Jun
30
2008
0

Sleepy Saturday

There is nothing better than a lazy Saturday morning away from home. The calm that a different place transmits you is rather amazing. The feeling that you won’t have to tidy up your flat of hover the living room, having someone preparing your breakfast and serving it to you. Additionally if you are not in the rush of visiting as many sight as you could - this all made my Saturday morning. We moved slowly around London and we got to Hyde park for a walk in the Serpentine, we visited the Lady D’s memorial and a couple of others things in the area (Aspley House and the Arch).

All this visiting! Made me angry. So Manuela and I headed to Camden Town - the famous area is not only famous for the numerous stall selling virtually anything, but also for the food stalls. Having lunch there was rather amazing - for little money you can get some very nice food from around the world, freshly prepared in front of you. The whole area is extremely lively during the weekend, and the sunny day attracted even more people - this was a glorious meal and coffee.

After some shopping and hanging around was time to get back to the hotel for some rest before our next endeavour. So with our happy tummy we mate our way to St.Pancras - when we got into our room the sun wasn’t shining any longer though the window and this made our rest much more comfy. There was also some live action on TV with Andy Murray taking on a German in the third round at SW19. Useless to say that the Scotsman got rid of his opponent in 4 sets for the happiness of the British crowd.

Written by mcapri in: General |
Jun
30
2008
0

Octave

After a long day in SW19 I really needed some nice food and a relaxed atmosphere, unlikely the M&S sandwich in a 2500 people queue. This dinner out was carefully planned, we looked online for a restaurant with live music not to far away from our accommodation. There he was the Octave, just between Holborn and Charing Cross Tube stations. The place was presented online as a cosy contemporary restaurant live music. We approached it from a later lane and we could already hear some music, no it wasn’t the restaurant, but some buskers entertaining the crowd in the street just in front of it.

We entered the restaurant and the music was already on. Entering into the large space that included stage, restaurant and bar was a shock. The noise level was astonishing! My hears were about to bleed out. The problem wasn’t the live music that in fact was at the right level, but indeed the people at the bar. These in order to talk to each other were literary screaming one to the other. Totally unbelievable! Normally in a Jazz bar/restaurant you tend to listen to the music and talk, not scream while ignoring the music.

After 15min or so we got used to the level of noise, but the worst had still to come. We ordered a main course and 45min had passed and still no sign of them. It was interesting to see that there were very few people having dinner, but the kitchen seemed to be somehow unable to cope. When I voiced my concern with the waiter he told me that for a main course it normally takes 35-40mins !!! After 50 mins we got our food - nothing to say about it but certainly it wasn’t something that I’m willing to waiting 50mins for. Overall the live music act was fine but overpowered by the screamers - the service very poor and the food average. In other words keep away from this place, it doesn’t worth it! But if you like gambling here’s their website www.octave8.com

Written by mcapri in: General,Reviews,Travel |
Jun
30
2008
0

SW19

..this is the postcode of the most famous tennis club in the world. Here we go, now you must know where I was heading the first day of this wee holiday. After enjoying a long journey in the tube I joined the queue at about 1 o’clock. Well, it didn’t look good; the first stewards that I met said that it would have been a long wait before entering the court - 4-5 hours !!!

The spirit was pretty low, but the drive was still strong! Well until rain broke out and I had to put on my waterproof as well as use the brolly! One hour after joining the queue I had covered just 700 meters - the temptation of dropping out was high, but the sun was shining now and the people around seemed to be sure that we’d make it.

Well the endeavour lasted a total of three hours but at the end of it, there I was: Wimbledon.

The atmosphere in the ground is lively in fact the 20 courts are pack jammed with interested spectators. Even if I cannot access central court and court 1, there plenty of action happening in the other courts as well. But if there’s something on the central that you really want to watch, there’s always the “Murray’s Hill” where a massive screen broadcast what is going on inside.

Top players are normally schedule on these two courts, but there’s the possibility to watch them in action in the double tournament. On court number 5 I spotted Tipsanovic, that just the day before eliminated A.Roddick from tournament. The Serbian is certainly competitive, serving strong and attacking every shot!

Between others thing I’ve seen some action from Warkiska and some very powerful women.

Wimbledon is indeed a very classis establishment; there you can tell who is who, depending on the badge that they are wearing. Some, the members of the tennis club, have incredible access to any part of this estate. Nice terraces and private suite like accommodations are not exceptional in Wimbledon!

None the less also “normal” member of the public, like me, can enjoy the experience with plenty of facilities available: food courts and shops.

Well the truth is that my fist experience was certainly positive; I’ve already decided that for next year I’ll enter the ballot to get some tickets from the Centre Court/No 1.

Written by mcapri in: General,Travel |
Jun
27
2008
0

Off for the weekend away …

This time of the year the sun rise so early that when I woke up at 5 it was already day!

The train is runnig fast without ay obstacles in its way. The sky above us changes at the speed of light, clouds are racing one the other on the blue race course.

In a blink of an eye we got there, Waterloo station! Yes not as exotic as you maybe have thought: London.

After getting used to the local climate, we leave our bags into the hotel an off we went. This time our route went two differents ways.

Posted from moBlog

Written by mcapri in: General,Travel |

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