what did the big tomato say to the little tomato?

my last couple of days in london, and i'm stuck at the office studying for my friday exam. sad. i found out recently that one of my instructors lives in winnie the pooh's village! he offered to show me around if i visited. i really want to go, but i don't think i can find a buddy who's interested. but we could play pooh sticks on the pooh bridge, i tell them--they remain unconvinced. christopher robin is dead, but at least he didn't commit suicide like peter pan.

last friday i went to a very expensive teppanyaki place. all the waiters were actually japanese! i think we had to pay premium for them. the highlight was the dessert. i had fireball ice cream, which is crepe, pineapple, whiskey, and ice cream, all cooked on the grill. the cook will turn down the lights before he makes it, so you can admire the roaring flames of the whiskey.



saturday, satoshi and i went to borrough market for breakfast. fresh food and polite service are not mutually exclusive after all. very fresh strawberries and raspberries. the rest of the day was spent at the tate and the tower of london. i didn't realize expressionism and surrealism were classified as modern art styles. museums are like ice cream cones. you really enjoy the first two or three paintings, but then your tongue goes numb, and you keep licking for completeness's sake, but the enjoyment factor goes down considerably. does anyone remember that ramona story where she's sitting in the basement taking a bite out of every apple because the first bite is always the tastiest? if i lived in london, i would make borrough market and tate a sunday morning ritual, but i would only look at 5 paintings every time, and then i would go home (or maybe to st pauls again).



the tower of london was having a jousting tournament when we went...and there were real people dressed up like knights, charging at each other's armor with lances levelled. it didn't look as dangerous as i expected. the lances are just wood after all. i like knights a lot. the rest of the tower was a bit disappointing. castles don't really do it for me, unless there are exciting things inside. we had dinner at an egyptian place. coucous and tangine and some of the strongest vermouth i've ever tasted. i do not like aniseseed in my alcohol. i wonder if that means laura will have to drink most of the french absinthe that i bought.


sunday was the best day of all. freya gave satoshi and i the grand tour of cambridge. we saw the apple tree where newton supposedly discovered gravity. i learned how to punt down the river cam. the balance thing is tough. the boats are narrow, so whenever one of my passengers moved, the boat tipped, and my arms would start going like windmills. got the hang of it pretty quickly though.



newton's apple tree



the bridge of sighs...a replica of the one in venice that convicts had to cross before they were killed.

satoshi, on the other hand, rammed us into the same bridge repeatedly, driving the boat anywhere but forward, thus earning the support of the tourists on the bridge. when we finally got through, everyone cheered, but accolade soon turned to ridicule as satoshi, fresh from his success, punted us full speed onto the riverbank, where we stuck like a beached whale. one of the tourists even started videotaping. freya and i were laughing our heads off by now...satoshi is a very typical japanese boy, rowing with all his might, making typical japanese sound effects (are, heeeeee, kchhhh, kkkkk). later that night, his hair caught on fire at the restaurant (he posed for a picture right in front of a candle).

the man likes his ice cream. when we were out, he'd eat at least 3 cones in a day.

















cambridge is beautiful, with plenty of green green lawns...but no one is allowed to go on them unless he/she is a duck. what's the point, i say.



the picture that torched satoshi's hair.

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