London Exploration, part II

In terms of personal excursions, my first weekend back in London (I typed B-o-s-t before I caught myself there) after two weeks exploring the continent ended up as a Friday night-Saturday morning (with a headache) sightseeing trip. This past week was spent preparing for possibly the worst hell week of all coming up, in which I have four papers and a presentation due in the span of 4 days. Yes, I spent Thanksgiving, the one holiday explicitly centered on food, writing a paper that I didn't finish until tonight. Call me unpatriotic or a sell-out (instead of turkey or even something American I had what can best be described as a teriyaki chicken bowl).

Anyway, Friday night Ben Eng was in town, visiting London from BC for the holiday...well he was in town for a bit. Apparently Ben woke up at 5 to catch a train to Paris, only to come back at 10 later that night. (Only in Europe...). Fellow BCers in London, Andy and Carl also had siblings in town, so as a huge group of Asians (yes, I was with a huge group of Asians) we went out to the Absolut Ice Bar in London. 15 pound entry included a free drink, but in my opinion totally worth the cost (as a one time thing).

If you have never heard of an ice bar, it's exactly how it sounds. Everything in the bar is made of ice, from the stools to the walls to the glasses and the bar itself. The room is kept at a cool -5 degrees celsius, and they give you these sweet parka type things with gloves to keep you warm. To add to the allure of the place, all of the ice is made from water in the Torne River in Sweden and then imported to London.

BC '07 in London rockin the sweet parkas

Ice Glasses on an Ice Bar filled with crazy drinks with names like "Winter Kiss" (yes the drinks were really cold to hold, even with gloves)

Back to reality...the next morning I woke up and was not quite as determined to go explore as with Hyde Park, but I pulled myself out of bed anyway. Also unlike the previous excursion, I wasn't alone this time. My good friend Irfana, of Emory University also studying abroad at LSE, joined me in walking about 15 minutes to Borough Market. Some (John Finnegan) say that my not going to Borough Market until my 10th week at school is unforgiveable, and having gone I totally agree. Essentially it's a higher-end farmer's market, complete with everything from a stall that specializes in blueberries to a stall that specializes in ostrich meat. I've said it before, but if you know me, you know that I love a place like this.

Welcome to Borough Market

So much food, too bad I had a strict budget at this place...I plan on going back when my mom comes next weekend though

Brownies, and there were at least two other stalls that had comparable stacks

That's it for this week. I hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving and a quick shout out to Tristan for turning 21. Between Tristan and Harms the South is rising to power...

As usual if you're looking for more pictures click the My Photos link on the right.