This is probably my favorite bookstore in the world! There might be ones which are a little bit bigger or with more books, but I have a personel attachment to this bookstores and I have spent hours upon hours in this bookstore over the years. It is 5 floors of books, books, and more books! You can always find something to read or something new and interesting! I never thought that I would like one speicific Genre or another, but I was surprised as to what I liked from the selection of recommended books! I have even bought kid books because I liked the story so much and not finding out it was kids books until later! I didn’t even care, I was really happy that I was entertained by the book and I bought the rest of the trilogy. I have a few authors that I keep buying their books like Dean Koontz, Trudi Canavan, Dan Simmons, Max Barry, and Joshua Mowll. There other authors that I check up on every once in a while, but I always am open to a good story. When I’m walking around looking at the shelves I always feel like I could find a gem of a book in between all these shelves and once I find it, it is the best feeling in the world! You just keep reading that book, not wanting to go to sleep or the story to finish! I find it frustrating when I finish a good book because its hard to replace! Maybe Im jumping into this too much, but its something to experience! They also have my favorite notepads here which is the Moleskine notepads, they are the best ot right in and I always have one with me in a meeting or carrying it under the seat of my bike. There is something for everyone in this bookstore, I could spend days in there because there are couchs available on the other floors! Just as long as nobody has taken them!
This is for those who love Chinese food. I was really looking forward to trying out this new Chinese Restaurant. They have a very trendy setting when you walk in and the first thing you notice is the lobster tank to your left. The seating is quite comfortable, but it isn’t a very large restaurant. They have a very diverse dim sum and tea menu, I have never seen so many different kinds of tea that I was confused so I asked for a recommendation and went with it. They also had a real good selection of sea food, and they had some specialty dishes so I wanted to try everything and I was happy that I had some friends with me to polish of most of the orders. I have to say that the they had the tastiest vegetable spring roll I have ever tasted, and since they had some seafood we asked for lobster. At that point they asked us to pick out a lobster from the tank, and some people have difficulty doing that I had no problems choosing one to eat. And they cooked two different delicious dishes from the one 3.4lb lobster, and we devoured it. Then we also had a Peking duck which I savored every bite of it. The service was quite good for this trendy restaurant, and they just filling up our tea cups. I haven’t enjoyed and savored the Chinese cuisine as I have at that moment. It is a bit on the pricy side, but the quality of food is unquestionable. If you are looking for a trendy Chinese restaurant then this would be your choice.
I went to Virgin a few times while I was in London and I knew one day I was going to go in and buy all the stuff that I wanted to pick up from Amazon but I didn’t feel like dealing with customs! I love going to Virgins in London! So many new CDs, DVDs, Games, Books, Singles, Magazines, and LPs all in one place! There DVD section is really big too its great. I was happy that I bought a lot of the movies I wanted on sale for 4 to 10 pounds which is pretty good. The selection this version far surpasses any Virgin I have been to, and whats great is when you go to listen to a CD its available on their database! I can listen to everything I want before buying it which is great, and other places have it, but only if they take the time to upload it like they do in the UK. By the time I was done I had a good amount of DVDs and CDs!
This is one of the most unique department stores in the UK or World for that matter. They have something for everyone, you can find food, baked goods, flowers, toys, cigars, bags, make up, jewellery, candy, electronics, clothing, furniture, books, dvds, and a whole lot more that I can’t remember off the top of my head right now. I know Harrods relatively well for the things that I want and I still get lost. I go there for the Pizzeria on the bottom floor to get a quick bite to eat before continuing with all my escapades, but that day I was just there to walk through the electronics section and go to the Waterstones for a quick stop before going to the large one. I love looking at all the screens they had at the electronics section and how rediculous the pricing is in the UK, it is literally £1 to $1 in the pricing of the products. But its just great walking around and being really enjoying all the items around, and I really like the modern furniture section in Harrods. Whats great is that there is everything for someone and I love that you can spend hours in their and not be bored at all.
I have to say that I really like Heathrow airport, the security wasn’t that bad. There was an annoying person sitting at the security console who was nothing short of rude to a lot of people coming to the counter, but still I was happy I got through without incident. The best part is walking around and doing some window shopping while walking around. I dropped off my bag at the British Airways lounge so that I can walk around freely. First thing I do is go straight to WH Smith and picked up some magazines to read while in Kuwait, and one to read while I was getting a bite to eat. I stopped by one shop to browse through the watches they had, and then I entered Dixons to see how much they priced electronic items in the UK. I have to say that the TomTom Radar is one very cool looking GPS Unit, and I would want to try it but they don’t have a working edition for the middle east yet. The other thing you notice is that items are priced directly at a 1 to 1 conversion, so whatever item is going for $100 would go for 100 pounds which is too much.
So after going into HMV for a bit I decided to get a bite to eat at the seafood bar which I have been going to for over a decade and I was happy as hell I was getting my crab and shrimp salad with a coke. I knew it would satisfy me before getting on the plane, and then I heard it was time for boarding but before leaving I stopped by Molton Brown to pick up the aftershave and then I took a long walk to the farthest gate in the terminal, Gate 25! From what it seems the plane was full, and I only watched some anime for a bit before passing out. The anime was great but I couldn’t go to sleep right away!
After waiting so long to see this movie I have at last! I saw Casino Royale! And I have to say that I love it, I will be writing a detailed review of it later! Also later on in the night after spending sometime in HMV and Virgin we went to see Deja Vu and I loved that movie as well. It was a great night we were walking around a lot and we saw two movies and managed to do some shopping. The funny part is we saw Casino Royal at 4:50pm at Odeon West End and then we saw Deja Vu at 9:10pm at Vue West End, I thought if they were up for it I really wanted to do it. I picked up a good amount of CDs and DVDs, and I still have some things to pick up. I know that I could buy most of the items cheaper online, but there is that instantaneous pleasure of having the product in your hands. That is the one thing that I think is missing in Kuwait, I wouldn’t paying a certain amounto of mark-up for books, CDs, and DVDs if only I was getting a good selection and I was getting good releases, but alas that isn’t the case. Walking out after the movie I forgot that Thursday nights is a night out and so many people were all dressed up and ready to go to the clubs around town. We were beat after walking around so much and just wanted to get a late night bite and we had a huge selection to choose from.
On another note I have to say that I love Sweet popcorn in the UK cinemas, there is no way to describe how much I think its fantastic. I have tried different types of popcorn and I can’t get enough of it, I had a huge size popcorn to myself and I refused to share with my friends. It was all mine and I was being greedy about it! If I could at that point I would have jumped right into it, and yes I finished a 40 cm deep popcorn filled container.
Earlier in the day we started off at an Italian restaurant called Mimo’s its one of my top 10 restuarnts of all time. It has one of the best Italian food you can have, other then home cooked Italian food from Italy I dont think there would be many restaurants that could beat this. I love the waiters there, and I love the owner! Because I have been going there once in a while when I’m in London you just keep hearing the stories about the owner and his sons who are running the place and their lives! Its fantastic! I will right up more details later! Lots of pictures as well!
All I have to say about the movie is that it was worth the wait! One more day and I am done with work and coming back. I just hope the airport isn’t crowded and there aren’t too many lines. I know most probably I would be passing out on the plane!
So I had a couple of meetings yesterday and finished up as quick as I could because I was going to meet up with some friends for a really late lunch. But Yesterday I did a lot of walking, even in the rain since I had some time to kill between noon and a later lunch.
So I had a little map with me since I dont remember which street connects to which street and I only used it in emergency purposes. I tried my best to wing it! I went from Selfridges to Regent street and walked down all the way to the Virgin Store, then I walked over to Waterstones from there and I really didn’t want to leave, but I had to so I walked up I Piccadly street and went to Bond Street to go see what gifts I should pick up for family. I will also be going back to Waterstones and Virgin to pick up some DVDs, Books, and magazines. Then I wanted to walk to Harrods but after walking a few hours I got lazy and called Virgin Limo Bike again and asked for a pick up on Bond Street and drop off at Harrods. That gave me enough time to do some window shopping, and damn those guys are effecient!
First off the rider of the Virgin Limo Bike who came to pick me up was a World Superbike Racer, he raced for a team and he raced on a Yamaha R1. He came exactly on time. I asked them to be dropped off about 15 – 20 mins away depending on traffic. The bike is just as nice as it is on the website, and it rained earlier in the day. So he provided me with a jacket, helmet, gloves, and something to cover my legs from the light rain and keep me slightly warm. I was excited as hell from know the fact that I’m riding behind a professional racer, and the bike looked cool and comfortable which it was.
His riding was completely safe, nothing outragous but extremely fun since you feel confident of his riding skills, and he knew all the roads very well. He got me to the destination in about 10 mins which was fantastic since we were flowing through traffic! Also on another note the helmet I was wearing had a radio which you could talk to the rider as if he was siiting next to you in a room! It was great exchanging stories about riding, and he is supposed to be racing in the Qatar track in the coming months. It was a great ride, and I enjoyed it so much that I called them to book another point to point transportation. They are very effecient and right on about timing. For the price you pay you get around really quickly and you have a blast doing it as well. For two rides and tip it came out to be £40 which isn’t too bad compared to taxi cabs. I’m going to do this more often. If you dont have any bags to carry then this is the best mode of transportation, but you need to book ahead since they do get booked up a bit.
Link: VirginLimoBike
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I just finished up with a lot of work and to get from one point to another I currently booked a Virgin Limo Bike to come pick me up to take me to my next destination. I’m really looking forward to this ride. I will be posting all the details and pictures later, and I will be taking as many pictures as possible.
Link: Virgin Limo Bike
It rained lightly all evening yesterday, and its raining pretty good today, you can’t even see the sun. Some people don’t like this weather much, neither do I, but in London its a little different. I’m used to London being this way, you see people bustling about, motorcycle deliveries all over the place, black cabs at every corner. This city is just non-stop! The other thing that I love about this city is the number of restaurants! So many restaurants to choose from and even if you went a different place for lunch and dinner everyday for a year you still wouldn’t come close to finishing the choices you have in this cosmopolitan city.