Lottchen in London

A weekend in Grömitz (at the Baltic sea)

2008-05-08T22:42:00.006+01:00

Another week, another birthday.
This time not a little bear, but my grandfather turned a year older. Nat and I went to visit him and meet my dad, my sister and her husband at his place.
We were absolutely lucky with the weather, spending a lot of time on the beach, enjoying the sun in a beachbasket, playing frisbee and even going for dip in the sea!

The bear's birthday picnic

2008-04-24T23:38:00.000+01:00

Time flies and the little bear already turned 4 this year. Much to his delight, we organised a little after work picnic in beautiful St. James' Parc (with outlook on Buckingham Palace). The bear was quite excited to spend a night in town, with all attention on him and -best of all- a fabulous birthday cake to share with friends.
Happy Birthday Bodo!!

Ein fröhlicher Verkehrspfosten

2008-04-23T00:38:00.001+01:00

Happy Birthday Elizabeth

2008-04-21T22:16:00.001+01:00

The Queen is turning 82 today.
I do wish her a very very happy birthday, a great party and hopefully a massive birthday cake :)

Cheesy namesake

2008-04-21T19:47:00.005+01:00

Looks like I found a long lost sister. She seems to have a successful career in the cheese business.

A weekend with Anke

2008-04-20T23:26:00.000+01:00

My ex-flatmate Anke spent last weekend in London. After we hadn't seen each other for almost 2 years, we had a LOT to chat about.

On Saturday we started our day with a great breakfast at the Breakfast Club (31 Camden Passage, N1 8EA). It's a really cute place that serves lovely hot and cold breakfast and wonderful smoothies (I had a "Green is Good" Smoothie with melon, spinach, mint, yoghurt and apple... very fresh and yummy!).
Besides the lovely location, the friendly service and the nice time we had, the breakfast was also a notable event, because Anke had her very first encounter with HP Sauce :))

After a little detour to Sainsbury's with their endless range of crisps and a stopover to drop the bags at home, we made our way into town for a stroll through Covent Garden with lots of shopping.

Later, Nat came over from Chelmsford and we went out in Shoreditch, starting with a tasty meal at Shish (313 – 319 Old Street, EC1V 9LE), a mini-chain (of 2 restaurants in London) specialised in oriental food like shish and hot and cold mezze.

Afterwards, we went for a drink in several bars in the area... at the Foundry (84-86 Great Eastern Street,EC2A 3HY), Bar Kick, and finally at the Favela Chic Club (91- 93 Great eastern Street EC2) a London dependance of a club in Paris with the same name. The club was quite fun... I absolutely loved the whimsical decoration: Big palmtrees, a pair of spare legs upside down, a patchworky wooden wall and circus like stripy pink hoola hoops hanging from the ceiling. The music was very mixed, sometimes a bit weird but one could feel that the DJ just had fun and that was pretty infectious...
Unfortunately the club closed at 2 o'clock and we hopped on a bus home... but after all we were a little bit tired from all the marching during the day :)

Sunday started a bit grey, but in the afternoon, the sun came out. After a bit of a success-less hunt for "the best fish'n'chips in town" we changed plans, got some nibbles in the supermarket and went for a picnic in Hyde Park.

Note: London squirrels are not afraid at all. This one seemed to be a real poser, patiently waiting for me to take my picture... and as soon as I put my camera away, it hopped off.

Sunset in Islington

2008-04-17T21:53:00.002+01:00

Coming home after work...catching this beautiful end of the day light just before getting home. Oooooooooooooooooooh. :)

Die besten Menschen der Welt...

2008-04-16T11:56:00.006+01:00

Gerade beim Radiohoeren nen Werbespot fuer DMAX gehoert. Scheint ein spezieller Fernsehsender fuer Maenner zu sein. Was mich aufhorchen liess, war deren absolut bekloppter Claim:

Fernsehen fuer die besten Menschen der Welt: Maenner

Das ist so ziemlich das Duemmste, was ich seit langem in Sachen Werbung / Branding gehoert habe. Sagt wohl einiges ueber die Zielgruppe aus.

Good Morning Mr. Coffeeshop

2008-04-16T09:14:00.002+01:00

This is a little story about small everyday rituals. On my every-morning way to the bus station, there is a little coffee shop. It is very small and looks quite nice and cosy. Every Morning I walk by, I look through the window. Sometime the guy working in there looks back and as it's stupid to just stare at each other, I started smiling (well, I'm a friendly person after all). Over the last weeks, A kind of "smiling relationship" developed. I walk by. look inside, guy (if he isn't busy serving customers) looks and smiles back.
As banal as it may sound: I love it. I am looking forward to walking by his shop every morning and getting my good morning smile. Today he waived with the big milk container that he had in is hand when I walked by. Hach, everyday life is great :)

This whole thing reminds me a bit of how proud I felt the first time during my internship in Paris, when the girl in "my bakery" said when I came in after work: "Une demi-baguette comme d'habitude?"
For me, feeling good is so much about relationships. Big and small. Important and banal. And feeling to be part of a community (even if it's only the community of regular customers of a bakery) and being recognised just makes you feel home and a little bit rooted.

And some day, I should not just walk by but have a coffee - and maybe a chat :)

In the studio with the Lunar Pilots

2008-04-12T13:01:00.013+01:00

Some pictures from the evening at the Dairy Studios in Brixton where some friends of Nat's were recording some songs last week. My first time at a recording studio (how very exciting) and the fact that people like Moby, Muse, Faithless and Athlete have recorded here make it even cooler :). It was a great evening... lots of fun, some beer and just very interesting and impressive things to see (like the monster mixing board and Paul playing the Glockenspiel :).
The Lunar Pilots have done very good work. The songs they recorded already sound really good - even if they are only rough versions at this point.

It was also the first time after quite a while, that I had the occasion to play table football. The guys didn't expect me to be good, I think... hehe.... how little did they know :) It was good fun winning a couple of times.

It just makes me smile every time...

2008-04-12T12:42:00.001+01:00

Welcome to Barnsbury Animal Park

2008-04-11T09:22:00.002+01:00

Walking out of the house today, a little squirrel crossed my way. And it was not shy in any shape or form...taking its time, stopping here and there, hopping happily around with its bouncing bushy tail.
After I my fox encounter only a couple of days ago, I'm curious which other animals are living in the neighborhood... rabbits, bears, lions, tigers...I'm waiting for you!

The crowds are shouting again

2008-04-10T14:36:00.002+01:00

It is already the second time since I've worked here, that there is crowd noise coming up from the streets... people shouting, voices, just a crowd making a noise.
The first time, I was wondering what was going on... a demonstration in the streets maybe...or an accident? I couldn't really think of anything else.
When I asked one of my colleagues, she said: "Well that's kind of normal here. You hear that quite often. There must be a celebrity down there somewhere."

To be honest, that was one of the least things I would have thought of.

I saw a fox today!

2008-04-07T12:52:00.002+01:00

When I was leaving the house at around 8:15 this morning to walk to the bus station, a fox crossed my way - running through the courtyard of the estate.
I wouldn't have expected that... but it makes a change from looking at Firefox all day.

The Grand National Clippediclopp

2008-04-06T14:03:00.009+01:00

After a making-our-own-pizza-(and-even-the-dow)-playing-cards-and-stay-up-late thing with Nat's lovely niece and nephew (Molly and Adam) on Friday night (the two are spending their school holidays in Chelmsford at the moment), the day of the Grand National started with lovely sunshine and simpsonesque skies.

Hold on, the day of the Grand National WHAT?
"Oh, you don't know...? How can you not know what the Grand National is?"
Hmmm, well, maybe because I'm not British...?

Anyway, I got taught all about it: The Grand National is a horse race. The course is 7 miles long, 30 obstacles need to be jumped over. It is a big event in Britain, not least because it is THE biggest betting race in the world. Many people who don't bet on horses normally, put a bet on one or more horses in the Grand National.
Just for the fun, I put down a pound on three horses (mainly because I liked their names) as well: L'ami, Mon Mome and Snowy Morning (hmmmm, I admit, there is a little affinity for French names going on here).

And hooray, Snowy Morning came in 3rd... I won 5.50 pounds with this bet, making a total earning of 3.50 pounds. A big success, I would say :)
By the way, the winner's name is "Comply or Die". What a stupid name for a horse. So stupid that I had almost put money on him, just because of the name... I finally didn't :( I would have been 5 or 6 pounds richer now. There is always next year.

We spent most of the afternoon in the pub, watching football, the Grand National (obviously) and chatting with friends of Nat's. I met Simon for the first time, the singer of The Lunar Pilots. The Lunar Pilots are a band I am designing a logo and a website for at the moment. We've been in contact only by mail and it was nice to meet him in person and have chat.
They are going to be in a recording studio in Brixton all of next week and Paul (the keyboarder and a good friend of Nat's) invited me to come over and visit them one evening after work. I am really looking forward to that. 1st, because it's always cool to hang out with rock stars (tongue in cheek :) and 2nd because I never saw a real recording studio from the inside. Yeah. Seeing new things is priceless!

Now it's snowing outside (hmmm, weird.... we really had a "Snowy Morning" today)... and I have to go back to London soon to do a little bit more work on the Lunars' website. I hope the trains won't be a shambles due to the weather... in England, you never know.

Invader N°3

2008-04-03T23:42:00.005+01:00

The third I found, just round the corner from work on my daily way to the office...

The first visitor

2008-04-03T22:28:00.006+01:00

What a pity! You just missed the race for the title of "Eva-Lotta's first foreign visitor in London". My Ex-flatmate Anke is going to come over in 2 weeks time! Hooray!

By the way: the title of "Eva-Lotta's first visitor in London ever" went out to my lovely boyfriend... Well, Nat helped me move and therefore also visited me first :)

But don't be sad, there are still some pretty attractive titles left to earn...
How about being

Eva-Lotta's first French visitor (oh, ça sent la compétition...)
Eva-Lotta's first short haired visitor
Eva-Lotta's first left-handed visitor
Eva-Lotta's first green-eyed visitor
Eva-Lotta's first visitor who brings flowers ;-)

All these titles are up for grabs, so come and visit me and enter the visitor's Hall Of Fame!

From Russia @ The Royal Acadamie of Arts

2008-03-30T21:28:00.007+01:00

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:

I found my 4th Space Invader (on Noel Street)
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!

2008-03-29T21:07:00.000Z

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

2008-03-27T22:08:00.005Z

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!

2008-03-19T22:34:00.002Z

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

2008-03-19T21:59:00.003Z

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

2008-03-14T21:37:00.001Z

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!

2008-03-11T21:10:00.002Z

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

2008-03-09T20:50:00.004Z

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

2008-03-08T20:26:00.006Z

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

2008-03-03T08:36:00.005Z

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....

2008-03-02T22:37:00.003Z

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. :)