One week in England and I already think I’m Jane...

As you probably would’ve guess, I was vacationing in England with my husband’s family.

You can’t go just once in your life to that country, because once you’ve stepped onto its cities, you would want to go back over and over again.

True, summer time it’s not an intelligent time to do tourism in any part of the world, because most of the time, you’re walking down the streets and doing the mandatory sightseeing while sweating constantly, feeling like you’re decomposing at a slow pace.

However, the beautiful places, the awkward accent and the rudeness of the people compensate for the heat… (Yeah! rudeness… you’re not in England if people don’t give you orders and commands).

Tourists form an anthill onto the streets and you walk awkwardly like an elephant ballerina performing an impossible dance; while being pushed and throw forward (and I thought that New York was impossible to walk on!!).

We celebrated my brother in law’s graduation, so most of the time we spend it having fancy dinners and lunches (Argentineans and Dominicans don’t need a worthy excuse to celebrate), hence, we did obligatory walking to digest the meal down afterwards.

We carried boxes and luggage to move the 4 year’s worth of rubbish collected by my brother-in-law (I think I improved my arm’s strength in the process so no exercise for the next year or so) from Oxford to London, his next 4 years destination… Where more rubbish would be added to the pile and then, he would probably decide to throw everything away, because who on earth’s name would be able to carry all that back to the DR! (So all the moving we did was in vain… I think I’ll probably kill him when I get home tonight).

Anyhow… you can’t be in England without the need to become a sophisticated person, with a weird accent, who drinks tea, attends mass every day at 6 pm to hear the Gregorian chanting in the church, rides the tube (subway it’s too cheap of a word), takes the lift (elevators weren’t invented in England) and most importantly, attains this “double-identity thing” that makes you the next undercover agent in the story of tourists visiting the UK.

So, who am I?

I’ll have to kill you if I tell you… but call me Jane… Jane Bond.

Tea time @ Serendipity with my girlfriends

Serendipity it's a Cafe/Restaurant/Tea House/Desserts Paradise where everybody must go at least one time if you're visiting the Big Apple.
Recession and this place don't get along so well; so no matter the economic condition of the country (or the world) you can always count to find Serendipity brimming with people.
It's one of those rare places that don't take reservations, so to go there we had to organize and make a plan. Have you noticed how difficult is to agree to something the easy way if you're meeting with your girlfriends? (men tend to go with the flow; but women go against it without even asking; just to rebel... I think it has to do something with our history).
First of all, we all talk at the same time so it's pretty impossible to understand what the others are saying; second, we change the subject every 2 minutes so we're completely incoherent; third we gesticulate a lot so you get dizzy; then everybody else does too; fourth; between the talking, changing the subject and gesticulating; it's pretty impossible to get anywhere... I'm impressed we even manage to arrange for a get together!
On that particular day, New York was soaking wet and my shoes were dripping, even my socks! My hair was a frizzy mess; the subway was crowded (more than usual) and like every rainy day, people get disoriented so everything runs slowly; the walking mass don't advance at the usual pace, your only option is to elbow your way head-on into the sea of people to get in time to your destination; and Serendipity doesn't wait... so there I was, clutching my bag under my arm, tightly grabbing my umbrella, arranging my scarf and elbowing... and I mean a lot!
There's something you don't know about me and it's that I'm not a patient person... I don't like to repeat myself, I can't cope with hysteria and I don't like to deal with a crowd of people in the street.
Tough for me living in this small island with so many people (1,634,000 people to be exact); one of the most densely populated areas in the world (can you imagine what this information did to my nerves??)
Tough luck!!
If you've been to Serendipity you obviously want to come back, I was like the donkey and Serendipity was the carrot, and it was a really palatable carrot!!
So after 34 SMS from the girls (we really CAN'T agree that easy, sorry humanity), 13 thousands elbowing, 55 percent drench-er, 20 percent humidity free hair (the rest 80 percent not so lucky) and 2 reschedules later; I arrived at the place 30 minutes before the arranged time to put our names on the list and have a table ready by 4 pm.
The good news is that after you're seated and enjoying yourself, the place is great, the food is incredible and the sweets are fantastic!
It's definitely worth your while!!
My only advice: don't go on a rainy day, always get 30 min before, the waiting area is non-existent so you most definitely will wait outside the door... ohhh! and no strollers. Sorry mamas!!
http://www.serendipity3.com/