Turkish Delights

Tuesday evening I met up with the lovely Bailey for another food related adventure! Due to some bad planning on my part (between using a new tube station since we just moved and forgetting the insanity which is rush hour on the tube, which may have led to a bit more walking-which is great) I was a bit late. The wonderful thing is that Bailey had slightly overslept during her nap, so it worked out exceptionally well! We set off to find a sushi place that Bailey had recommended and we had both looked up online. We tromped around a bit, and after walking several blocks (on the right street, I might add) we came to the conclusion that we should just go ahead and pick another place because we either missed it or the restaurant relocated. We began meandering back toward Oxford street, stopping at almost every establishment to check the menu, judging each place based on the menu's content, price, ambiance, and the amount of people in the restaurant (because if there's no one in there, the food obviously must not be that good). We finally ended up at an adorable Turkish place filled with excellent ambiance and scrumptious food.

They had all these fun lights hanging up, carpets on the wall, and the coolest utensils.

 We got this fabulous balloon bread!

 There's sweet Bailey with her super awesome spoon and apple tea!

 They made my straw all swirly too!

Last night we went to see a show (Rutherford and Son) which involved a lot of upset people and could be very emotionally exhausting for audience members. Afterward (to add to the emotional exhaustion) we had minor stress getting back, as not everyone had a return ticket since there was much confusion prior to the show (luckily we all made it back no problem).

I enjoyed a relaxing morning today, including a quick jaunt with a friend to Covent Gardens to check out some adventure stores (think Patagonia, Chacos, North Face, Nalgene, etc) and the most upscale hipster store known to man before a nice lunch and scurrying off to my art class. We met at the Royal Academy of Art, where we enjoyed an excellent variety of George Bellows' works. 

Try everything that can be done. Be deliberate. Be spontaneous. 

Be thoughtful and painstaking. Be abandoned and impulsive. 

Learn your own possibilities.

-George Bellows 1920

We had some extra time after the Bellows exhibit, so we walked a couple blocks away to some private art galleries (we were in a fancy part of town, with the Ritz right down the street), which I really enjoyed. Definitely something to go back and see. One of my favorites from those galleries was Marc Chagall, a Russian avant garde artist. After the class ended, Zoe and I looked around at a couple of the other galleries. We walked into one gallery which we both agreed was-without a doubt-our favorite. The pieces all featured lovely girls with everyday items. I can't even begin to describe it, so here's a link to the artist's site and a picture of a couple of his works below (yes, photography was allowed).

Dominoes, like who thinks of that? Awesome artists, that's who.

This picture does not do the paintings any justice at all.

Following class, I joined my lovely friend Renee for a delicious burger, fries, and coke at an American diner outside our tube station. I can't remember, but that may have been my first burger in the past two months, and we were thrilled because we got free refills!!! [In case you weren't aware, free refills is a totally foreign concept to most people here. One of my friends here explained to a server-since he didn't know-what free refills are and he just laughed incredulously.]
Then tonight we enjoyed a couple of movies ( Anastasia and Hercules) in some of my friends living room area! Tomorrow we're off to Greenwich, so that should be exciting!