London 2002

The bar of the Hilton hotel by Trafalgar Square, focused on a wide collection of bourbons. It got a bit hype when it was opened, so of course we had to go for a visit. Just another Hotel bar.

Berlin 2010

My friend dj Borzin from Helsinki was playing here for a night of Balkan Fever together with Shantel, and there was a band called the Rotfront, which I sadly missed because of the huge queues outside. Later I received their cd as a gift from another friend, and they are actually really good. Balkan music really makes you want to dance, or if you can't dance, jump around, AND drink more! Great party music..
Lido is situated somewhere in the old Eastern part of Berlin, and when we arrived by the door, it was madness. Probably 200 people waiting to get in, while it was already full, most of the public really drunk, or high. I was supposed to have my name on the door to ensure a smooth entry, but we were too late for that, I tried to discuss with the bouncer, but he was already so stressed out of the situation, there was no way we could talk us in. Just when I was done with him, and he was closing the door, someone threw a half full beer bottle to the door, where it exploded.. Not nice, and by then the door guys were ready to kill the person if they got their hands on him. They didn't.
When we got in later, my friend recommended not to leave my jacket to the garderobe, while the staff might be even more spaced out than the customers. As I observed, they really didn't have a clue how to run the garderobe. We ended up playing fussball and drinking beer in the more quiet tent in the backyard, it was fun, though there was one rastafari, with reaction time of 15 seconds, who really wanted to help us play. I believe I was pretty hammered at 5 as well.
We took a taxi to Curry36, since I had read it is open 24hrs. When we arrived, 5.15, we were informed that they are closed for one hour to clean up, and then they will re-open. Just our luck.. So we grapped a kebab from a kiosk nearby(Not Mustafas gemusekebab, which was also closed) and started to plan of going to sleep.

London 1999

First time I visited the Ivy, was a night to remember. I made a reservation approx. 2 weeks before the weekend trip with my friend, and the only time we could have was Sunday night at 22 o'clock. Funny.
Well we had a rich weekend full of adventures. The first evening I slipped on our hotel stairs, and really hurt my bum. The right side was as blue as a blueberry, and it hurt. Can't let that slow down a weekend in London, just have to obtain the right medication. My friend really wanted to see a football game, I was up for it too, with max. budget of 30£ a ticket. It seemed to be difficult to obtain tickets in Soho, the guys at Soccer corner on Carnaby street were willing to sell us tickets for 35£ a piece. I was not willing to pay so much, and my friend was a bit upset because of that, though he admitted it is a steep price(That was a time when Pound was still strong).
Weekend went further, I think we visited the Comedy Store on saturday night, before meeting up with an old colleague for drinks at the Atlantic Bar. That was a pretty nice bar, of course, it no longer exists either. The whole building has been in renovation for over 3 years now, I've noticed. We wanted to carry on the evening together with my colleague's group to Chinawhite, one of the hippest clubs at the time, but since we were on a student budget, entrance fee of 20£ each seemed also too steep, especially since we still wanted to drink a lot too, and I persume the drinks would have set us back another 20£ each, or at least close.
So sadly we had to re-think our position in London night life, can't remember what happened next, but probably nothing worth remembering. That is often the problem in big cities, you have to have a clear plan for the night, if you don't, you will have to compromise. And if your plan falls apart, because of transportation problems, or face control, you will have to compromise again, and you will find yourself in an off-license kebab place to spend the rest of the evening.
Finally we got to Sunday night, a bit hung over, tired but with a sufficient appetite left. We arrived to the Ivy, and were seated just by the entrance, probably the worst seats in the house, but what can you do? We had a nice dinner, as a starter I had some Asian soup, main course I can't remember, BUT while I was downing my cappuccino cremé Brûlée, a goddess stepped from one of the booths, namely Claudia Schiffer. That was the first time I've seen her, or as my friend put it, she saw us ;) In my mind, she has always been the number one of the super models.
Well, we didn't end up to any wild party together with her, but I have to say even when the Ivy didn't really care if we were their guests or not, Claudia made it all worthwhile. And while our bill amounted to 35£ each, funnily enough exactly the same amount the football game would have set us back, my friend admitted that seeing Claudia was enough to compensate for the Saturday's loss.

London 1998

So here I worked for 3 months or so.. It was a nice experience, and quite a difference in the volumes compared to Planet in Helsinki. The most memorable things have to be; Somebody's farewell party, drinks 2 for 1, I still didn't really know anybody, with whom I could drink together, so I ended up drinking always two drinks instead of one. Boy was I hammered in the taxi back home! The evening when the two beautiful brazilians introduced themselves to me, The evening I got 150£ tips from an arab princess, the first time I visited Subway-sandwich store with my canadian colleague, and my last day, when we got a bomb threat call, and we had to evacuate the restaurant. They actually evacuated a total o three blocks, smack in the middle of London, the trocadero. My worst concern was, that my passport is in the building, and my flight is in two days.. Well, a cold beer while waiting to get back to work, soothed my nerves. The actual fear actually hit later, on the way home, when you had time to think exactly what could you have done in such a crisis, in a strange environment. And I remember strongly, how anxious I was to get back home in Helsinki, to see my friends again. That was actually a bit of a surprise also, how much you can miss some people or places sometimes. Well, now I'm older and my heart's been broken so many times, I don't get those feelings anymore. Life is...

London 1998

A long-time soho establishment, which is not a good restaurant, according to Time Out. Well, one day a sudden strong rain surprised me, and I thought, okay, I'll go for a cup of coffee in there to keep warm. There was a really cozy atmosphere, and I actually remember I lingered there for quite a while.
I had a Don Huonot t-shirt on, which says "Ruoski minua" and the bartender insisted on knowing what it says. For some reason I was embarrased to tell him. Somehow it doesn't translate well to my ear.
Well, while I was enjoying my cappuccino, guess who walked in, Emma Thompson and Tim Roth. Again, I was happy to see familiar faces in this strange town, and was about to say hi to them, when I realized, that actually they really haven't had the pleasure of meeting me, ever. though Emma did party later on once with us in Planet Hollywood, for charity, of course.

Bray 2002

The brasserie by THE Heston Blumenthal. My friend had rented a smart, which took us safely to our destination on an era before GPS. Luckily Ville had printed out directions, 3 pages with every turn & speedbump through the London city, then via Windsor to the small beautiful village of Bray. We sneaked a peek in Fat Duck, and then enjoyed a supper by the river, in an otherwise empty restaurant. It's hard to be a trendsetter.. I believe food was good, but the real treat which took me by surprise was my dessert, Apple crumble pie with vanilla sauce. When I got the first piece in my mouth, I was shocked, the pie started exploding and fizzing on my tongue! I guess they had added some of that powder, that you had with lollipop as a kid. Funny, and something to remember.
On the way back, just in Fat Ducks backyard, there were some beautiful sheep enjoying their saturday evening. I thought we could still fit one of them in our smart and bring it with us to London, to make some late night kebabs for us.. Well we didn't dare.

London 2002

Great Eastern Hotel, a beauty. Had to make another short toilet stop, and the most remarkable thing was, that in the lobby toilets, they had two different papers, double-layered and triple-layered, that's what I call hospitality! To this day I don't know if it really was done on purpose. I wanted to have the same system at home, but it is not easy to find a holder for two rolls of paper side-by-side, so my hospitality for my friend focused more in the other rooms, I hope they don't mind. I always provide toilet paper though. talking about TP, in former Sokos Hotel Klaus K, where I worked in Tony's deli on bulevardi in Helsinki, we had the expensive toilet paper in the staff toilet, and the guest restrooms were equipped with the cheap elementary school TP, I don't know either if that was on purpose, but I didn't complain..