The Adventures of Lorie and Brian Groth

Not too many places are open on a Sunday in Oslo, so we had a late lunch, which was simply a mix of grilled meats, then walked around in the brisk Norwegian air. But, we did come across a 7-11. Now I am sure you are thinking… oh no, Brian, you didn’t get lefsa at an America-based junk-food chain store!?!

Yes, I did.

      

As you can see, this isn’t the lefsa that Mom makes (for those of who who know who Mom is or for those of you who’s mom makes lefsa), or even what you can buy in some grocery stores in Seattle. However, I saw lefsa on the package and just had to try it. According to a free language translation site, "tykk" means "dense, stout, swollen, or thick", which is about right, because this was somewhat cake like. It also had a thin layer of a sweet cream cheese in the middle, or something like that.

I think it was basically a Norwegian Twinkie, because after eating it I sort of had a stomach ache, so it’s probably best that Lorie didn’t try it. I plan to keep looking for better tasting lefsa.  

The lights are out and the Christmas shopping seems to be in full swing. A variety of the streets also get all lit up – just see http://www.londontown.com/London/Christmas_Lights_in_London for an example.

The photos are of Harrod’s at Knightsbridge on the left and Marks & Spencer on Oxford Street on the right.

The lights are nice, but I’d like to see it snow!

The G-Wiz is the electric car that I see buzzing around London. There are a few in Fulham that I am always curious about. Tonight I found their website at http://www.goingreen.co.uk/store/content/gwiz/ 

Back seat passengers wouldn’t like a long trip though, since the front of the back seat touches the back of the front seat.

See a variety of photos at http://www.g-wiz.org.uk/gallery.htm. I haven’t seen any with extra fancy paint work, but check out the leopard and tiger paint jobs:

 

I often take different routes to the office and today I didn’t walk past the normal brick buildings that are all over London. I have no idea what this building is, but it has massive gold colored columns and was probably about a hundred yards long. It’s just packed in with the other buildings… nothing special. This sort of "odd building tucked in with others" is pretty normal in London.

Not all of the cars in London are new. Here is an older Jaguar that we spotted in our neighborhood on Saturday.

I have been trying to collect a list of places to try when friends and family come to town, but I have only managed to jot a few of them down. Here is my list so far…. just in case you are coming to town soon.

Pubs

1. The Blackfriar pub: (also see some Architectural Info)  (this one is smoke free)
   174 Queen Victoria Street, Blackfriars, London, EC4V 4EG
   Tube Stop: Blackfriar
2. Bank of England pub
   194 Fleet Street, Holborn, London, EC4A 2LT
   Tube Stop: Temple / Chancery Lane
3. The Dove (in Hammersmith, so it is close to home) 
   19 Upper Mall, Hammersmith, London, W6 9TA
   Tube Stop: Ravenscourt Park

Restaurants

1. Levant (Middle Eastern – it reminds me of Dubai and is a cool hangout)
   Jason Court, 76 Wigmore Street, London W1
   Tube Stop: Bond Street

Areas

1. The Cotswolds  (an area where Bath and other places are)
2. Brighton (beach town South of London)
3. The Lakes District

Back in April I captured a short video of a guy playing the blues. Watch and listen here on MSN Soapbox. There were also magicians and other people performing stuff.. it was a nice sunny weekend day, so it was a perfect time for street performers to be out. Usually when I ride the tube I also hear some good music, and occasionally I hear some really bad music, but thankfully I usually like what I hear and often slow down to listen; and if I have some spare change, I toss a few coins to the person. A few pence or quid for some good music is well worth it.  

Last night we saw a guy perform all 3 of the first Star Wars movies all by himself. He had some funny parts, but he could have stopped after the first one. The pictures are of Lorie with Boba Fet (spelled wrong I’m sure) and Anne with a Storm Trooper.

Parts of the District line runs above ground. This is the train heading to Wimbleton over the Putney train bridge.

Last night, Saturday night, there were fireworks shows all over London. We went with friends to the Battersea Fireworks Display at Battersea Park. Last year there were 250,000 people at this fireworks show, but last year was the 400th anniversary. There were a lot of people there this year too though. Afterwards we went to the Prince Albert pub, which is just outside the entereance of the park. There was even a good band playing jazz/blues/rock that night.

You can read about Guy Fawkes at http://www.guy-fawkes.com/, but basically people celebrate either his attempt, or failure (I’m not sure which) to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605.  

And yes, it was a very good fireworks show. We got there too late for the bonfire though – it was only about 8 feet tall when we got there and we were told that it was about 30 feet tall at one point.