Dinerama

Summertime in London is so eventful.  Its all about rooftop gardens, beer gardens, festivals/concerts, hot tub cinema (?!?), picnics in the park and street feasts to name a few. When my friend Debbie suggested we check out Dinerama as an alternative to a sit down dinner for out next outing, we were pumped. Can't say no to checking out a bunch of pop up restaurant food all in one place!

This is a summer event only, so we were happy we got a chance to check it out before the season was over. The day was beautiful and sunny but come night fall, we were hit with face slapping winds, chills, and rain (none of which we were prepared for). We were literally sitting in the rain. BUT that didn't bring us down! The first 3 pictures are courtesy of Debbie:)

I was also surprised by the cleanliness of it all. The bathrooms were plentiful and clean and they had people clearing out trash often so it wasn't dirty at all. This worked out well since between our group we probably tried all 7 or 8 of the restaurants:) The food was delicious. They even had prosecco and wine flowing for the non-beer lovers. Ram and I shared paneer fries, buttermilk fried chicken and beef tacos, brisket and pulled pork sliders. (I'm missing a few pictures cause well, we were hungry :p)

The next day we found out there was a fire around 4am that wiped out about half the place. That was so scary to hear but luckily no one got hurt. Had we lingered around a few more hours, that might have been a different story! 

4th of July

It was interesting to spend the 4th of July in enemy territory this year. Fun fact: the British accent as we know it developed after the Revolution to distinguish the upper class from the lower class. It was fashionable to speak with this posh accent. No one knows exactly how or why the Americans lost their "accent" but the most noticeable difference is Americans pronounce their "R's" whereas Brits don't.

As expected, there were only a few select July 4th celebrations publicly announced and most of them were organized by American ex-pats. One military organization was actually going to put on a fireworks show about an hour outside of London, but it got cancelled due to threats (?!). There was the option of a pot luck picnic but it was an hour away and didn't start until late afternoon which didn't make sense for Riya's schedule. So we decided to have our own impromptu picnic at our favorite park in Richmond.  (Impromptu = picking up food from Whole Foods:) It was a pretty morning and Riya was all smiles:

The next day it was rainy so we decided to check out the Museum of Natural History in South Kensington. They open at 10am and there was a line around the block when we got there, which we didn't anticipate. Entry is free but it took us a longer than expected to get inside, so we didn't get much time to hang out there but definitely worth going back. Later that day we decided to BBQ as the rain cooled everything down and it was so pretty outside.  Nothing more American than homemade sweet tea and hot dogs and burgers on a Sunday!

Rendezvous in Paris

We did a last minute trip to Paris this past weekend, and I'm so glad we did. Ram has been traveling to several different countries since last Sunday and heading his first road show. His boss and other colleagues joined him on this trip. It is a huge milestone for him and I'm so proud of him and happy he got one under his belt:)

Anyway, his last city was Paris and he was going to have a weekend there. He asked us to join him mid-week. I got really excited at the thought of a weekend get away and that we could take the train for 2.5 hours and voila, we'd be in Paris. Last time we were in Paris it was Christmas time, which is always especially magical in Europe. But it was so nice to see Paris in the summer. The architecture is gorgeous and on every corner there is always something to catch your eye. I can see why it's called the "City of Love."

We arrived Saturday afternoon and after Riya's nap, we decided to just walk around. Our hotel was walking distance to the Galleries Lafayette, so we walked over and it was SO crowded. We immediately regretted bringing the stroller and turned back. So no shopping for me:/ Ram lucked out this time! We stumbled across a playground on our way back, which Riya loved.

Sunday morning, Father's Day, was cloudy but otherwise a nice day. So we hit up Lover's Bridge first since we didn't go on our last visit. Sadly, they are taking all the locks down because the bridge is sinking and we weren't able to add one of our own, but I am happy we were able to see it. Next we walked over to Notre Dame and lastly the Eiffel Tower. It was good we hit up the sites in the morning because there was a city wide musical concert taking place in the afternoon and everything was going to be shut down!

We spent the afternoon checking out the Google office (Ram's fav one thus far) and the cafes in our hood. Roaming the streets of Paris with my loves made it the perfect weekend. Oh, and I got a sneak peak at Moulin Rouge on our way to the train station! Very sketchy area close to Ram's hotel. Hmmm.

I posted the best pics on FB, but here are pictures from our trip:

The Royal Ascot

This week marks the start of the Royal Ascot. The Royal Ascot is an annual horse race that lasts for 5 days and takes place in Ascot, Berkshire (1.5 hours outside of London). Always attended by the Royal family, this is one of the major social events of the year in the UK. The tradition dates back to 1711!

One of these five days is called Ladies Day. Dedicated to, you guessed it, the Ladies. This is a social event just for the Ladies to get all dressed up and wear those fabulous hats. But its not that simple...there is a dress code. Your dress must be a certain length, and no sleeveless allowed! Hats are required and there are restrictions on the diameter and overall size of your hat! I'm guessing they don't want anyone upstaging the Royal family:)

Who wouldn't want to spend a day all dressed up smoozing and boozing (sparkling for me:p) with London socialites and the Royal family?! I was dying to attend Ladies Day when I found out about it but sadly it wasn't in the cards for me this year. Ram is traveling for work. Boo.

Next year I'm going to make it happen!

So in honor of Ladies Day, I leave you with these pictures from previous years:

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A Royal procession each day before the race begins

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The 6 Month Mark

Saturday officially marks 6 months here in London. Where did the time go? Dubai is still quite fresh in our memories, though we are definitely not missing the 120 degree heat wave they are experiencing now.

This is our 4th year abroad so by now I know it takes 6 months to a year to completely adjust to a new city/country. I'm kinda having a love/hate relationship with our new home right now but that's mainly because we still haven't managed to expand our circle of friends. But I know that takes more than 6 months to accomplish. It's funny how in Dubai, I had zero friends the first year because I didn't have a kid. And it seems like the opposite here. There is a booming social scene here for singles/married no kids or moms with school-aged kids.

Sometimes it seems very discouraging, but I've felt that way before and things always change for the better. So I'm hanging in there!

6 months in London means I haven't driven in that long. I definitely miss having my own car. Especially when the 1 of 2 buses I use frequently, are always late. Riya does not like to wait people!
Apart from that, there isn't really anything else I miss right now. The food here is great and there's plenty of culture to go around.

Well its bright and sunny and dare I say approaching HOT, so time to go outside and play!

It's the simple things in life...

Sorry I have been MIA for so long! Didn't realize its been almost a month now since my last post.

We are finally settled and alas the routine of life has finally crept in and taken over.

Life in London has made me realize (as most new cities do) how sometimes its the simple things that matter. I miss simple gimmes. You know, things us Americans take for granted. Like joining a gym and getting free daycare along with your membership. All the big gyms here have creches (daycare) but they operate separately, charge their own fees, require advance booking, and non-gym members are allowed to use them. So you know what that means? I'll never get in. I'm still waiting to hear back though...it's only been a week.

I've also come to the realization that I am not equipped to entertain Riya for 10 hours a day on a regular basis. She knows it and I know it. So I've been looking into part-time nursery schools nearby in the hopes that 2-3 mornings a week will help us both out. Sadly, London doesn't agree with me. They give priority to full timers (7:30am-5pm or later) and don't even advertise the possibility of part-time. After some digging, I was able to find a place that would be willing to do part-time in the sense of 2 full days (not just mornings) but they quickly told me, I would be at the end of a very long wait list since part-timers are not given any priority. Even IF I considered full-time, it costs as much as rent, so that's not an option. Sigh...

Apart from that, we have dealing with another issue closer to home. I'm not sure I blogged about it before, mainly because I'm in denial, but our Luca baby has had a heart murmur for a year now and recently started showing symptoms. So far he is responding well to medication and apart from a hacking cough, he is still our loving, sleepy, toddler-fearing, floppy eared fellow. I can't bear the thought that London will be his last home.

Alright, enough about that. I promise to be more upbeat in my next entry:)

Starting over...yet again.

After moving to 3 different cities in the last 3 years, I've realized that making friends is very much like dating.

You go to a popular spot, scan the room, and make eye contact. Then you wait for the right time to approach and strike up a conversation. And you wonder if this person, this stranger, could be your new best friend.

Sound familiar?

As a mom, it goes beyond that. Does she have kids Riya's age? Is she a stay at home mom?? Is she willing to invest in a friendship that will cross borders at some point???

I'm in need of mom friends bad. Having that connection with someone that is going through the exact same thing you are is so therapeutic and keeps me sane.

I'm a shy person which makes this task even more difficult. And I've heard over and over again that its really hard to get into a social group here. I posted on several Facebook Mum pages that I'm willing to host a playdate at ours, but no response. Of course I'm also limited to the areas that are close to me as no one is going to travel 45 minutes to meet us. I get that. But its been frustrating.

I kept running into this girl from my building who has a 6 month old baby (non-walkers are always welcome at my place, ha) so I finally got up the courage to introduce myself and invite her over for tea. She happily agreed. Originally from Australia, she's been living in London for 10 years, the last 5 in Putney. I was hoping she would be a great resource to tap into despite the age difference in our babies. She gave me a few helpful tips, but I soon realized that our kids age difference would pose a problem in the near future. She kept telling me how she loves to go shopping, sip on her coffee, and run errands while her baby naps in the stroller. She asked me if I wanted to go shopping around lunchtime.

I think Riya stopped napping on the go when she was 4 months old. I told her to enjoy this freedom and shop for me as those days are long gone. Ironically I haven't run into her since then, but I'm not putting too much thought into that.

I have finally discovered a playground closeby and plan to frequent that playground and scout for some new friends. That's right, I'm going to stalk people! Wish me luck!