Robot Restaurant

After a much needed nap following our early morning at Tsukiji we ventured off for some touristing in Shibuya and Harajuku. We caffeinated at Sorama and made our way to Shinjuku for a very Tokyo experience… Robot Restaurant.

One of our friends in San Francisco said “there is life before Robot Restaurant and there is life after Robot Restaurant” (hi, L!) and I couldn’t agree more. It was an odd and unforgettable experience…

It started with music and drums and dancing, which continued throughout the show… and then there was a Panda:

And a gorilla:

And a shark…

And a snake/dragon:

And finally a robot showed up!

And then there was a robot snake/dragon:

Things just got weird and I lost the storyline (yes, there was a storyline: robots taking over some mystical forest and then there was a robot battle and then a bunch of robots started dancing around): This was definitely a ridiculous experience and it was awesome. If you decide to go, buy tickets online in advance and skip the bento.

After Robot, we grabbed drinks in Golden Gai, which is a cool (though touristy) area filled with tiny bars (most charge a cover, are filled with cigarette smoke, and only seat about 8 people at a time). It was a very busy day but great way to start the weekend with Elliot & Rachel.

London – Part III

The Grove is only a fifteen minute train ride from London and with Andrew busy each day I made plans to go back into the city for a few events.

The first stop was the Victoria and Albert Museum for the exhibit Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, which celebrated the late British fashion designer Lee Alexander McQueen. While fashion has always intrigued me (this is clearly not obvious from my sartorial choices), this exhibit truly represents the design and construction of each piece as an incredible living piece of art. We weren’t allowed to take photos inside the gallery so while I snuck one in, the rest are photos from Google:

I wandered from the V&A  into Chelsea to the Saatchi Gallery to catch the last days of the Patek Philippe Watch Art Grand Exhibit. I’m not really into watches but the concept of “watch art” intrigued me and Andrew loves watches so I figured it would be worth a visit. I was not disappointed: 

It was a really interactive experience: one room had a live feed of the view from the Patek Headquarters in Geneva, another was filled with watch makers from Patek Philippe on hand and available to answer your questions. It was such a thrill to chat to one woman who walked me through the amount of time it takes to create one of these beautiful watches by hand (a watch maker sees the construction of the watch through from start to finish). While I can probably never afford to gift one of those beauties to my husband, I’m certainly glad I was able to gain a deeper insight into their impressive history and craftsmanship.

After finishing up at Saatchi, I had some to kill before going to the theatre so I made my way to Liberty London, which is possibly one of my favorite stores in the world. It was founded in 1875 and still occupies the same location, filled with beautiful fabrics, flowers, home wares, clothing, etc. It’s all so unique and I love walking around the store as the floor creaks beneath my feet – though I’m quite certain those floors have seen better than my Converse sneakers…

I rounded out my day with a trip to The Theatre Royal Haymarket to catch Bradley Cooper as The Elephant Man.

Based on the real life of Joseph Merrick, The Elephant Man tells the story of a 19th-century man (Cooper) who became a star of the traveling freak show circuit, eventually under the care of Dr. Treves, he builds friendships, and is embraced by London high society. If you’d like more of a robust summary, you can go to the show’s website, which you can find here. It was really an excellent performance and I was particularly impressed with how minimal everything was from costumes to set design without taking away from the story. Most impressive, however, was one of the beginning scenes when Dr. Treves presents Merrick to the hospital, Cooper stands on stage and “becomes” Merrick with each item Dr. Treves describes and then holds his body in this distorted position throughout the duration of the play.

It was certainly a busy but enjoyable day in London!

For our last night at the Grove, Andrew’s company throws a black-tie event – it was fun to dress up for a change and his team won two awards for the video they put together as part of a team building exercise conducted throughout the week:

We woke up on Saturday, enjoyed our final breakfast at the Grove for 2015 and headed back to Heathrow to catch our flight back to the Bay…

London Part II

A bit of jetlag woke us both around 5am and after tossing and turning for a while we decided to embrace our jetlag and explore London before the tourists woke up. Both Andrew and I studied abroad at LSE during college so we’ve had the “typical” London tourist experience and whenever we come back to the city we tend to avoid any of the tourist destinations. However, 5:30am on a Monday seemed like a safe time for a walk past Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, and along the Thames to Saint Paul’s Cathedral and Millennium Bridge:

It was truly amazing to enjoy all of these beautiful and historic sites without anyone else around – set that alarm clock early and hit the town the next time you find yourself in London, you won’t be disappointed!

We then stopped for a trip down memory lane at LSE for Andrew’s favorite breakfast sandwich at Wright’s Bar. To my husband’s delight, the same staff were working there now as they were ten years ago when he attended LSE.

We were quite exhausted after our busy morning and it was barely 10am! We decided to head back to bed for a few hours before relocating to our new home just outside of London in Hertfordshire, The Grove.

The Grove is easily one of the best hotels I’ve been to. It’s set on 300 acres and was the former home of the Earls of Clarendon, which was often visited by Queen Victoria on the weekends. It’s since been converted, renovated, and expanded to become a five star golf and spa destination.

Aside from the spa, which would be anyone’s favorite “activity,” I absolutely LOVE afternoon tea. It’s a tradition that is simply not appreciated in the US and is one of the most fantastic and relaxing parts of your day in the UK. I attribute my love for a good tea time to my mother and my time at Smith (the tradition at Smith is to enjoy Friday afternoon tea before your weekend starts, though my house enjoyed this tradition on Sunday before the week started). Tea time doesn’t have to be over the top, but to sit back with a cup of tea in the afternoon with friends or with a book is just so wonderful. Since I’m only here once a year, I decided to go a bit over the top and indulged in finger sandwiches, cakes, the traditional scones with clotted cream and jam in the lounges: It was quite a spread and I spent about two hours sipping on tea, enjoying my book, and relishing in the peaceful atmosphere while my husband was hard at work.