Inner Dome of Heaven

When my mom and I came over to London to house hunt internationally we stumbled upon this little al fresco dining area bustling with people, complete with heat lamps, Christmas lights strewn across the buildings, and an ICEBAR! 

I took this picture by the way. It's okay, you can be impressed.

That’s right, a bar made entirely out of ice! Upon further investigation, the details of the joint are as follows…

·      UK’s only bar made entirely of ice (shocker, I know)

·      Kept at about -5° C (equivalent to about 23°F for those of you not on the metric system, basically the same as Boston from January-April)

·      Everything inside is made out of crystal clear ice harvested especially from the frozen Torne River in Jukkasjarvi, Northern Sweden (not sure I entirely believe that…although there’s no way the Thames is that clear so maybe?)

·      Once a year the entire bar is completely transformed with a new design theme and layout by a team of skilled ice designers and sculptors, using new ice from the Torne River (there’s reference to that silly river again, if it even exists!)

And my personal favorite fun fact…

·      You are given a designer thermal cape with a hood to keep you warm during your visit

After that sales pitch, I was sold and vowed that I would go back once I moved here for good, perhaps almost entirely because I thought you got to keep the cape and gloves, but that’s besides the point.

So, fast-forward to Jon’s visit and you better believe I made a very special point to put this outing on our itinerary (yes, I made a very detailed day-by-day, hour-by-hour itinerary for us, no one’s surprised). I assure you we were not disappointed, that is, until the end when I had to give my cape back :(

We were on a very strict timeline, exposed to the chill for 40 minutes, and 40 minutes only, and they proudly displayed that countdown above the door to avoid any Ötzi the Iceman situations. Given our own special ice shot glasses, picture personalized ice luges, the drinks were flowing and the crowd loved it. 


We explored a little bit…

And got a little silly!

 

 

Until basically we were the last one’s standing and had to be forced out.

All in all, real fun experience, one I would certainly recommend.

English word of the day: Surgery = doctor’s office/consultation. I only know this because I registered for my first NHS GP since I have now given up my insurance in the states, scary I know, and I was told to “go on in to surgery”. Wary of what body part my new GP thought needed operation; I proceeded in to find nothing more than your run of the mill doctor’s office. Although I would have liked to hear what work I needed done surgically.

We're here to see the Mayor

Another eventful weekend in Londontown. From a 1920 Speakeasy to an American sport bar, my adventures certainly ran the gamut. Let’s stick to the fun stuff, the secret password bar. So we went to this place, The Breakfast Club, which looked like a diner. A diner with a DJ. We’ll call it the staging area. Reading online reviews we were instructed to approach the list keeper/bouncer, which we interpreted to mean the biggest guy in the bar, and say the magic words. Finding the Big Man we say, under our breath of course, this is a secret club – we’re no amateurs;

“We’re here to see the Mayor”

Ushered to a table in the midst of the dance-party-DJ-diner, Big Man told us to order some drinks and the mayor would be along shortly. Only a few carafes of sangria later he was ready for us. Rising to gather our things, Big Man directed us to the door, the refrigerator door that is, and down the stairs to see the “Mayor of Scaredy Cat Town.” On the other side of the fridge the atmosphere was completely different and they certainly achieved their step back in time vibe. It was one of those moments where I really wanted to take pictures but at the same time felt like I really shouldn’t take pictures. Here’s an idea of what the door to the bar looked like, but I’ll stop here. You have to see for yourself what the downstairs was like, that’s a secret I’m not willing to give up.  The quick and dirty, it was all wood, dimly lit, and had amazing bartenders who were incredibly attentive and into their mixology.  

Once we got our fill of the secret dungeon, we decided to exit, this time through the back entrance of a bathroom so it looked like we were just using the loo that whole time. Instructions on some of the menus downstairs told us to get creative with this exit, maybe even leave some toilet paper remains on a shoe as we left. Playing it cool we rejoined the party-before-the-party area where the DJ was still spinning jams.  Danced a little more and we were off. 

Strange turn of events...we actually ended the night at the Queen of Hoxton (see earlier post). Apparently not that sketchy when you go in with a group of people! I was just, er, scouting it out the first time I went. I knew we'd be back.

English word of the day: When you are asked if you want your coffee "white" they are asking if you want milk in it. AND in the office if one of my coworkers takes orders to run downstairs and get us coffee,  they ask "red, green, or blue?" Uhhhhh…..see blank stare. They then realize, ah American, ok whole milk (red), 1% (green), or skim (blue)? Got it. No clue ordering coffee could be so colorful! How’s that to brighten your day!