I arrived in London and had a few hours for sightseeing on my own. I came across this amazing window display in a fancy shoppe in Soho. They created 3 Dimensional versions of classic paintings, but displayed them within a frame. It created a really interesting, surreal effect as you walked by the windows (peripherally, you would think that you're seeing a flat painting, but the perspective kept changing). Here are a couple of my favorites...
I wandered over to Trafalgar Square, where they were in the process of decorating for the holidays.
Pieces for a giant menorah lay scattered in the foreground, while a crane helps put up an enormous Xmas tree in the background.
I'm not sure if this massive ship in a bottle was special for the holidays or not, but it was really cool!There was a transit strike the day I arrived in London, so I walked about 5 miles with my suitcase and backpack to meet up with Brent at the venue in Brixton. It was interesting to check out a less touristy part of London, and totally worth it for the chance to see Brent's handsome face! When I arrived at the venue, I discovered the worst potato chip flavor of all time...
Menomena opened for the National at the O2 Academy to a sold out crowd that night. I got to watch their set from the wings of the stage. Sufjan Stevens was in London for some reason and made a guest appearance on stage with the National. I was SO excited when he showed up at the after party, too, but was too shy to talk to him {kicking myself}. Oh well. We'll just have to talk Michigan/Brooklyn next time, Sufjan.
The next day Menomena was headlining their own show in London, so that gave us some free time to explore the city in the morning. Brent and I met up with our friend Naima, and explored Covent Gardens. It was really cute and fun. Then Brent and I split off to meet up with our friend Chris for coffee. We opted to skip the Starbucks, and instead go to the seemingly local Costa Coffee shop. It wasn't until our friend Chris arrived that we learned that Costa is the Starbucks of Europe (even though there are also regular Starbucks in the UK). It's hard not to be a stupid American when you're in a foreign country!
Even though we were thousands of miles from home, we still managed to see a familiar face at the coffee shop...
Mark Hamilton (husband of my friend Andrea, father of Scarlett, and bass player extraordinaire in Ash.)Later that night, Chris treated us to drinks at one of his favorite bars. Brent got the award for ordering the drink with the fanciest glass!
This glass was so fancy, that it could not even stand up without it's wooden holder, prompting the question "How many drunk people have broken this fancy glass?"We spent the official first night of Hanukkah in Manchester. Although it was a very busy day with Menomena appearing on the BBC before the show, Brent and I managed to sneak away long enough to check out the world's coolest library... The John Rylands Library.
The library displayed many ancient books behind glass cases.
Unfortunately we didn't have very much time to explore the whole library, but I would love to go back and see what other treasures the magnificent library holds.
The 2nd night of Hanukkah, we spent in Glasgow, Scotland. This was my first time in Scotland, and we were welcomed by rolling hills covered with snow.
Brent and I visited the main square and shopping area of downtown Glasgow. We rode on my favorite carnival ride, the swinging chairs, and looked at all of the festive holiday decorations and watched people ice skate.
Our favorite decorations were across the arcades around the GOMA (Glasgow's Museum of Modern art). They draped strings of lights across the building tops to form a canopy of glowing, floating twinkles. It was so magical to walk through that space (especially with some cotton candy). Brent and I both took note of how they did it for potential future application in Brent's backyard. Wouldn't that be amazing for summer parties?
That night, Menomena played at a venue called The Arches. It was a strange, cavernous hall divided into multiple performance spaces. The ceilings consisted of high arching tunnels that created fascinating echos. I was really impressed with Fritz, Menomena's sound man and tour manager, for handling the sound so beautifully in that seemingly difficult and unusual space.
The 3rd night of Hanukkah, we visited Liverpool. We didn't have very much time to explore the Hometown of the Beatles, but we did see some crazy street lamps outside the venue.
Also, after the show we met some of the funniest dudes from the whole tour. Brent likes to draw little pictures for people who ask for autographs. One fan asked for a sexy armadillo drawing. The fan in line behind him, not to be outdone, said to Brent "I like sexy stuff, too." This prompted Brent to create my favorite autograph of all time...
The 4th night of Hanukkah was last stop on the tour, in Leeds. We got a chance to visit the vast car-free downtown shopping loop, and saw a disco ball Christmas tree!
Brent and I got to spend the 5th night of Hanukkah together in Slough (the London suburb near Heathrow where the British version of "The Office" takes place). We had dinner at the 3rd oldest Inn in London, The Ostrich, and found out after our meal that it is haunted! Check out the history page on their website to find out about all of the murders that took place there. Creepy!
The 6th-8th nights of Hanukkah I spent back home in New York, and celebrated with Brent via Skype. We lit the Menorahsaurus, as usual.
