But I am coming before myself here. I had a busy weekend and much happened before I ended up clutching the toilet bowl.
Short story: I walked until I dropped around Hackney and Finsbury on saturday. Then I went to a party in Kingsland, where I drunk too much and crashed. I spent sunday mooching around the Embankment nursing a hangover and had tea on the seventh floor of the Tate Modern.
Long story with images shamelessly stolen from web:
This weekend was Open House London. For the weekend they open up hundreds of buildings to the public and have the architects do guided tours of them. Isn't it a brilliant idea?
I organised myself and made a program of what I wanted to see. Being terminally lazy, I started out a little too late and decided to start from Hackney. I went to a couple of buildings in Dalston Kingsland and then got lost on my way to De Beauvoir Town. After that I followed the canal to Angel and Finsbury where I walked in circles in the rain.
I went to Mayville Estate, where I actually did see this sign.
Yes, De Beauvoir Estate IS that ugly. But the Grand Canal is kind of nice - especially the closer to Angel you get.
I saw a number of interesting buildings and architect's practices (and scored some addresses to sent cvs, hooray!), but I spent too much time walking, so I saw only a fraction of what I wanted. By next time I will hopefully have bought a bike (and got a job and a flat).
Because I was going straight to a party afterwards, I was walking around with a heavy bag with maps, bottles of water, a jacket, pajamas, makeup and god knows what else. Also I was wearing ridiculous clothes and completely wrong shoes to go walking in.
I ended up exhausted and aching and starving in King's Cross, where I proceeded to sit in a cheap place and have a too heavy and too creamy lazagna.
Afterwards I was ready to collapse and there were still a couple of hours to go to the party, so I went all the way over to Queen's Park in Kilburn to find Angela who was visiting a friend, and crashed on their sofa and drunk their herbal tea for two or more hours.
Did I mention the party was an m&m party? Which means we had to dress as m&m colours. Hence my ridiculous outfit. I was wearing a short red dress, with bright red tights, a red cardigan and a red scarf. Totally ridiculous getup to go traipsing around London in.
They certainly took their theme seriously at the party. The food as all coloured with food dye. (Blue penne anyone?) Even the ice-cubes were coloured!
It was a great party! There were people from all over the world, and even a couple of Brits too! And there were loads of architects, yay! I talked about all sorts of random subjects with strangers, from the EU economic policies and farming, to building regulations, to the Smurfs, to whether Denmark has polar bears.
Unfortunately I drunk a bit too much a bit too fast, and I might have just missed the best part of the party. The place was still full of people talking excitedly when I made my hasty exit to the toilet and afterwards the comfortable leather sofa. I remember finding a nice warm woollen throw and curling up under it. Next thing I know there's only five people left in the party dancing drunkenly and it's almost five in the morning!
The awesome hosts let me crash there for the night. (And I wasn't the only one taking advantage of their wonderful hospitality!)
Needless to say, I didn't visit any of the buildings with Open House London next day, like I had planned to. Instead I met Angela at Southwark, where we went to laze on the marvellous Queen Elizabeth Roof Garden Cafe made by the Eden Project.
Then we proceeded to mooch around the Embankment until it got too cold and we took refuge in the cafe on top of the Tate Modern, where we proceeded to have tea with one of the best views in the city.
And now, Monday, I'm still tired and achey. Next time I will wear better shoes and a warmer jacket! Don't let me forget!
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