DAY 38: PARIS pt. 2

We woke up pretty early Saturday morning so we could get a lot done. The hotel we stayed in had an amazing breakfast buffet, so we spent a pretty good amount of time there enjoying breakfast and filling up for the long day. The croissants were fantastic!

The first stop of the day was Notre Dame. We spent a lot of time there. Like the tower, it was really breathtaking – inside and out. There is something about standing in front of such a huge, old, famous building that is really overwhelming, but in a good way. We walked through the interior and were going to go up to the towers but the line was so long it would have taken hours to get through. The bells chimed while I was there so that was pretty cool.

From Notre Dame we went to theArch de Triumphe and Champs de Elysse to look around. It’s probably about a mile long so we did about ¼ of it and turned around. After that we went to Galleries Lafayette, a very old art neavou department store with a gorgeous atrium and stained glass dome ceiling. I’m a little embarrassed to admit we ate at the Mcdonald’s on the 4^th floor of Galleries Lafayette. Half dying of starvation and strapped for time, it was a good enough option.

After a little shopping and lunch, we spent a good amount of time trying to figure out what to do next, followed by lots of walking in circles looking for the right bus stop. We were so turned around and couldn’t find anyone who spoke enough English to tell us how to get where we need to go, so we just went back to the hotel to see the nice concierge who spoke great English. It turned out the museum we were trying to get to was too far away to make it there in back in time to make our train.

Completely exhausted from the most whirl-wind trip ever, we spent our last two hours hanging out at the hotel bar. They gave us a complementary glass of wine while we were sitting there waiting. The bar tender heard us say it was Emily’s birthday so he poured us all a glass of champagne! We sat around talking with him about London and America and music videos and he ended up giving us the rest of the bottle of champagne that he opened for us.  It was a really nice way to end our trip.

The train ride home was much more pleasant then the ride there. It’s only about two hours by Eurostar so we were back in no time. While we were on our way home, Whitney called me and asked if I’d e interested in going to Scotland with her and Jeni the next day until Tuesday. Of course I said I’d love to!  We finally got back from the station around 8:30at night. As soon as I got home, Whitney and Jeni gave me all the information so I could book my ticket to Scotland. I unpacked my bag from Paris, cleaned my room a little, and repacked my bag for Scotland!

PICTURES COMING SOON!!!
Techinical Difficulties

DAY 37: PARIS!!!!!

Friday I woke up at 5:25 to my roommates knocking on my door, asking if I was ready to go. Still a slightly inebriated from Thursday night’s celebration, I grabbed my backpack and started shoving things into it. I grabbed all of my toiletries, a few shirts, I even made sure to grab extra batteries because my camera died on the pub crawl the night before. I did all of this while brushing my teeth, getting dressed, and washing my face. Unfortunately, there was no helping my hair…

My roommates had already left to be sure they’d make in to the station on time. I ran out the door about 5 minutes after I woke up. I ran to the bus stop, then again from the bus stop to the train station (Which is thankfully pretty close). Once I found the girls I felt a little less panicked, but I was pretty freaked out that I forgot something. While we were waiting in line to check in I checked my bag to make sure I had everything and sure enough, I forgot my camera OF ALL THINGS!!

I slept the whole train ride to Paris.  When we got there we met our tour guide for the day and got on the bus that would be taking us around. We had an hour tour of the city; unfortunately, I slept through most of that too. The first thing on our agenda was a cruise on the River Seine. The tour started on the river, right in front of the Eiffel Tower. I’m pretty sure my heart stopped the first time I saw it, and maybe even the second and third time. We cruised under 22 bridges, passing by the gorgeous architecture of Paris.

After the river tour we went to the Eiffel Tower to eat lunch. The restaurant on the first level of the tower served us champagne and a two course meal. I had a tomato, mozzarella and basil salad, and chicken and mixed vegetables, served, of course, with delicious French bread. Eating lunch and being inside the Eiffel Tower made me feel much better. After we ate, Cassidy, Emily and I walked up the 20 billion steps to get to the second level. The whole way up I just kept saying “I’m in the Eiffel Tower right now! In Paris! You know- Paris, France. That’s in Europe…” I just couldn’t believe I was actually there. The view was gorgeous. You could see the whole city for miles. We didn’t have a whole lot of time there after lunch because we had to stay on our schedule, so we quickly took the 400 billion stairs all the way to the bottom and headed back to the bus. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture with the tower.

After lunch we had another short tour, passing the Arch de Triumph and Champs de Elysse before arriving at the Louvre. Again, we had a very tight schedule so we did the essentials, led by our guide. We saw the Inverted pyramids, the Venus de Milo, Winged Victory of Samothrace (one of my favorites), some of Da Vinci’s work including Madonna of the Rocks and obviously the Mona Lisa. It was really cool to see those iconic pieces, especially Samothrace. The Mona Lisa was smaller than I expected and you can’t get very close to really look at it, but she’s beautiful.

After the Louvre we were taken to our hotel to check in and rest. We all got ready for about 30 minutes and met in the lobby to go dinner. We ate at a little sidewalk restaurant right by our hotel.  From dinner we caught a bus back to the Eiffel Tower to see it lit up. It was absolutely amazing. The girls wanted to see the Moulin Rouge so we went by there before heading back to the hotel. I was completely exhausted and slept like a baby. 
(That was the most condensed summary of the trip ever)

Pictures Coming Soon!!!!
Technical Difficulties

DAY 36: The Longest Day Ever

Oh what a day! The last day of class didn’t last long. We turned in our portfolios and were free to go. Thursday night, there was a planned cultural tour of more historic pubs. Some of the people who came to London only enrolled for 5 weeks, instead of the 10 week program. This was the last night we’d be able to hang out with the people who were getting ready to leave so we made a night of it.

I totally forgot about the pub crawl, so I didn’t think about the fact that I wouldn’t be able to go home and pack for Paris beforehand, but I figured I’d have time when I got home. We went to three pubs with Tony, our tour guide. The first pub we went to was in Whopping, in East London. I can’t remember the name of it but it was built in the 1600s and was a favorite hangout of Charles Dickens. We all had a pint on the bank of the river before heading to the next pub, Captain Kidd. It’s named Captain Kidd because that is where the famous pirate, who inspired the character of Jack Sparrow, was hung for his crimes at that pub. We all had yet another pint, before heading to the last pub.

The last pub we went to is called the Mayflower. It was from that place that the Mayflower set sail from the new world. It was right on the river, as were the other two, but on the north side on the Thames. It was very small and very old. I went with a half pint this time, keeping in mind that I’d be leaving for Paris at 6AM, though the thought didn’t stay in my head for long.

From the Mayflower, a group of us went to O’Neil’s. The first two floors are a normal bar, and the top floor is where they have bands play live music. We had a great time at there, our last hurrah together as Ashley, Stacey, and Sam were all leaving this weekend. We didn’t even get home until 3AM. We stayed in the kitchen hanging out until 4AM… and I had to be up and ready to go to Paris at 5:30AM…

I laid down to “rest my eyes” around 4:15 …

DAYS 34 & 35: Harry Potter Cast - in Person!!!!

Tuesday was amazing! I had class as usual, but during class Cassidy texted me and let me know about a Harry Potter “meet & greet” type thing at the Apple Store on Regents Street. OF COURSE, I was down to go! As soon as I got out of school I headed home to drop of my stuff then I went straight to the Apple Store. Considering the nature of the event, I thought the line to get into the store would be a mile long. Cassidy was there before me and got a spot in the line that was CONSIDERABLY shorter than I thought possible. We waited in the rain for about 30 minutes before being ushered into the store and up the stairs.

I thought it would be an autograph line, with the actors sitting at a table with lines of people moving past them, at that point, I also didn’t know who was going to be there. So we get to the top of the stairs and there is this small stage with a screen behind it and chairs set up in front, already full from the people in line ahead of us. We were granted standing room behind the seated fans so we made our way as far forward as we could and there they were! The actors who play Lucius, Draco and Narcissa Malfoy and Neville Longbottom were sitting on the stage, on either side of the screen.

There was a moderator asking the actors questions and guiding conversation. Once she was through with her questions, the audience had the opportunity to ask questions as well. The whole event lasted about an hour. It was so awesome to see.

From the Apple Store, I took off straight for Frith Street Tattoo to meet everyone for Tuesday club. When Naomi texted me earlier in the day to see if I’d be coming I told her OF COURSE, but on one condition – no Chinese food! We went to a restaurant called Nando’s. There are a bunch of them throughout London. All they serve is chicken but there are lots of ways you can get it. The seasonings and sauces they use were SO good.

On Wednesday we went to the Sommerset House for an exhibition on Italian Fashion. I was just so happy that it was the last day of that class. History of Costume is the last class I needed to graduate, aside from my internship, so turning in that final felt great. From the exhibit I went home and finished my homework for Thursday- the VERY LAST DAY of class (again, aside from the internship).

 

Waiting in line IN THE RAIN to get into the Apple Store


SO EXCITED!

Form Left to Right: Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy), Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy), Helen McCrory(Narcissa Malfoy), Mathew Lewis (Neville Longbottom) and the moderator

DAY 33: 4th of July

Monday I started my day by laying out in the park right next to our flat. I had stayed up all night to finish some homework and didn’t want to go to sleep so I took advantage of the free time soaking up some sun. After about an hour and a half it was time to go to class.

The last week of my History of Costume class was dedicated to visiting museum exhibitions. On Monday we visited two exhibits at the Victoria & Albert Museum. One was a look at the work of brilliant Japanese designer, Yoji Yamamoto. The exhibit included interviews, photos, runway shows and about 100 of his original designs for both men and women. The second exhibit we visited was art-based, called The Cult of Beauty: Arts & Crafts Movement 1800-1900. There was lots of really beautiful art and sculptures that showed the Arts & Crafts style.

After the exhibits, I walked down the street to Harrod’s. They only have one sale a year and it’s happening now. I had to hurry through the store the first time I went so this time I took my time looking less at the products and more at the store itself. The feeling of the store is unbelievable- complete luxury.

Harvey Nichols is another one of those huge department stores that were on my list of must-visits. It is similar to Harrod’s in the product they sell (expensive stuff!), but Harvey Nichols is much younger, more trendy and fashion forward. They atmosphere isn’t quite the same but there is something to be said about coming up an escalator and the first thing you see is an Alexander McQueen stunner!

From Harvey Nich’s, as it’s called here, I went home to meet my roommates for a 4^th of July celebration. On my way home, I was so hungry I was on the verge of fainting so I went by McDonald’s to celebrate America’s independence with a double cheese burger and fries! Whitney, Shelise and I met our friends at some pub near south bank and shared a “cheers” to the red, white & blue, celebrating America’s independence from the British over 250 years ago… What irony!

Not a cloud in the sky... perfect day to lay in the park

1st exhibit we went to at the V&A

2nd exhibit

V& A bookstore has SO MANY amazing fashion books... I want them all

The courtyard of the Victoria & Albert Museum

HARROD'S!

Classic Burberry Trench Coats, owning one is on my bucket list

Gorgeous All Saints dress

Dear Future Mr. Katie... where ever you are... I'd like this one <3

Or this one...

This one is nice too.. but a little gaudy for me ;)

This is what the Pet Floor of Harrod's looks like.....

HARVEY NICHOLS!

Drooling...

No words

Another McQueen

I don't remember who made this but I'm obsessed with the yellow one in the middle

SLOANE STREETAfter I left Harvey Nichols I walked down Sloane Street, where all of the High Fashion boutiques are... It was torturous and amazing at the same time...

DAY 32: Afternoon Tea

Staying true to our goal of making everyday a productive one, today Whitney, Cassidy and I enjoyed afternoon tea at Bea’s in Bloomsbury. Suggested to us by Ashley, who had made there last week, we made our reservations for the quintessential English experience, Tea Time! Taken from their website, the experience includes: “Mini Savoury Baguettes (sandwiches), a proper scone with lashings of clotted cream (butter)and jam, one of our signature cupcakes,  marshmallow (homemade & mango flavored!), a mini Valrhona brownie, a mini Belgian Blondie, macaroons, double chocolate cookies, and a mini meringue and of course a pot of Jing Tea.” All of that for £15.00per person!

When we sat down at our table, we browsed the menu of about 10 different kinds of teas. I ordered Vanilla Black tea, Whitney ordered Green Tea and Cassidy ordered Black Currant and Hibiscus tea. (Cassidy’s was SO yummy!) After what seemed like forever (only because we were so excited), we were served our personal pots of tea, plate of sandwiches, and tower of delectable treats. We all started with the sandwiches, then took our time deciding how best to attack the treats.

Everything was delicious. The scone, which was basically a biscuit, was the best tasting, most buttery, flaky biscuit I’ve ever had. The strawberry macaroons were fresh, and much more tasty then my first encounter. My Vanilla Black tea was sweet and very good, but Cassidy’s tea was fruity and better paired with our snacks. I now understand why Tea Time is such an important part of the culture!

We sat at the table for about 30 minutes after we finished, paralyzed by sugar. I leaned my head against the wall behind me and almost fell asleep for my plummeting levels of blood sugar. We decided it best to get out of there before we all fell asleep at the table. Knowing I had to come home and write a 2000 word paper, I was a little nervous.

We got home around 5:45. It’s now 11:42 and though I’ve written notes on the topic of my essay, I’ve yet to actually start anything. I cleaned my room, vacuumed, and did my laundry. Now my environment is clean, my blog is updated and there is nothing more to distract me from completing my paper…. I hope.

Through the window at Bea's

The back of the tea menu

Tea time!

Vanilla Black tea with 1 sugar

Chicken w/ lettuce & tomato, smoked salmon & cream cheese, and Salami w/ Brie

The tray of goodies!
The cupcakes are Red Velvet (what I had), Chocolate & Peanut Butter, and Vanilla & Lemon

Other goodies include brownies, blondies, mini meranges, macaroons, scones, cookies, and mango flavored marshmellows! ... I've never crashed so hard in my life!

On the tray, very Alice in Wonderland

Our whole spread

The best biscuit I've ever eaten

Spotted this on the way home! SO EXCITED!

DAY 31: Borough Market (again) and South Bank

Friday night at the Porterhouse, Ashley asked me and Whitney if we’d be interested in going to Borough Market today. Of course we were both VERY INTERESTED so we made plans to meet in the courtyard at 11:00AM. As a reminder, Borough Market is the one that is just food. Having been there before, I knew there were a few things that I wanted to try that I didn’t get around to last time.

From lunch I got a Spanish tomato-based stew with meatballs, chorizo and butterbeans over mash. It was a little spicy for my taste but so delicious and flavorful. There is a vendor there that sells all kinds of roasted nuts, and chocolate covered confections that we had tried last time. Since then I’ve been craving their chocolate covered honeycomb so I bought a little to take home. It’s also pretty much understood that I’ll be getting that Goats Milk Ice Cream whenever I’m there. That stuff is so amazing and light.

From the market, Ashley left to go meet up with Stacey and her friends and Portobello Market, and Whitney and I decided to walk the South Bank.  If you refer back to DAY 4, you’ll see the first time I walked the South Bank and saw things like the “Harry Potter” bridge, Shakespeare’s Globe and the Tower Bridge. Today, we decided to walk in the other direction. We still passed the Globe and the Harry Potter Bridge coming from the Market but once we passed that it was all new to me. We stopped into an art exhibit put on by the WWF (World Wildlife Foundation I think) showing photos of wild animals like elephants, lions, tigers, leopards and monkeys. The pictures were amazing!

As we kept walking we ran into a little shopping area, a strip of restaurants, and skatepark and finally the London Eye. Once we got to the Eye we had probably been walking for 45 minutes. I can see it from my flat but this was the first time I saw it up close. It’s HUGE! My favorite thing about our walk though was seeing the House of Parliament and Big Ben. I feel like I’ve been such a bad tourist that I hadn’t seen them yet. All of the most significant and iconic sites are the ones I still haven’t seen, and what I want to see the most! We hopped on the tube to head home from there because our feet were hurting and we needed to figure out what we were going to do tonight.

I got back here and started updating the blog, and I’ve been doing so for almost 4 hours! I’ve been distracted obviously. I talked to Andy on the phone for a while then Krystal called. Me and Whitney tried mapping out a schedule of the trips we want to take, and I made grilled cheese. Now, it’s 9:45 and I’m going to get ready to go out! Tonight we’re going out for all of the people were only here for 5 weeks (Ashley, Sam & Stacey) because they leave early in the morning next Saturday. A last hoorah of sorts! I hope you all are as happy to be caught up as I am!

Thanks so much for reading my blog and keeping up with me! A big apology to the (MANY) people who were upset with me for not keeping up! It actually was really amazing to hear people say that they read this before bed or “didn’t know what to do with themselves” when I missed a day! (I didn’t make that up, more than 5 people [that I wouldn’t have expected] called me out on it!) I appreciate the love!

My lunch! Spanish Stew (Tomatoes, Meatball, Chorizo, and Butterbeans) & Mashed Potatoes

Ashley's GIANT lamb sandwich w/ aoili & salsa verde

Whitney's veggie burger w/ hummus from the Veggie Table (i love that name)

Chocolate covered honeycomb

London Bridge (with the buses on it), Tower Bridge in the background

The Millenium Bridge AKA the "Harry Potter" Bridge

a little row of shops off of the River Walk

Interesting carved wood pieces, including a rocking horse

A view up the Thames

Whitney and I on a giant Astroturf chair (??)

The skatepark on the river walk

An artist was on the sidewalk painting this...

... this was 5 weeks worth of progress

some cool buildings across the river

Approaching the London Eye

the House of Parliment and Big Ben from the South Bank