soho.

today I explored SoHo, an area on the West End of London. Originally, I was going to download a free walking tour onto my ipod, but once I got there I realized that the file wasn't transferred onto my ipod. So, i had to do my own little walking tour the old school way, with a map and good sense of directions. it's an interesting area where shopping meets theatre and chinatown. apparently the name originates from a hunting call, which is very different from NY's "SOuth of HOuston."

I started off at Goodge St and visited Pollock's Toy Museum. It was cool getting to see all the different, simpler toys, ranging from jacks to toy soldiers to wax dolls to teddy bears. But I realized that wax dolls creep me out, and I'm not sure if it was worth the £4. regardless, it was a good half an hour.

"The toy theatre was a popular toy in the Victorian times, when children would have put on performances of popular plays running at the time. The theatre and plays would have been bought in sheets and cut out and pasted up at home. One of the best known suppliers of toy theatre material was Pollocks in Hoxton, after whom the Museum is named"

- Pollock's Toy Museum Guide.

they were really intricately painted and it's such a different concept of a toy.

4000 year old toy!!!

view into a dollhouse window.

compare this modest version of monopoly with.....

the WORLD edition! with electronic banking units?! craziness. what is monopoly without the physical act of counting and holding on those fake bills?! I found this edition at Hamleys, the FAO Schwartz of London.

continuing on to the "mod" / shopping area of SoHo...

Carnaby Street. cute little area packed with lots of clothing shops/cafes.

i like colorful photos

.....i like colorful photos.

regent street (major shopping st) and a red double decker bus. i take those every now and then to get around the city, and i sit on the top deck every time.

chinatown! very excited to see what they have in store for lunar new year festivities.

must go see les mis at some point this semester.

not too interested in Avenue Q, but i loved the building. just gives you a sense of the theatre district in london. very different from times square.

that concludes my SoHo tour. apparently this is where the red light district is as well, but i didn't walk through it today. maybe next time. So my conclusion about SoHo is that it's just as, if not more, commercial as its counterpart in nyc. However, i think it retains more of its local authenticity. definitely plan on going back and spending time.

I was planning on finally going to the British Library afterwards, but my entire body was frozen by the end of this walk that I had to go back home and thaw for about 2 hours. i snuggled into bed and sipped on earl grey tea.

Tonight, i asked 2 kids out to dinner. They both go the NYU, and more importantly we all went to middle school together in seoul. The three of us were at the school together for just one year, 8th grade, and didn't interact with each other at all back then, or even in nyc. but, thought it'd be cool to get together since we're all in london. we went to a local indian restaurant, and had a great 3 hours just chitchatting about middle school and nyu and london.