Hello Everyone,

I guess it’s time for me to give you a little update on our first couple of weeks as “Londonians” (I know that this is probably not the proper term to use, but I thought it to be quite fitting nevertheless). I do apologize that I have not done this earlier, but this whole moving- and settling-in thing has made my productivity as well as my creativity suffer a little... But I am about to change that right now and I intend to give you a complete and rather detailed report on the happenings of the past few weeks. Here we go:

After both Art and I had made it off the plane sound and safe, our good friend Eva and her boyfriend Aman were so kind to give us shelter and refugee at their South Kensington residence. And believe me, we couldn’t have had a better place to start our London adventure: very central and luxurious accommodation, but more importantly, fabulous hosts. Eva and Aman were basically our own personal concierges who organized important matters, such as taking us out for dinner or to the movies; introducing us to their friends; being there for us when we needed a shoulder to cry, or rather bitch on; and most importantly introducing us to the London Pub Culture. As a matter of fact, during these first days in London we went out more than we did in an entire month in San Francisco. Eva, being a huge football (soccer) fan, dragged us more than once into the London pubs to watch the important games of the Euro Cup. (By the way she took it surprisingly well that the Spaniards in the end defeated the German team.) Furthermore, Eva and Aman acquainted us with another English tradition: the “Sunday Roast”. Well, actually they kind of bastardized this tradition by serving typical German food: white asparagus with ‘Sauce Hollandaise’, pork loin, and potatoes. (How we prepared that ‘Sauce Hollandaise’ would be a number-one hit on YouTube…)

At the "Walmer Castle" in Notting Hill is where we saw the final game of the Euro Cup.

The one who made the Spaniards happy and the Germans sad...Torres!!!

Originally we had planned to stretch the kindness of our fantastic hosts for no longer than a couple of nights, but we ended up staying with them for a good ten days. Then finally were we ready to move in to our new apartment. Speaking of which - let me now tell you the story of apartment hun…excuse my British English…flat hunting: After my arrival in London (Art had gotten here already the day before), I dropped of my bags at Eva’s place, took a shower, and then told Art that I was ready to out and start looking immediately for our dream flat. No sooner said than done and we were on the Tube towards Highgate. Highgate, by the way, is a neighbourhood (Attention: look at the proper English spelling I am using, not that bastardized AE!!!) in North London. During our last visit to London back in February, Art and I had already set our hearts for this area. The biggest criterion for our decision was that our new home would have to have access to many parks. You might wonder why this would be such an important criterion for us? Well, let me give you an analogy: when families move, the parents are oftentimes basing their decision on the availability of good schools for their kids. We, on the other hand need to look out for our dog that needs to be “raised” in the proper environment, i.e. a most stimulating environment. And Highgate is perfect in that regard, with the “Heath”, London’s biggest park being just minutes away.

This is what I mean by a "stimulating environment"...

...an environemnt that can make her very happy!!!

Looking back at it, we realized that having decided on a neighbourhood first and thus limiting our scope to a rather small area, made looking for a flat much easier. Nevertheless, we did go through a few rough patches on the way… On that very first day we spoke to about 8 different letting agents and had made several viewing appointments for the next day. The next morning came and all that we saw were dumps: basement flats where you could smell the mildew; tiny places where you could hardly turn around in; and loads of flats with the most atrocious wall-to-wall carpet. Yuck! By noon Art was ready to give it up. “Maybe we should look at other areas where we could get more for our money”, he said. However, we had one last trump in our hands and that was Martin, a letting agent with whom Art had been in contact with already back in San Francisco. The first flat that Martin showed us was already a big improvement: clean, spacious and with modern equipment. From then on, every flat that he showed to us was better than the previous one…however the prices unfortunately increased in the same manner! By the time we hit the last apartment Art was practically in awe! (And let me tell you it is not easy to achieve that.) There was only one problem with that flat: the price. We both really like this flat, but we eventually agreed that we kept this one as a “solid” alternative (plan B) in mind, but would look for something less expensive.

Would you want to live like this?

And we did find it: the next letting agent showed us a beautiful loft that was situated in a building, which used to house an old boys’ school. The owner liked us very much – who wouldn’t - and we could have moved in by the beginning of the next month. There was only one minor problem…Momo. The owner was actually fine with us having a dog, but since this was an apartment complex with twenty something flats, we would have to go around to each and every one of the tenants; show them a picture of Momo; and ask them if they would be approve of her!!! This seemed to be a too daunting and not very promising task. Back at home we made use of our private concierge service and discussed our options over a few beers with our foster parents Eva and Aman. By the end of the night (and a couple beers later) we had made up our minds: we decided go for plan A - that is to go with Art’s dream flat.

Our new home at 6a Winchester Road.

The very next day we went back to Highgate and told Martin, the letting agent, about our plans. He contacted the landlord and he even negotiated a better price for us. “Done deal”, so we thought. But then would come the next hurdle: bringing up enough money from foreign accounts that would pay for three months rent (one up front and two as a deposit). You would think that in this day and age, where the Internet is ruling the world, it would be easy to transfer money from one account to another. No, no, no…far from it! For me it was relatively easy due to the fact that my bank was in Germany and thus within the limits of the EU. But Art’s bank gave him a very hard time. They stated: “No, we cannot just transfer money overseas – you have to apply for that in person at a bank in the U.S. Or, alternatively, you can fedex us your signature…and once we’ve received that it will only take a couple of months until the money will arrive in England.” (The last part might have been a little bit less true to the original, but it covers the gist of it…) Anyway, in the end we managed to come up with the required funds and soon we were ready to move in to our new home on Winchester Road.

The title of this cartoon is "Bureaucracy makes you crazy"...how true!

“Moving-in” is actually a little bit of an exaggeration since we literally only had four suitcases to begin with. The rest of our furniture is probably just passing through the Panama Canal. Unfortunately, it is not scheduled to come in until the end of July because the vessel left San Francisco ‘slightly’ delayed. In the meantime we have to get by and live in a rather empty flat with only the following items: a wardrobe, a fury carpet, and coffee table (I found that one on the street). You probably are asking yourself: where the heck do these guys sleep? Well, for the first week or so we slept on the floor; only being cushioned by said carpet and a mattress cover from Eva. But for a couple of days now we are the rightful owners of a very comfortable bed – a Four Seasons bed! How did we manage to get such a nice bed, you might wonder: Well, due to a complete renovation of the Four Seasons Hotel London we were able to get a very good deal on a, still brand new, bed. Thank you, Eva! (Maybe, with her abilities, she should really be working as a concierge there and not as conference manager?

As you can see on these photos, our new home is still rather empty...this is why people hear my echo when I'm talking on the phone. (By the way, we are being a little bit of criminals as we are browsing on one of our neighbour's wireless connection.)

Yet our new flat was not the only place that one had to move in to: Art had to set up his new office, too. Poor boy, he didn’t really get a break at all, but had to start working right away. Like our new flat, the office was also quite empty; except for a few desks, chairs, and a couple of filing cabinets. Thus, during the first days he and his personal assistant (me), re-arranged the desks; dealt with the IT guy to set up the new computers and printer; went out shopping at office-supply stores and art-supply stores etc. Luckily, the location of the new office is very central so that we could run all the errands by foot. But on the other hand, being central in London does not only mean convenience: other office workers and hordes of tourists and shoppers alike are constantly rushing by you…and you never get a break from this. As a matter of fact, Art says that this is frequently reminding him of a rat race: down the stairs to the Tube and up again – like rats quickly disappearing into their underground habitats. If you think about it, he actually came up with quite a fitting analogy: simply try to re-arrange the letters in ART! ;-)

Rat Race...come by and experience it yourself

Now, while Art is doing his daily rat race to downtown, you might wonder what am I, his rat mate, doing all day long? Well, currently I am sitting at a pub in Highgate, drinking a shanty (basically the English version of the German “Radler”) and try being inspired by the English people around me. (I can’t believe that they start drinking in such early hours of the day here!) Before I came here though I went shopping at a big supermarket to stock up our fridge: we realized that we couldn’t financially survive if we continued going out every day. (To be honest, this was fine and necessary during those first days, but now there is no reason why we should not eat a homemade sandwich for lunch or a self-cooked meal for dinner.) The other day, for example, I personally delivered lunch to Art and his colleague, Ian: falafel, humus, cucumber & tomatoes soaked in mint yoghurt…and all that rolled up into a wrap. Fantastic! This, of course is much healthier and tastier than some of the alternatives of which we’ve been taking advantage, such as good old Mc Donald’s and KFC. In all honesty, I can now understand why the socially deprived people are often also the ones struggling with obesity – as paradox as it might sound. But most of the time, these fast food chains are the cheapest alternatives around!

I found this photo online and it came with the following captioning: Mc Donald's comes to Africa.

But aside from grocery shopping and being a good housewife, I am also very much enjoying my life as a city tourist. As you might recall from my days in San Francisco and Munich, I love hanging out (and oftentimes studying as well) at local coffee shops…pretty much like a wannabe Bohemian! And of course, San Francisco was a Mecca for this kind of past-time activity; I knew pretty much knew all the best cafés for any occasion. Now here in London I have come up with the following motto that will guide me while exploring the city: Find all the nice and local coffee shops here in London. What I am basically looking for are places like these typical San Francisco coffee shops where you can enjoy a cup of Joe in a cosy but yet intellectually stimulating environment (yes, the British spelling of “cozy” is with an ‘s’ as my spell-check reminded me!); sit down with your laptop; and make use of the free wi-fi. An additional –and rather important – criterion is that I need the café to be independently owned (no Starbucks, please). Hmm…wait a second! - Did I not just tell you that I am right now sitting at a pub? How did I end up here? Well to be honest, I am kind of disappointed of London when it comes to its coffee shops. I have not yet found my ideal hangout place. Maybe my criteria are too stringent and I need to be more open to new ideas? So, if anybody has a tip for me…I am all ears!!!

If you know what I mean...

Hmmm…wait another Second! - Earlier I said that I was enjoying my life as a city tourist, yet then I was only complaining about the lack of ‘sensible’ cafés… what’s all that nonsense about? Well, here’s the thing: while being on the search for the perfect study/hangout place, I am at the same time slowly getting to know London and all it’s different and diverse neighbourhoods. Whereas on my previous visits to London I have only seen bits and pieces of London, I now feel that these pieces are now falling into place; almost like a puzzle. And that is actually quite a wonderful realization, which makes me feeling much less like a tourist but more like a real Londoner (Wikipedia, after all, told me that this is the correct word for a person who resides in London).


















Speaking of being less of a tourist: Art and I have been starting to discover some of those neighbourhoods where your regular tourists would not be seen under any circumstances. One of them is the North London district of Haringey and its very ethnically diverse high street. (In London every neighbourhood has its ‘high street’ along which you can find the grocery stores, butchers, bakeries, clothing stores, banks etc.) With all its diversity, Haringey central reminded us very much of the Mission District in San Francisco; the only difference being that the main ethnicities are not from South America, but rather from the Middle East. A particularly memorable experience was the visit to a Middle Eastern bakery…you could also call it ‘Baklava Heaven’! Sweet puff pastries filled with the various kinds of nuts and crèmes, topped of with sugary syrups, were laid out in hundreds (or even thousands)! In the shelves you could see different kinds of flat breads and other delicacies…just thinking back to this bakery makes my mouth water. And, as opposed to the rest of London’s culinary places, this is a rather ‘cheap eat’: for four different kinds of pastries we paid only 80p. What a bargain!

Food Mecca London - you just have to know where to go...

We actually discovered the aforesaid area only by accident; we had embarked on one of those fantastic London double-decker busses, but didn’t really know where it would take us. We had caught the bus in Crouch End, a rather wealthy neighbourhood in North London with lots of Yuppies (translation for my German friends: Young Urban Professionals) sitting in trendy restaurants and French cafés. However, the more the bus distanced itself from Crouch End, the dodgier the surroundings would get. (By the way, ‘dodgy’ is another one of those typical English vocabularies that you hear all the time in reference to a rather sketchy neighbourhood where you might not want to go for a visit during the wee-hours.) Actually, I don’t really like to use the term ‘dodgy’; I would rather call it ‘more interesting and more exciting’. As a matter of fact, in a melting pot like this where people actually live and go about their daily activities, I can feel a vibe that I cannot sense in downtown London; in other words: it’s rough and edgy, yet at least it’s not fake and superficial…it’s down-to-earth. Love it!

Whether to glamorous Knightsbridge or to dodgy Haringey - the London double decker takes you anywhere...

Yet, while I love discovering and visiting neighbourhoods like the one I just described above, I actually prefer living in a much more pompous area like Highgate. After all, I am still the snob that I was back in Munich! Therefore, let me now tell you a little bit more about our new ‘hood’ and its surrounding areas: I already mentioned that we are living very close to Hampstead Heath, the massive park in Northern London. The park is actually quite elevated from the rest of the city, which means that on clear days you have fantastic views over the entire city of London. And now in the summer, the wild grass has grown quite high and invites you to sit down for a short rest or even a picnic…or other activities that might strike your imagination. On a recent hot day (yes, those do exist even in England), I ventured out to the Heath and went for a refreshing swim in one of its ponds. Wonderful! It very much reminded me of the time when still lived in Germany and we would drive out to the nearby reservoir for a cool plunge. Funnily enough, the puritan English people actually have designated ponds for men and ladies, respectively. This purism though somehow missed its goal; it actually back-fired: the men’s pond nowadays is very much like the ‘gay beach’ in San Francisco (Dolores Park) and while walking by the ladies pond I felt like watching a smaller version of the ‘dyke march’…so much for keeping it separate!

Summer in the city...















Back to Highgate though: in the north it borders to two more fantastic parks: ‘Highgate Wood’ and ‘Queen’s Wood’. (…And no, we did not base our decision to move to this area because of the latter park’s name!) Yet while the Heath is very much of an open and very wide space, these two parks are much more like an urban jungle…I actually can’t wait to bring Momo here – she will have such a blast! Highgate Village is a rather sleepy town. Very different from the nearby buzzing Crouch End, which I mentioned earlier. Highgate rather reminds me of my hometown – Bad Sassendorf – where the average age is way above 50 and where everything moves at a much slower pace. But if that is the case, you actually might wonder as to why in the world did we decide on living here? Well, after having lived in a rather peaceful and beautiful neighbourhood in San Francisco, both Art and I wanted to recreate this experience: living a suburban life yet not having to live in suburbia! And Highgate does seem to fit our expectations quite well. And after all, both Art and I are in central London everyday anyway, so Highgate offers the opportunity to escape from the buzzing and humming city life after a hard day of work, or rather intensive day of studying. (Yes, I do study!!!)

Our view from our old apartment in San Francisco...quite soothing, right?

I am already now looking forward to many walks through our new hood...

But not only Art and I think that Highgate is a very nice area to live in. As a matter of fact, it is also quite popular among the high society, as well as among some famous actors and singers: according to the grape vine Sting, George Michael, Annie Lennox, and even Herbert Grönemeyer (for the Germans among you) are supposed to live in Highgate or nearby Hampstead Heath. As per Eva’s instructions, I am now constantly carrying around a camera, just in case I run into ‘Herbie’, whom I would have to not only capture with my camera, but I am also required to stalk him to find out where he lives! Speaking of celebrity hunting: on our second day in London, we had lunch at an organic café in Highgate Village and now guess who was in line just in front of us: Jamie Oliver, the Naked Chef! And the wonderful thing about this experience was, that nobody could care less. It was as if he was just one of the regular sights. But, the day would get even better; on the very same day we bumped into yet another Jamie; Jamie Lee Curtis namely. She was walking hand in hand with her husband/lover down in Soho. Who would have guessed that our celebrity-fishing net would be so effective?

Jamie Oliver, the Naked Chef, whose cook books I really like and who helped me develop my cooking skills to a higher level; but Art is still my preferred "Naked Chef"...

Herbert...wie er leibt und lebt! Maybe he's leaning against a tree in Hampstead Heath; just having a BBQ with his buddies? Let's join him...


















Well, I guess that’s it. I have now given you a complete and rather detailed description of our London adventures up-to-date. But before I let you go, I would like to use this opportunity and say thank you to those friends that helped us make our first weeks in London be so enjoyable and successful. I have to say that when I moved to Munich in 2000, and then on to San Francisco in 2003, things did not work out that smoothly. First of all I didn’t know anybody in either city, but on top of that in San Francisco especially I had an extremely difficult time to create a circle of good friends; which in the end I managed to do after all. This time though it is much easier: not only because I have Art with me, who is there for me when I am about to go crazy again. But also because of our London friends who introduced us to this exciting city as well as to some of the rather bizarre English traditions. Thus: a big ‘Thank You’ to Eva & Aman (our Private Concierges), Axel & Graeme (our Spartacus Gay Guides) and Adam (the expert in Asian restaurants). It’s really comforting to know that we can count on you! But also, I need to say a big ‘Thank You’ to Meghan, Dan and their dog Ted who are currently taking care of our dear Momo. Unfortunately, she was not able to come with us just yet, but she will join us here in London sometime in August.

Sorry Aman, I don't have a picture of you yet, but at least there is a picture of Eva and me (New York in August of 2003)

Axel & Graeme
(London in December 0f 2006)

The guy between the naked guy's legs is Adam (Stanford University in September 0f 2003)

Momo and her boyfriend Ted with whom she's staying until August.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my little tour and maybe you could even catch a little spark of that excitement that I am encountering these days. If you now would like to join us on one of our city hikes to the exhilarating and diverse London boroughs; or if you want to experience a day in a life of a London rat; or if you simply want to relax in one of the many parks…please do come by and visit us. Our new home has extra bedrooms and we’re always happy to have company around! Looking forward to seeing you in London.

Uli