art'ing around london and vienna

first, sorry it took me so long to write a post - i hope the events of the last week of my little jaunt haven't entirely escaped my memory...

so where were we? yes, i was about to run off to get mussels with my friend david and his friend ryan at a belgian place in covent gardens where the waiters are ever so subtly dressed as monks....and where the mussels are shockingly good.

then we went off to the tate modern (yes, again), but this time to see the cy twombly and street & studio photography exhibit. both were great....i really like the tate modern more than the new moma....for a whole list of reasons that i won't get into here, but i'd be more than happy to discuss this with anyone interested, whenever...

then i went back to max's flat in bloomsbury (the west end), and we took a stroll - among other things i saw a BEDFORD square (hipsters eat your heart out) - and then met up with his friends from lse for dim sum & beers. then we went to a bar, but too bad, last call was at ELEVEN THIRTY ON A SATURDAY NIGHT...so then we went to another bar, which had the same policy, but had been swamped by a birthday party, so we were able to order one round...london is great and all, but midnight, seriously?

anyway, next day i went to the markets - spitalfields and old brick lane (or something like that) - i wish all the pound prices were really usd prices, because i would have bought up EVERYTHING at some of the stands. like this one artist who makes ridiculous jewelry - necklaces with rocking horses, 3-D shopping carts, bicycles, etc. in bling gold...lots of very very unique, cool stuff.

after i had spent everything i had just taken out of the atm 3 hours prior, i strolled about and then returned to max's, where we had dinner and watched british tv....aaah, the wonders of british humour.

next day, natalie picked me up in the morning...natalie is a twentysomething lawyer at white and case - hungarian too! - who i met in california during spring break two years back while with my sister, through my sister's friend...and after i had missed my flight to new york for cardozo admitted weekend, i decided to stay in san fran with my sister and the two of them to go drinking around napa, and "hang out" rather than go back to school ;) anyway, so nat and i hung about her flat by hyde park and walked around the notting hill area...at one point we made the mistake of walking into some floral potpourri soap place, which was all disheveled, and english country cute, but not tacky or overwhelmingly nauseating in terms of smell, and this was all a mistake because the woman was off her rocker.

"do you want to smell something-something rose thing?"
huh? "uh, no thanks, just looking"
"well it doesn't cost you anything to smell"
etc. etc. etc.

later we went to see a woman named natasha panas perform - jazzy soul singer who went to nat's high school - b/c her single just got released...quite good, and i got to meet one of nat's best friends who has the same birthday as me, as does her sister, who is two years younger than her - nuts.

next day, among other things, we did a whirlwind tour of the landmark sights, shopped in chelsea, had linner at a wonderful bistro, and went to selfridges (really nice dep't store) because i had to pick up my shoes which were in repair, and we had to see the clothes, chat with the guy at nars, and test all this perfume, like teenage girls. haha.

left for vienna next morning (wednesday). out of luton...liked that experience more than stansted, in case any of you ever need to decide b/w the two. also easy jet makes ryan air look like shit.

anyway, got to vienna....gusts of wind and rain. freezing. my head cold of the past two days had turned into something worse because of the whole flying thing, and b/c of the rain that lasted for the next two days in vienna, by friday, i felt like crap ;(

so i got to the hostel, and met up with felipe there. then we walked in the rain for like an hour... got dinner and then went to a place called 1516 brewing company, where they have beer that they make according to the old beer laws of 1516...good stuff. also drank copious amounts of hard cider.

next day we went to the leopold museum where we saw a huge amount of egon schiele and gustav klimt's work. some kokoschka as well. AND this was interesting...there was an exhibit of the modern art of the faroe islands - an island chain between iceland and the uk. random, no?

then we went to the secession building, where you can see the real beethoven frieze that klimt made...at the neue gallery earlier this year, at their klimt exhibit, you could see a faithful representation of this frieze. it was entirely different seeing it here at the bottom of this building, which feels surprisingly austere on the inside, considering the gold-leaf dome and gilded lettering that define the building's exterior.

later we went to the albertina, where you can see dutch masters, old state rooms - super cool "wallpaper," downstairs there's an extensive paul klee collection....and though we went to the permanent gallery...there was no art on the walls, room descriptions - yes, audioguide numbers - yes, but art - no. you can even see the hooks where the paintings used to hang. i'm surprised we could get in...

we got tea, and decided that since it was 5ish, we would go to this place called Trzesniewski that i had read about. it's a stand-up cafe, where you order tiny open face sandwiches, with like egg or fish toppings, and it comes with a teeny mug of beer (125 ml), and it's awesome. there were all these 40/50/60/70 somethings coming there after work to enjoy this or just getting a box of this toasts to take home....i loved it.

we strolled over to a part of town called "bermuda's triangle" - so-called b/c it's a pub area, and b/c people that get drunk there tend to get "lost" inside it...get it...!!!?! went to a funny little bar called mojo, which had weird decor and red lighting, and still managed to feel like a chain....got rounds of drinks, played mash (my new favorite drinking/bored in class/whenever game), and hangman...after a few rounds we decided to head off in search of a late-night meal...and came upon immervoll, which was very cool - reminded me of westville, but cooler, and different food, but same chalkboard, meets casual white tables, meets gourmand dining kind of thing.

then we headed off in the direction of home, but first stopped off at a bar called Rhiz, which is below the u-bahn (metro), but not in the metro station, just below the rail line....very cool. we proceeded to drink a lot. the music was awesome. we drank a lot. we stayed a while. i think we got home at like 4.

i of course entered my hostel room (3 beds including my own...weird for a hostel)...to find the couple i shared a room with sleeping in the same bed...went to the bathroom, came out, they were in separate beds. this exact thing happened the night before too. straaaange.
next morning, i get woken up by the happy couple, b/c they were fiddling with plastic bags. how many? i couldn't tell you, b/c i'm blind as a bat without my contacts in, and don't have my glasses with me. but it went on for an eternity. and of course, i was hungover, with a head cold (i'm a genius), and i wanted to pick up one of my bags and crumple it over and over again, but i didn't. but really, i think this went on for over an hour. i wanted to shoot them. or suffocate them with their own plastic bags. they finally left, and i finally fell back asleep, of course, hungover, aaagh, feli came in at like noon, by then i felt fine....in our legs exhausted, coming out of hangovers disposition, we proceeded to get ready, get on the u-bahn and go to the summer palace of the hapsburgs....VERY COOL. the audioguide was actually good too.

later, we went to the belvedere, b/c i wanted to see more klimt, including the kiss, which is worth seeing in person, i think, and judith...

i think we went back to 1516 after eating sacher torte at the hotel sacher, which you can't go to vienna and not do...and of course it was great. i think the rest of the night we just drank and got another late night schnibble at a place called stomach - feli was very keen on this name....and then we dipped into a weird weird bar called 3 centimeters...where they were playing johnny cash, and bluesgrass, and we were like the only people there, even though it was friday night...and most of the bars and restaurants were closed, the streets were empty....

next day i went back to budapest....where i've been for the past few days. i know i said i wasn't going to croatia, but i think i might be going tomorrow night. jaja.

kusse,
amie