From Russia @ The Royal Acadamie of Arts

Tiphaine - a friend of Camille's that I had already met in my first week here - suggested to go and see the "From Russia" exhibition at the Royal Academie of Arts.
The exhibition is still open until the 18th of April and shows French and Russian paintings from 1870 to 1925 that brings together real masterpices from Russia's most important Museums in Moscow an St. Petersburg.

The exhibition features paintings from Renoir, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Monet, Matisse, Kandinsky, Tatlin, Malevich and many Russian artists I didn't know before. It is an impressive exhibition with a lot of wonderful pieces. As we had arrived early (at 11 o'clock) and also had the bonus that the clocks had been changed the night before, there was almost no queue to get in. We spent over two hours wandering through the exhibition. Unfortunately we 'lost' Tiphaine in there and as I didn't hear my mobile (I'm not even sure if I had a signal in there), she had left when we came out because she wasn't sure if we were still there :( I would have loved to have a coffee and a chat together afterwards....next time, hopefully!

Outside again, a sunny afternoon lay in front of us and we went for a stroll through Soho up to Buckingham Palace. I'm not sure if the Queen was at home or not... she didn't come out to say hello. Only her funny guards were standing unshakenly in front of the palace. Watching them made me think of someone else, who tends to stand in front of doors :)

Looking round from Buckingham Palace, you can see a lot of other famous buildings (or at least their top bits). The London Eye, Big Ben and many of which I had no idea of what they were (but I'm sure they ARE some kind of important landmarks). I really enjoyed this moment...it suddenly made me realise, that I am really living in LONDON now and that there are so many things to discover. One of the first things to do when the shops open again on Monday is to buy a good London guide book to fill up all these nasty knowledge gaps. And when the flood of visiting friends is starting to stream in, I'll hopefully have some things to say about all these important touristy things :))

Oh yes, and two more things to tell:

1. I found my 4th Space Invader (on Noel Street)
2. We had an absolutely yummy dim sum lunch at ping pong (45 Great Marlborough Street, W1F 7JL). It's a small chain with several restaurants in London and they serve a large and very tasty variety of steamed and fried dim sum as well as lovely green tea (that opens like a flower in your glass) and freshly made lemonade.
   And at the moment, the wrapper of their chopsticks is a voucher for a 3 pound discount for the China Design Now exhibition at the V&A, which makes it 5 instead of 8 quid.
   

Pay Day: hooray!

After a day of doing a bit of logo design work for some friends, Nat came over to London. To celebrate my first earned English money on my bank account, I took him out for dinner. What a wonderful feeling that the weekly email from my bank now doesn't tell me anymore that my balance is 0.00 GBP :)
After a little stroll around Islington, we decided to have some Turkish food in a small restaurant called Gallipoli (120 Upper Street, N1 1QP). The food was absolutely delicious, the staff really friendly and the athmosphere cozy and relaxed. They have loads of different hot and cold mezze to choose from (also a big veggie selection) as well as fish, meat and veggie mains. Yum!

Adieu Space Invaders, hello Space Invaders

It already happened in the first week. Whilst on a little shopping trip on Tottenham Court Road (I bought a new graphic tablet - a WACOM Bamboo Fun - which is great by the way), I discovered my first London Space Invader. "Yipiiieee" was my first thought and a broad smile appeared on my face, combined with the feeling of suddenly being at home in a foreign city.

Some might ask now: "What the **** are you talking about?", others might smile knowingly. I am talking about these little colorful creatures, made out if mini-tiles, sticked to walls, stairs, monuments, pillars and other structures in urban space.

The person doing this is a Paris based artist who calls himself Space Invader. I first got introduced to his little creature in 2003 when I did my internship in Paris. A friend showed me "my first one", somewhere around Bastille. Since then I loved keeping my eyes open to enlarge "my collection".

In Paris there are around 700 (I didn't find them all yet...hey, another reason to go back!!)... in London apparently 101. I already found 3... unfortunately, my camera was out of battery, so I couldn't take picture (which I will certainly do later!). The photos above are some of the Parisian invaders I hunted down earlier.

I love the fact of being able to continue this little hobby of mine to disturb daily routines.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everybody! Frohe Ostern et Joyeuses Pâques!
I'll be off to Cologne from Friday till Monday.

I should really pack my bag now, as I am going to see Nat tomorrow evening straight from work and I'll take the plane from Stansted very early on Friday morning... but as usual: I hate packing...hmmm, will do it, though :)

Für alle Menschen, die an Ostern auch in Köln sind: wäre schön, Euch über den Weg zu laufen! Just send me a text.

Applying for a National Insurance Number

When you first start working in the UK, you have to apply for a National Insurance Number, which is necessary for pension and (I guess) social security stuff. To do so, you need to get an interview at a local jobcenter. When I phoned up to make an appointment, the lady on the phone told me, that amongst other papers, I will need to make a list of all trips I made to England within the last 2 years (with entry and exit date for each trip)... hmmmmm, I guess making this list will take me a while :)

When I explained my situation to her and that it might be impossible to come up with an accurate list, she said, I should at least try, because this would at least show some good will to the person who will interview me...

It's a funny thing, but it seems to me, that this is something that the British burocracy likes: lists from the past. When opening up a bank account, I had to provide the bank with a list of all the adresses I have lived over the last 5 years. And I already thought THAT was a challenge ;)

Well, at least I have enough time to dive into the past as the interview is only on the 18th of April. Apparently there are only 5 jobcenters doing these interviews for the whole of London.

Mit Brit in der Kick Bar

After Brit had re-gained her voice (which she apparently had lost the week I arrived), we finally met up. We started by going to an "art show opening" in Hackney. Well....not a lot of art to be honest... Just a wall decorated with Arsenal wall-paper, some bad neon-coloured-80s-style-paper-collage on a wall and a home-video of children taking a bath.... ääähm, yes, well, art? mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, nope.

So we hopped to the pub not far with some other people and when they had to leave as well, we took the bus to a nicer part of town and had a drink in the Kick Bar (126-127 Shoreditch High Street, E1 6JE).
It's a cool 50s-style-ish bar with several Babyfoots (hence the name "Kick"), high ceilings and a relaxed but bustling atmosphere. I definitely have to come back to have a go at the "Kicker"!
It was really great to see Brit...hope that's going to happen much more often from now on :)

Adieu K+A, hello Yahoo!

I have to admit, I really was a bit nervous before my first day at work...
Swapping an office with 2 collegues with a building where around 500 people work on 5 floors for a company with way over 10.000 employees IS quite a change :)

The UED team is located on the 6th floor, together with lots of other groups. We have a great view over a hodge-podge of buildings from different eras and in different styles. This is so not Paris-like and I really love it!

After arriving around 10 o'clock, Alain took me round the building and I got my computer....heeeeyyy, finally: my first mac!!! And later in the afternoon, my screen arrived as well. The rest of the day was filled with, getting used to my computer, setting up email and access to the intranet and some shared drives, firing off some IT requests for missing software and other little stuff. All my collegues seem to be really nice and helpful.
Wow, what a start. Definitely loads of things to get my head round, many people to meet, many names to remember... but I'm absolutely excited!

Adieu Canal St. Martin, hello Regent's Canal

To relax a bit the day before starting my new job and to explore my new neighborhood, Nat and I went for a great walk along the canal, which "starts" just round the corner from my place. Between Kings Cross and Angel the canal runs underground. We chose to walk westbound, strolling via Camden Town with its Market(where we sat down on a wall and had a coffee and some carrot cake that we had bought on the market earlier) to Regent's Park. The stroll along the canal is really beautiful. Some parts of it make you forget that you actually are in one of the largest (if not THE largest) city in Europe. It feels so calm and rural with the locks, a lot of green around and even some geese relaxing on the shores... It has got a very different feel from Canal St. Martin, but I immediately fell in love with it as well...I just like water, I guess :)

Towards the end of our walk (at Regent's Park), the canal runs along the London Zoo, and you can actually see some animals... birds and a really big "Wildschwein" (hmmm, I think the English word is hog...the French is "sanglier", of that I'm sure :). And just a couple of hundred meters later, this weird Chinese restaurant on a boat. Straaaaaaange!

Watching Rugby at the Islington Tap

My first "real weekend" in London... and of course some sport is on.
It's the Six Nations Cup, England playing against...hmmmm, I think it was Scotland (see how MAD I am about rugby :))

But as Nat IS and he came over on Saturday to see what my new place looks like now that all boxes are unpacked, I found a pub round the corner, where we joined a good local crowd to watch the match. It's called "The Islington Tap" (80 Liverpool Road, N1 0QD)

Unfortunately England lost, but the chips were gorgeous :))

Adieu Marché Aligre, hello Islington Famers' Market

As I will miss the Marché Aligre (and the coffee in the sun afterwards with Camille) massively, one of the first things to check out: where to go shopping my weekly fruit and veggies in my new neighborhood.... The internet found this for me: The Islington Farmers' Market on Sundays from 10am to 2pm at William Tyndale School (behind the Town Hall), Upper Street, Islington. N1
I'll definitely check that one out... now I just need to find a nice coffee shop around the corner and some good company for the after shopping chat (hmmmm, this part might be a bit more difficult...)

Adieu Pont Neuf, hello Tower Bridge....

adieu Tour Eiffel, hello Gherkin....
adieu métro, hello tube...
adieu Bastille, hello Tower ....
adieu Andouillette, hello Toad in a hole....
adieu Champs Élysée, hello Oxford Street ...
adieu croissant et café, hello full english ...
adieu mk2, hello odeon,
adieu vin rouge, hello pale ale...
adieu Gare du Nord, hello St. Pancras...
adieu Euro, hello Pound...
adieu passe Navigo, hello Oyster card....
adieu Nouvelle Star, hello X-Factor....
adieu Nicolas, hello Gordon ...
adieu bar du coin, hello local pub...
adieu PARIS, hello LONDON !

Today is the day... after 3 wonderful years in Paris, I'm leaving to finally be closer to my Sweety-Pie... crossing The Channel - La Manche - to live, work, play, breathe, eat, laugh, love and cry (hope not that often) in London.

I'm leaving a beautiful city, an interesting job, nice collegues, great friends and tasty croissants behind to start a new chapter full of small and big adventures :) some tears in my eyes and a big smile on my face I am saying HELLOOOOOOOO to my new home...

...et merci Paris. Je t'aime. :)