a week in london

henlo. i am sorry that i am behind the schedules, i try to update the site every friday but since i was travelling for the last 2 fridays, things got ahead. and i am cheating a bit with the publish date of this week's (it's sunday but i have the freedom to claim it's friday), as i don't want to give up too much from the cadence promise in the list :D

ardis was out for a week for work. and i took the chance to work and travel as well. it was my first time in london. and, it was a blast! i was extremely lucky that i found a beautiful victorian house for my stay, the weather was absolutely beautiful the whole week. i dedicated the weekend to the museums mostly. and for the weekdays, it was relatively a low key week at work that i was leaving work on time to roam around, also made use of lunch breaks to see nearby galleries around the office. it was also super freeing to play it by the ear, as i haven't planned anything before. and it was cool that i didn't have to break my gym streak, i simply used the classpass free trial and it was more than enough to go 4 times during the week.

let me log what happened:

friday 24 april: arrival and orientation

arrived to office to get the keys first (because i was renting a collegue's place who was out for two weeks in japan), worked a half day there, then headed to home to continue working and then did some groceries for the week. i already had my first 20k steps there, because there was a strike for the subway and i thought i was light enough to walk home but it was a bit challenging with the carry on.

cooked at home and slept early.

saturday 25 april: brunch, tourist duties, freud, blues

went to "abuela", spanish tortilla, cappuccino. hyped for weird cream topped matcha drinks but genuinely loved the interior.

walked to the national portrait gallery to see lucian freud: drawing into painting, drawings and etchings, i was in love with his etchings.

walked from there to big ben and the london eye, paid the tourist duty

i wanted to also index the national gallery for the last hour before closing. saw the highlights in rush: van eyck's arnolfini portrait, leonardo's virgin of the rocks, rembrandt's self-portrait at the age of 63, velazquez's rokeby venus, van gogh's sunflowers.

then walked to soho. found the golden union and had my longed fish & chips moment.

then carnaby street and just randomly searched where to listen something live, and found the ain't nothin' but the blues bar for a short set. walked dean street at night before going home.

sunday 26 april: east london markets, tate modern

went to ozone coffee for -the best omelette ever- breakfast. walked to columbia road flower market, it was not the most allergy friendly venue but beautiful. checked the ceramicists, vintage homeware, and smol maker shops.

spent the afternoon in shoreditch generally: vintage, silver, ceramics.

then went to tate modern in the afternoon. the rothko room was something i was pretty curious to sit and feel the room, but i am not sure if the idea actually worked with me with crowd being around all the time.

monday 27 april: cornelissen, cecil court, foyles, courtauld

gym in the morning. office full day.

lunch break, walked from the office to l. cornelissen & son. it was like a candy store but weirdly the majority of the brushes or the paints were german. then walked to cecil court, the antique booksellers street, and checked foyles for some books.

evening: the courtauld gallery. booked for the seurat exhibition specially. saw the permanent collection first: manet's a bar at the folies-bergere, cezanne's the card players, van gogh's self-portrait with bandaged ear, cezanne's mont sainte-victoire, degas's two dancers on a stage. then the seurat, small oil sketches on wooden panels from the channel coast and then the scale ups. this guy's technique was weirdly way impressive on smaller scales.

tuesday 28 april: afterwork beers, dinner with collegues

gym in the morning. office day.

the day became unexpectedly social, caught up with old teammates, drinks after work, then had a dinner together in an indian restaurant, i had my samosa moment too, heh.

wednesday 29 april: office, evening marylebone

skipped the gym. i was tired with all the walk and the cutting from the sleep for the gym all the time. office day.

another afterwork with the office people for one drink. then head to marylebone. browsed daunt books. didn't get the bag.

thursday 30 april: soane, friend, theatre

gym in the morning. office day.

had an hour of evening break, at sir john soane's museum. the most atmospheric small museum in london, and the light in the space was wow. and what stuck with me is that, how much this guy invested in "to be seen" from the society he wanted to be. like he kept proving himself. it was just a reminder that it takes a whole life to beat some people's "just" inherited privileges.

evening, met with andres after work. it was super sweet that we also saw a show together from ekleido, splice | rorschach. it was absolutely fabulous. a live performance that resembling the rorschach inkblots with electronic music. the music was from floating points which andres was after for, and which i didn't know who he was, but he was my this week's background noise.

friday 1 may: hyde park, borough market, fly home

final day. may 1st, holiday in germany but i took the day as working day, since i was happy with what i covered already, i didn't want to spend the flexible holiday.

up very early, first dropped the luggage to the office. then went to the gym, then asked the gym reception to keep my backpack for half an hour and ran the serpentine loop about 5 km around the lake. best moment of the trip, it felt so good for some reason. clear sky with 24 degrees, whole place sparkling with spring, green grass all over. it was fantastic.

and headed to the office, showered, returned the keys to security.

after work, before the flight, went to borough market. i got an americano from monmouth coffee and a bag of beans as a souvenir to home. and then headed to the stansted express.

smol thoughts

full of a week, endless walks, i walked like 115km in total, some major museums and galleries done. people were absolutely the sweetest. and one reflection is that, language, of course. the feeling comes everytime in an english speaking country, this time didn't surprise either. living in germany with very limited german, i have this avoidance curtain the whole time, like no random conversations can happen in the street, even a chance you ran away from it. but my confidence in london, when it's just english, was on another level. like random conversations are not something to shy away, smol talks are something for me to start as well, anytime i am confused, i can simply speak out and ask instead of first decrypting it online.

this also opens up the question of berlin vs london, why not living in london. there were many moments made me miss berlin so much but this question was back in mind, how would it be to live here. and i was partly experimenting that actually. like it was intentional that i tried to cook at home almost the whole week, went to gym before work, went to office everyday. to get the feeling. the apartment was exact equivalent of where we live in berlin as well, like in terms of neighbourhood and space so it was a very controlled experiment.

overall it felt like istanbul, the hectic city life, people hustling all the time, posh places, the class you can be in or you should be out, working with your outlook constantly. also everyone grinding all the time which is good and bad. how come the whole neighbourhood would be running in groups at 6 am with pace 4? the gyms were packed in early morning hours as if it's the evening hours.

but that cool city life was something to drool, all the cool kids. the language and the confidence it brings. and unlike the promise, berlin is not way cheaper than london in comparison to me. the rent yes but it was also sensible if you compare it fairly with the salary bands as well. and the cultural scenery is absolutely another thing to drool. but on the other hand, i really like berlin that it feels so accessible in all manner, down to earth, nobody cares what you do what you wear who you are, and still a managable town, while still the citying happens. but of course, just a week of observations.

anyways, it was a great solo trip after ages, missed ardis big time but also enjoyed my me time to the fullest.