I've mentioned some times) and with the look of people that are travelling for pleasure. Sure they were going shopping or just to spend 2 days doing tourism.

Paris is one the most beautiful cities in the world. Only walking down its streets is a unique experience. Each time I go, I try to visit a different area after work. I go usually to the same hotel, it is located in Montparnasse, the famous painters’ quarter. This time I was very lucky, my room is on the 19th floor, with an amuzing view.

I decided to go for dinner to a close restaurant that is in Catalognia square. I felt at home, what a Spanish name! It was Monday and still it was almost full at 8, a good signal of its quality. Besides me, there were two couples of business men and a group of Asian people enjoying the French goodness.

When I took the metro I noticed once more their good wearing style, they have a very good taste and you can realize why they are the capital of fashion. The mixture of races is almost like in London but less international. It is like if people in Paris assumed very quickly that they are living in Paris they have to look like French whereas in London there is more a feeling of staying temporarily without loosing their identity. I could hear some Spanish speakers, we are around everywhere. In only 20 minutes I got to the “champs elysees”. Despite the fact that it was Monday, the street was crowed of people at 22.00. I can not be surprised when it said that more than 500,000 people are here every day. The avenue is lined with cinemas, boutiques, restaurants, tearooms and café terraces. At last, the Arc de Triomphe, standing at the centre of the Place Charles de Gaulle.

I came back to the hotel at 22.45. I go to the bar with my laptop to browse on internet taking advantage of the free WIFI. There are many people, I think when you travel for business, somepeople feel a little alone being out of home and they look for a warmer atmosphere out ot the hotel room. Even It seems like if a woman who is in a table in front of me is looking at me?? No, I'm kidding! But be careful because in these kind of hotels, full of business men, I've seen more than once a sort of "professional women" around...I decided to go to my room and I still had time to watch TV, in fact, I came just on time to watch the debate between Rajoy and Zapatero. I hope it was useful for our future!

My back was next day in the afternoon. In the train the same image as the day before. Some workers like me, with the faces looking like very tired and a group of people, this time in their thirties, with a lot of shopping bags from luxurious brands. It is clear that there a lot of rich people in London!

B Bar and the mascarade party

It has been a quiet weekend in the end. One of the best things has been to stay in bed until late and to have a “Spanish breakfast” with tomato, olive oil and even real ham. And of course a good coffee, I can not do without it. It looks like very good, doesn’t it?

The weather is becoming better in London, it is warm and even during the majority of weekend sunny. The spring is coming. The bad thing is that I have to go to bed earlier as it is difficult no to be woken up with the light early in the morning. I my bedroom in Madrid I could manage a complete dark but here it is not possible with only curtains, and bearing in mind that my window looks out at the east, why here don’t they use blinds? If I could do up something in my apartment I would start with this.

Friday I was invited to a birthday from a colleague from the office, but I was really tired after all the week and as no one from the office intended to go I didn’t feel confident enough to socialize with unknown English people. I was lazy; I have to do away with these fears, next time I’ll not miss the chance to meet new English people. I rented a film called: “Love, Honour & Obey” typically English, it was only ok, and the script for me was overdone and silly.
On Saturday I stayed at home during the day, putting things in order, reading one of the best books I’ve ever read: “Tuesdays with Morrie” (Ji, thanks for your recommendation!) and watching TV. At 6 my phone rang “Yes, of course, I’ll be there at B Bar at 7.30”. I didn’t want to discard this chance to have fun. My Belgian mates had reserved a table in another trendy place: B Bar. In fact the plan included also a private party at the same place after dinner.

I have to take back my remarks concerning the quality of the restaurants in London. B Bar was more ok, a menu for 35 Pounds that included three courses + coffee. Well, the problem is if you order 5 bottles of wines for 6 people…., it reminded me the dinners that I used to have in Madrid with my friends, … then the budget can rise dramatically and my friends like to drink too much! It could be my fault; I chose a Monteviejo Festivo 2004, Malbec, from Argentina that was excellent. By the way, I went to some interesting places last weeks: “Cocoon”, a Japanese restaurant in Regent Street that in average was 8/10, really good, and “Asia de Cuba”, in Soho, a fushion between Caribean and Asian food. The atmosphere was very special, the courses are very large but the quality is not great and I guess it is a little overpriced. The last one has been “Busabba”, a Thai very close to my house; don’t miss here a Thai pad. Great value for money! I’m getting into Asian food in general, the offer is much bigger here than in Madrid.

After the dinner the masquerade party was supposed to be downstairs. Some people dressed up masques, I was afraid at the beginning that we could end up with the same situation as in the famous film “Eyes wide shut” but fortunately everything it was quieter. There were not so many people but it was fun. Even I run into some colleagues from the office, I realized that London is not so big and as well as in Madrid people are in the same networks and go out for the same places. I went to home at 2.30 h, not so late but this morning I was really tired again!

It hasn’t been a special weekend at all, again part of my new routine. I think next week I’m going to try to make the most of my time by visiting more places during the day and attending more cultural events. I want to squeeze every minute here and the problem of going out at night is that we consume too much energies and in the end not always is worth it. I can not get away with it to be active the following day, so I’ll change my plan for next weekend. It is Sunday evening; it is already dark in London and a new week is waiting for me in London.