BubbleDogs!...and Parliament...

I know I know - I've been quite for much too long.  I should probably have more to say besides a rave review for a new London restaurant...but in reality, BubbleDogs was that much fun :-)

A new spot in London, BubbleDogs (as you can see above) is hot dogs and Champagne (yes, with veggie dogs for anyone curious why I went).  It was a fun vibe and I highly recommend if you're in the area.

I also toured Parliament last weekend - which, doesn't quite compare to BubbleDogs but was also fun and interesting ;-)  For anyone curious (and thinking there are similarities), the same architect was involved in Parliament and Highclere Castle (where they film Downtown Abbey).

Brighton

I took a lovely day trip down to Brighton yesterday - it's only an hour from London by train and sit on the southern coast of England.  It became a big beach town when (then Prince Regent) King George IV built the Royal Pavilion and traveled down to 'take the waters' - because who doesn't know that drinking sea water cures all? ;-)

The day started off quite blustery and overcast, but some bits of sun came out over the afternoon and overall it was a great day.  Brighton is a really nice little city with plenty of cute little side streets for shopping, sitting in cafes and generally wandering.

GreenMan!

I stayed in lovely Wales last weekend for a classic British experience - the festival weekend.  It seems to be a big summer tradition here (seriously, everyone I talk to attends at least one!)  It's a weekend of camping (tent or camper vans are quite big here), music, food and general merriment.  We started out with quite a bit of rain (as you can see by the picture of my friends Helen and Dave below) but by Sunday the sun decided to pay us a visit.

My favorite parts of the weekend? 1. The Tea&Toast van - which literally just served a selection of hot teas 24x7 and toast with your choice of jam, butters, marmite, nutella, etc.  2. The drive back to Cardiff - I know that's a weird one, but the weather was gorgeous and views...just spectacular as I drove through Brecon National Park.

For my Mom...

Because the minute I saw this I thought of you laughing ;-)

Richmond Park

I took a lovely trip out to Richmond over the weekend - taking advantage of the intervals of sunlight.  Richmond Park (not surprisingly in Richmond, west side of London) is the largest royal park in London and is famous for wild deer (they belong to the Queen of course).  We were lucky enough for not just great weather - but saw quite a few wild deer roaming around!

Look at the deer!

Wimbledon!

Spent a great day at Wimbledon on Saturday with friends Chris and Margaret.  They release a number of grounds tickets each day for those that queue early - so we arrived at 5:30am and waited in line (in the frequent rain) until we finally made it in around 10:15.

We didn't have any tickets to the main events - but watched Serena Williams and Andy Roddick warm-up from quite close...and caught a bunch of great doubles and junior singles matches.  What a great venue and fabulous day spent in the rare London sunshine!

Catching up!

I have been appallingly lax in my blogging duties - a few weeks along here seem to have gotten away from me!

Since a fantastic visit with my friend Keri, I've been laying low.  Weekly trips to Wales have kept me plenty busy during the weeks - but my weekends have been delightfully much quieter so far this summer (if what we can call the UK weather lately summertime).

I had a great visit from my friend Ian for a night - and we spent the day in Camden Market.  You might remember it from an earlier post as a delicious area to wander and snack your way through - we only indulged in falafel this time, but delicious none the less!

Last weekend - I was able to see my dear friend Bethan here in London for a night (which included a trip to Shakespeare's Globe for see Henry V) and a trip to her family home in Portland (south England coast).

While in Portland we drove (with her parents) to a swannery in nearby Abbotsbury - which was so much fun as we walked through fields of sheep to feed the almost 200 swans (and some teenage signets)!