the country where my tea obsession is encouraged.

The Royal Fam Takes London

This week was all about looking forward to the weekend. On Thursday, one of my lovely best friends from UMD (and my AXiD twin – we started the Royal Family, so it was so appropriate for us to be in London together) flew from Barcelona to end her spring break staying with me in London for the weekend. On a side note: Thursday afternoon my architecture class went to St. Paul’s Cathedral to sketch and then walked over the Millennium Bridge, and our teacher brought us to this restaurant/shopping area where there is an elevator you can take up to a tapas bar rooftop and get spectacular views of St. Paul’s, with the Eye, Shard and other London buildings on the horizon. It was pretty sweet. Back to the weekend. Olivia arrived Thursday late afternoon, and once I got back from my class we set off to store-of-the-future Argos to buy an air mattress (we got one where you can inflate it without a pump by continually stepping on the air valve…pretty cool and high tech), and then we went to Waitrose to buy a few things. We got Nando’s for dinner so Liv could feel truly immersed in London and after dinner we attempted to go to a rooftop in Shoreditch called Queen of Hoxton’s so we could get some spiked hot chocolate and roast marshmallows over their fire pits, but alas, once we arrived it was raining and the fire pits were located outside of the covered wigwam/teepee so we decided we didn’t really want soggy roasted marshmallows so we came back. As in the past, we lifted our spirits by buying cake mix and icing and we made another one of our lovely Betty Crocker cakes and watched a 90s movie, “She’s All That.”

Friday morning we woke up and went to breakfast at Caravan Kings Cross, a place I had found while Googling best London breakfast spots, and it did not disappoint. We started our meal with their fruit salad that came with goji berries, seeds and sweet tahini. We both thought multiple items on the menu sounded delicious, so we decided we would be smart and get two things and split them. We split 1. buttermilk pancakes with toppings of banana caramel, mascarpone and pecans and 2. baked eggs on tomato pepper ragout topped with greek yogurt and a side of toast. Nothing quite beats a sweet and savory breakfast. The pancakes were amazing and so doughy and almost had a funnel cake-like consistency, but they were so good. The eggs were also the perfect healthy addition. I feel like half of these blogs posts contain elaborate descriptions of the food I eat, so I apologize. I also apologize for the future food references I will be making in this blog post alone. After breakfast, we came back to my flat to chill for a bit and then went to University of London Union so Liv could buy a sweatshirt. We booked in advance to attend a tea this day, so we went to the Sanderson Hotel to go to their Mad Hatter’s Afternoon Tea. This was probably my favorite tea yet. First off, the hotel was really cool and modern and their lobby had really artsy/unique/futuristic furniture and decor. We had our tea in a covered outdoor space off Suka Restaurant, so the room had awesome ambiance. It was really light and airy and you felt like you were outside, eventhough you kinda weren’t. They had overhanging heat lamps and the tables were white and gray marble. The tea was Alice in Wonderland-themed and was sooooo cute. We munched on our tea sandwiches and sampled all the desserts. My favorite was a traditional Victoria sponge cake and a “drink me” potion which had a mango flavor. It was a delightful tea and provided many a good instagram. After the tea we walked to Bedford Square so Olivia could re-visit her past study abroad academic center through UNC, and after reminiscing we went down to Westminster and took some pictures in front of Big Ben and the Eye. Before taking pictures we toured Churchill’s War Rooms, which I had done with my family in 2012, but it was still cool to see the underground rooms again and walk the same corridors as the British government walked during WWII. 

fruit salad.

Caravan.

BREAKFAST.

Sanderson lobby.

cool bathroom mirror.

Suka barstools.

lips.

tea room.

menu.

fancy teas.

magic potion.

Victoria sponge cake.

marshmallow mushrooms.

savory.

I like to think I’m a good photographer.

On Saturday we slept in a little longer, grabbed breakfast in the flat and around 11 headed off to Borough Market for lunch. Borough Market on a Saturday is the best time to go to Borough Market, and we first did a big loop to see all of the stalls before deciding what we wanted to buy. Walking into the market, I saw a table selling summer drinks and they had a bunch of pitchers of Pimm’s and lemonades. I was so tempted but decided I was’t truly in the mood for a Pimm’s at 11:15 in the morning. We then sampled cheese cube after cheese cube, chocolates, bread with olive oils and balsamic, chocolate-covered nuts and some brownies/cookies/ice cream. I got lunch from Total Organics, so I got a slice of a vegetable omelette pie thing, topped with lentils, sweet potatoes and tomatoes. It was really good. Upon recommendation, Liv got a grilled cheese from Kappacasein, which she said was fantastic, and Keni got a chicken burger. Liv and I decided to buy some chocolate covered almonds and hazelnuts dusted with cinnamon, which we probably had 5 samples of. The men working at the nut stand are not strict with their free samples and if you’re standing there they will just keep feeding you nuts on nuts. For dessert Keni got her goat’s milk apple pie ice cream and Liv and I got gelato from the place Keni and I had gotten it before. This time I took a picture of the chocolate faucet where they pour some chocolate into the bottom of your ice cream cone. Walking out of the market, I decided 12:15 was an acceptable time to drink a Pimm’s, and couldn’t resist buying a cup, especially since I haven’t had it this semester yet. One sip took me straight back to London 2012 and it was great. After the market, Liv and I went to Oxford Street to see if the Nike store sold Chelsea jerseys. It was great to see the Oxford Street tube stop again, the one my family and I used since it was closest to our flat while we were here over London 2012. Unfortunately, the Nike store had a bunch of other jerseys except Chelsea, but it was still a successful visit because Liv got a Brazil jersey and personalized it with Ronaldo (not Christiano, but Ronaldo Luís Nazário, a retired player). While waiting for the jersey to be personalized we browsed in Topshop and had to use some self control to not buy everything. This night for dinner Liv had heard of a place called Sarastro, and it was really interesting place and I won’t even try to begin to describe it but the pictures can do their job. The food was yummy and it was a successful night.

my omelette pie slice.

yum.

nuts.

chocolate faucet.

PIMM’S.

Oxford Street.

Why Topshop….

Sarastro.

winner winner chicken dinner.

our little nook.

Liv left Sunday morning for her flight, but it was a great weekend reuniting with her and crafting the perfect instagrams.

Cheeky Monday

Happy St. Patty’s Day! On Monday we lucked out and our night British Culture class was canceled, so after Gothic Lit the girls and I went to ULU to get dinner and a drink. ULU was pretty hoppin and they were decked out with some green and Leprechaun decorations, and they had a special where you could get a pint of Guinness for £2.50. Alas, I do not like Guinness so I stuck with my cider. We got really excited when the TV screens started to play the C’est La Vie music video by B*Witched, which was a huuuuuge blast from the past. We started singing along and all of the British students were probably really confused why we were so into the song. I remember my dad taking me to meet B*Witched at a local mall signing when I was in like third grade. Good times. And then they played Ego by The Saturdays and thennnnnnn Midnight Memories by One Direction and it made me even happier.

That night we went to Boujis, a club in South Kensington. This was the launch of Cheeky Mondays, as they normally don’t open on Monday nights. One of our friends interns there so she seriously hooked us up. As I was googling the club beforehand to see what it looked like, I saw some of their past visitors included Rihanna, Kate Moss, Prince Harry, Kate Middleton….need I continue? We arrived at Boujis and bypassed the line and went to our table with bottle service. After having a round of Crack Baby shots (a mix of vodka, champagne and passion/something fruit juice — I hate shots but these were good) we spent the rest of the night dancing with each other. They played great music which was a relief.

channeling Kendall Jenner

iamsterdam

Keni and I have returned from another lovely weekend of travel! This time, we hopped on over to Amsterdam on a lovely 45 minute flight and spent the weekend admiring canals, dodging bikers and getting whiffs of the truly lovely scent of weed. (kidding).

Friday:

We did not, however, get to Amsterdam without any troubles. Friday morning we wake up around 7 to get ready to leave at 8 for our 11:45 flight. I woke up earlier than Keni and got ready, and when Keni woke up she checked her email and saw that we had an email saying that there are flight disruptions due to weather. We look out our window and see the sun shining and are incredibly confused. Keni then checks Heathrow’s website and we see that our flight number has a nice big “CANCELED” next to it. That was reassuring. I then proceed to call Heathrow and was not really helped by a man working there, so Keni and I decide to just head to Heathrow anyway and have someone help us. The tube ride to Heathrow from our stop takes a little over an hour, and it was a bit of a tense ride. We were trying to stay positive that we would still get a flight out, but it was a bit of a downer. We arrive at Heathrow and find the KLM service desk, and thank goodness they had a flight we were able to get on, leaving a little later at 1:40 p.m., than our original flight, but at least we were still headed to Amsterdam! We went through security and for some reason I completely forgot to remove my ziplock bag of my liquids from my backpack, so we got held up while they had to thoroughly probe and check my backpack. I was wearing the invisible cone of shame. They re-examined my bag after another business guy’s, and they practically unpacked his whole bag removing his electronics and papers, and when he finished and left he was like “have fun!” Since we were so early, we had a few hours to enjoy all that Heathrow had to offer. Keni got a snack and I treated myself with an iced soy mocha at Starbucks. We looked through some shops and then got lunch at Wagamama. Fortunately the morning went by quicker than expected and we were then walking up the steps to board our British Airways flight before we knew it. The flight was a whopping 45 minutes. It was pretty crazy to think that we spent more time getting to Heathrow than getting to Amsterdam.

waiting at Heathrow.

boarding.

peace London.

our first Dutch kitty friend.

When we arrived in Amsterdam we knew we could take a bus to get us to town, and it was a little confusing trying to figure out where our bus stop was on the street of all the buses, but fortunately we luckily saw it waiting there and got right on. It was around 5 p.m., when we arrived at our hostel (Stayokay Vondelpark), so we checked in and unpacked and walked into town. We decided to walk to the Rijksmuseum and see the “iamsterdam” letters, and it was a great time to go because when we got there it wasn’t crowded at all. We probably spent an hour there climbing on the letters and taking pictures and it was really fun. Some of the letters were easier to climb up than others, and climbing to the last “m” of “amsterdam” was at first a little scary, but I conquered the fear and reached the summit. You had to climb up the “a” and then monkey your way over to the “m,” and it can feel a little high and slippery! In one of my pictures a girl photobombed peeking out from one of the letters, and her guy friend was hysterically laughing. After our iamsterdam photo shoot, we were pretty hungry so we set off to find some dinner. Finding a good place took a little longer than you would expect, but we finally just went to some mediocre Italian restaurant and I got minestrone soup and a salad with tuna. We got some ice cream from Ben & Jerry’s afterwards and then went back to our hostel to use the wifi in the common space (there wasn’t wifi in the rooms…rude) and then we got ready for bed. Our room was clean and had it’s own bathroom, and we spent the whole weekend waiting for the 2 people who were apparently supposed to share the room with us, but they never came! Yay. To quote Keni on our shower, “the shower pressure has the pressure of Tinker Bell peeing on your head.”

Rijksmuseum.

Saturday:

We got up nice and early this morning to make full use of our day, and we got the hostel’s free breakfast, which wasn’t too too awful. We went to the Anne Frank House for a tour in the morning, and that experience was really surreal. It was just amazing to climb through the bookcase into the Secret Annex and be standing in the rooms that the Frank family of 4, van Pels family of 3, and another man hid for 2 years. We weren’t encouraged to take pictures, so I tried to discreetly take a few. We saw the pictures Anne glued on her wall, a board game Peter van Pels received for his birthday, a map tracking Nazi movements kept by Otto Frank and so much more. After walking through the house and the Secret Annex, there were rooms with artifacts and we actually got to see Anne’s real diary and different pages that were torn out and displayed for reading. We even saw the paperwork from the concentration camp the Franks went to, with their names on the arrival list. This was definitely an incredible experience and probably one of the best things of the weekend.

layout of the house.

Jewish star.

jam company Otto worked for.

hallway to bookcase.

bookcase to Secret Annex.

map he kept.

Anne’s room’s walls.

common space room.

the only source of light they had in the attic.

the house.

We then set off to find lunch, and one place had a green awning and we started walking towards it, but then we received a nice strong whiff of weed and noticed the cafe was called “Cafe Grass,” so we decided to pass. We ended up eating at a little cafe off of a square where they were having a market, and the service was not that amazing and we bonded a little with these two Irish women sitting next to us. It took them forever to be able to place their order for food with the waitress and Keni and I were waiting for so long to receive our bill, and one of the women said a little tongue-in-cheek, “I’d just walk out if I were you, love.” We finally paid for lunch and wandered through the market and I tried a sample of some bread with delicious raspberry no-sugar added jam. And we got to pet a really cute dog so obviously that was a highlight. And got ice cream. Then we walked to Waterlooplein market, Amsterdam’s largest flea market. On our journey we walked through the Red Light District, which is pretty much exactly how you would imagine it. There were women in windows of buildings and it was cool to see but also a little sketch. At one stand we were looking at their artwork, and the owner came over and started speaking to us in German. We just stood there and said we only spoke English, and then he switched to English and was like, “Oh I thought you girls were German!” So it made us happy that we don’t look like annoying Americans all the time. I ended up buying a scarf at one of the stalls, and Keni gave me the idea to ask to reduce the price since I bought the scarf off the display since there wasn’t one packaged on the table, so I asked to get the scarf for 9 euro instead of 10. I am SUCH an aggressive bargainer it isn’t even funny.

After the market we went to the Van Gogh Museum which was pretty cool, but they didn’t allow you to take pictures. Obviously that rule is usually disregarded by me and I snuck a few. It was neat seeing more Van Gogh pieces, but we had already seen my favorite Van Gogh, “Starry Night,” back at MoMA, so that was probably disappointing for some people who were hoping to see that piece in the museum. There were a bunch of American girls in the museum clearly studying abroad, and I overheard one girl tell her posse, “I just don’t have the mental capacity for this,” after saying how exhausted she was from her night out. Oh, Americans. On our walk back to our hostel we walked down a cute street and passed by a candy store where we saw one of the workers cutting the candy, and we got a free sample! And then we passed by a cheese shop and could sample the gouda flavors like gouda with pesto, gouda with Italian herbs and gouda with sundried tomatoes. My fav was the pesto. That night we decided to Google a place for dinner so we knew it would be good, and I found a restaurant called Foodism located on the outskirts of the canals and away from the touristy areas. The Telegraph review said reservations weren’t essential, but when we got there everything was reserved. Of course. Fortunately the owner was really nice and we let us sit at a table where the people had it reserved for 8:00 (since it was like 6:30), and the food was deeeelish. They recommended ordering a couple dishes each, so Keni got chicken and couscous and I got a chicken salad with tomatoes and avocado and a portobello mushroom stuffed with pumpkin and topped with goat cheese. It was soo good and we were glad to have a nice meal.

Sunday:

We planned to get brunch at Greenwoods and then visit the Rijksmuseum before going back to the airport for our early-evening flight. It was a beautiful walk to the restaurant and as we were walking up, I saw 2 girls standing outside and realized I knew one of them; we lived in the same dorm freshman year. What are the odds of that. It was too weird. For brunch I got the “veggie breakfast” which was scrambled eggs with sides of sautéed spinach and tomatoes and various vegetables. It also came with their homemade Irish soda bread which was soooo good. Keni and I also ordered their hot chocolate after reading reviews about it, and it didn’t disappoint. It was a glass of milk with chocolate chips at the bottom and you had to stir it up. Fortunately the restaurant had wifi, and I convinced Keni that we should buy our tickets to the Rijksmuseum online to avoid a possible line, and it was a good thing we did that because the line for the museum was incredibly long; for both ticket-holders and non-ticket holders. The ticket-holder line moved way faster though and we were able to have enough time to enjoy the museum before heading back to our hostel to get our stuff and go to the airport. The museum featured all things Dutch and we saw more Van Gogh, some Vermeer and Rembrandt paintings and a whole bunch of other stuff. Including two incredibly detailed and intense doll houses.

As we were leaving our hostel at 2 p.m., on a Sunday afternoon and thought we had seen all Amsterdam had to offer, we were so luckily flashed by a guy walking down the path. Aaaaand goodbye Amsterdam. We arrived at the airport with no issues and boarded our flight, and Keni and I had seats in front of one another and the flight attendant at the back of the plane must have heard us talking because when a guy came and sat next to me, the flight attendant came over and asked if he wouldn’t mind taking Keni’s seat so we could sit together, which was quite kind. Once landing it took eons to get through the UK border because the line was really long and then we had to endure that tube ride again, but we made it back safe and sound after a beautiful weekend in the Netherlands!

Tourist Tuesday: Tate Modern

You guessed it folks, another Tuesday, another tourist adventure. This Tuesday Keni and I went to Borough Market and Tate Modern. We took the tube to the south of the Thames and quickly walked around Borough Market, as they don’t do the full market on Mondays and Tuesdays. We were able to snag some free samples from vendors, like lemon Turkish delight, chocolate covered and cinnamon coated almonds and chocolate covered honeycomb. We also passed a vendor selling chocolate chip cookies the size of you face. Literally a size that can cover the face of a human. Not exaggerating. I was determined to find the section of the market where they hang a bunch of colorful umbrellas to create a covering over a seating area. I have seen pictures of these pretty umbrellas all over instagram and the first time we went to Borough Market we somehow missed them, so I asked a woman working where to find them and she pointed us off in the right direction. Fortunately for Keni and I, on our walk to umbrella land we happened to pass by a gelateria. Hehehe. No trip to Borough Market is complete without some ice cream (and the goat’s milk ice cream man wasn’t at the market, sooooo……) We went in and knew we made the right choice. Keni got peanut butter and I got bacio (chocolate with hazelnuts). They had a faucet running with liquid chocolate next to the gelato tubs, and if you ordered a cone they asked if you wanted them to fill up the cone bottom with a little chocolate. They didn’t have to twist my arm too hard for me to say yes to that question. The gelato was obviously great and we found the umbrella ceiling! I couldn’t resist taking an artsy/model instagram-esque picture of me under the umbrellas. I follow too many models and fashion bloggers on instagram.

Tate Modern was a short walk from Borough Market, so we took a nice stroll along the Thames and passed by Globe Theatre. The Millennium Bridge (the one from Harry Potter where the Death Eaters fly around and it collapses) comes right up to the Tate Modern’s entrance so that was pretty neat to see. There are a ton of birch trees planted by the entrance to the museum and the bridge and it provided quite a scenic atmosphere. When I was here 2 summers ago with my family I dragged my siblings down to the Thames to see the Millennium Bridge and they were less than impressed, but it actually is a really cool bridge and you have an awesome view of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Tate Modern has modern art, and it was a good time walking around the museum. They had a lot of Picassos and other artists. One room I walked in and I said “wow these remind me a lot of Mark Rothko,” then we turned around and saw the sign and they were indeed, all by Mark Rothko. GMA art class senior year presentation on abstract expressionism you didn’t let me down. My siblings also do not care for modern art, and one of the pieces in the museum that I knew they would die at was a box entitled, “Condensation Cube,” and it was a glass box filled with a bit of water with some condensation drops on the sides. Art.

Globe Theatre

Picasso

‘murica

Mark Rothko

Condensation Cube

view from the balcony.

After Tate we walked up to the Millennium Bridge and took some pictures, obvi. The morning was kind of gray but in typical London fashion, the day got way better by late afternoon and the clouds began to clear and blue sky emerged. All in all it was another successful Tourist Tuesday and we were able to cross another thing off our list!

Why is there scaffolding EVERYWHERE???

Monday:

This morning Keni and I went to The Breakfast Club for, you guessed it, breakfast. It kept coming up in our Google searches for good breakfast spots in London so we finally chose a time to try it out. Inside there were random photographs all over the walls and different artwork, and of course there was a big The Breakfast Club movie poster on the wall behind our table. Keni ordered apple juice which truly tasted like they just squeezed apples right on the spot, and I had a soy cappuccino. For breakfast, I had avocado on toast with a poached egg, and it was delish. I am a bit obsessed with avocado on toast. Keni stuck with her apple theme and ordered apple and cinnamon french toast, which was also super good. It was a good place to fuel up before our visit to Highgate Cemetery with our Gothic Lit class later that afternoon. On our walk back to our flat, there was a man walking with the cuuuuuuutest little puppy who just looked so friendly and happy and when we walked by the puppy came kinda close to Keni so she stooped down to pet him and of course I couldn’t resist and had to pet him too, and hopefully the owner wasn’t annoyed because I’m pretty sure British people don’t really do this but hey we just love puppies. I then wondered what would happen if I scooped up the puppy and took off running. But obviously I will never steal a puppy don’t worry.

whatta pun.

cute mug.

poached egg on avocado toast.

LOVE ACTUALLY IS ALL AROUND.

Our class went on a tour of Highgate Cemetery, a private cemetery where you can only get in if you are on a guided tour or have an actual funeral to attend. The cemetery is split into East and West and in the East section, Karl Marx is actually buried there. His grave is real subtle (as you can see in the below picture). It was a pretty cool cemetery to visit and certainly looked eerie and spooky, and some Dracula films were shot there. At one point we went into the catacomb so we were able to look at some coffins (we weren’t allowed to take pictures in there but it looked like this). I was standing gazing down one of the hallways of the catacomb and reflecting about how these are actual real coffins with people inside, and then I turned back around to face the group and my 65-some year-old professor who was standing next to me went “BOO” and gave me a little startle. He must entertain himself somehow as he’s probably visited this graveyard a million times with past classes. As I’m Googling Highgate while writing this, I’m finding that it is apparently a very haunted cemetery and there is even a “vampire” rumored to haunt the grounds.

Highgate Cemetery.

you’re dead.

Karl Marx’s grave.

Tuesday:

Happy Pancake Day!!! Background: “Pancake Day is traditionally known as Shrove Tuesday and is historically a religious occasion relating to the Christian feast of Easter. In the UK and other countries across the world it has become commonly known as ‘Pancake Day’ as it is a day when families observe the tradition of cooking and eating pancakes, made from ingredients which were often given up during the fasting period of Lent in the run up to Easter.” In the spirit of “when in England do as the English do,” I went to breakfast this morning with Hailey to get some pancakes. We went to The Modern Pantry which was a super cute place and had very nice decor and ambiance. I got Earl Grey tea and Hailey got a yummy berry and mint smoothie and we promptly ordered our raspberry & ricotta pancakes with berry compote and crème fraiche. A bit after taking our order our waitress returned to tell us the news that the cook said there was only enough batter left for one more plate of pancakes. *gasp!* Did we get there just in time or what. Fortunately we both had the same second choice dish that we wanted (poached eggs and toast with pan fried haloumi, spinach and slow-roast vine ripened tomatoes). It worked out quite well that we ended up splitting both dishes because we were able to have a “real” breakfast and then a “dessert” breakfast, and once the pancakes arrived we were glad that we each didn’t have two. They were absolutely so delicious (yet different than typical American pancakes…) but I think I would have only eaten one anyway. We lucked out getting the last batch of pancakes and I felt bad hearing another waitress tell a couple a few tables over that there was, alas, no more pancake batter to be used to celebrate Pancake Day. Also they had the coolest mirror in their bathroom. The rest of the day I spent writing another paper and finishing up a presentation.

The Modern Pantry.

yum.

I really liked the artwork hung in the restaurant.

Wednesday: 

We traveled to Wembley Stadium for an England v. Denmark football game!! Going to a true English football game has been on my bucket list so I was super psyched to attend a match. We took the tube all the way out to the stadium and followed the masses of people walking towards Wembley. There were little stands selling merchandise so I bought an England scarf to show some spirit and to keep as a memento from the game. Inside the stadium, there were areas where you could place your bets, which we found funny. We also found it interesting that you cannot drink alcohol sitting in your seat, so you have to drink it in the concourse area. There is, however, a separate concession line for just beer. After 80 minutes, England finally scored! Keni and I left shortly after they scored because we realized it would take a super long time getting to the tube/getting on the tube if we waited until the end, so as we were walking out the stadium was playing “Perfect Day” by U2 which was quite appropriate. There were hoards of people leaving as we left but fortunately we made it onto the tube and back to our flat in a reasonable amount of time!

“Beer Only Lane”

Thursday: 

In my architecture class today we explored Shoreditch and Spitalfields Market. We sat sketching Arnold Circus for quite some time, and then walked around. Fortunately, as we were walking through Spitalfields Market, Lola’s Cupcakes was giving out free samples of carrot cake so a couple of us were able to snag that. I’m not even the biggest carrot cake fan but it was a nice treat during class. We ended at the Gherkin. Today was the start of the beautiful weather that lasted throughout the weekend. This night Keni and I walked to Snog for some yummy froyo and on the way back a tall guy walking past us commented to his friend how I was tall. Typical.

the building I sketched during class.

I like big buns and I cannot lie.

Spitalfields Market.

The Gherkin.

interesting flavor….

uhhhh…..

candy store with more Lucky Charms.

so many toppings.

soooo many.

YUM.

Friday:

We woke up this morning and were on a bus to Oxford! I was really excited to go back to Oxford because the last time I had been there was in 6th grade with my family. We really lucked out and had gorgeous weather to explore the town, and when we arrived around 11:30 we were right next to Christ’s Church, so we decided to visit that first and then get lunch. Christ’s Church was used for some filming for Harry Potter, and so many of the colleges at Oxford have a very Hogwarts-esque feel to them. We walked up the stairs used in the Sorcerer’s Stone and looked at the inspiration for the Great Hall, took some photoshoot shots in the cloisters and then walked through the cathedral. A little old man working in the cathedral approached us as we were looking at a stained glass of Jonah and tried so hard to get us to see the whale in the window, but he either had a really good imagination or was just trying to fool us because there was seriously no whale present in this stained glass. For lunch we went to Pierre Victorie for lunch, a place Keni had found online, and it was deeeelicious. They had a special where you could get an appetizer and your main for a set price, so I got avocado and lox salad to start and chicken with vegetables as my lunch. It was so so nice to have a really good meal and my chicken was practically falling off the bone, a big difference from the breasts I buy at Waitrose. Obviously we had to stop at the ice cream store across the street after we ate, and after sampling about 5 different flavors (butterbeer and lavender + honey to name a couple), I got Greek yogurt and honey ice cream with sprinkles in a cone and Keni got peanut butter cup.

Christ’s Church.

when Harry, Ron & Hermione come to Hogwarts.

Great Hall inspiration.

the Jonah stained glass.

salmon & lox

chicken

ice creaaaam

We wandered back into the main center of town after lunch and saw the Sheldonian Theatre, outside of the Bodleian Library, the Radcliffe Camera and Bridge of Sighs. We also ventured to the Ashmolean Museum for something to do. The afternoon was spent admiring some of the colleges, walking through the covered market (where we passed a soap shop and I smelled the greatest almond soap bar ever….it smelled like Christmas cookies) and just exploring the different streets of Oxford. For dinner we went to Pieminster and Keni got a shepherds pie and I got a very good vegetarian pie, and they were having a special for university students where pies were only 5 pounds, hollllla. We were very full and were very happy with our successful day and boarded the bus to come back to London.

Bridge of Sighs

Radcliffe Camera

a pretty college.

another pretty college.

pies for dinner!

Saturday:

The Meghan and Keni road trip continued and we were off early this morning for a 3.5 hour bus ride to Bath. The drive was very pretty and classic English country side and we even saw some sheep with adorable little lambs. We arrived to Bath at 12:30 and grabbed some lunch and then were off to see the Roman Baths! The baths were really really cool and it was fascinating imagining what it was like back in the day when they were in use. Also kind of gross to imagine because I’m sure they really were not hygienic at all. There was some scaffolding by the baths, which started the scaffolding trend of the day. It was everywhere. My favorite bath was a pool where people started throwing in coins, so it glimmered and looked all magical and fairy-like and mystical. At the end of the tour you could try some water from the springs, which was not amazing tasting and kind of tasted rusty like the taste in your mouth you get when you have blood in your mouth. Weird description, but that’s truly what it tasted like. After the baths we walked up to the Royal Crescent, which, of course had more scaffolding right smack dab in the middle. Oh well. There were a bunch of uni students chilling on the lawn in front of the Royal Crescent, and we were tempted to do the same because it was so sunny and warm.

Roman Baths!

scaffolding.

MAGICAL POOL.

more scaffolding.

the Royal Crescent.

The rest of the day was spent exploring the adorable town of Bath, which was so much cuter than I had expected. We went into a few shops and stopped for some ice cream (of course. I got mint chocolate and there was a whole peppermint patty in my scoop). Before dinner we sat and talked on a bench in the Parade Gardens, right next to the River Avon, and before that we saw the Pulteney Bridge which was a filming location in Les Miserables. We went to La Tasca to get some tapas for dinner, which was another good restaurant pick. We settled on lemon chicken with vegetables and tortilla español (a Spanish omelette) to share and I got a mixed salad and Keni got potatoes. We couldn’t resist dessert and split lemon and mango sorbet. All in all, another awesome day and we boarded our bus at 7:00 feeling very content and happy that we were able to visit two cities this weekend.

Pulteney Bridge.

mint chocolate ice cream.

Bath Scaffolding … ironic.

tapas.

sorbet.

Sunday: 

Today WAS SO NICE. I know I keep saying the weather is so great, but today really was SO GREAT. After face timing my mom, Keni and I did our usual grocery shop at Waitrose, and walking back to our flat we were reveling in the warm and sunny weather. I knew I couldn’t not take advantage of this amazing weather so I took the tube to Hyde Park Corner and ran around Hyde Park. Today was one of those days that makes you just appreciate being alive. After my run, I decided to just kind of wander around and appreciate just being in London, so I walked down to Harrods and then did a loop back to Hyde Park Corner, walking down some random streets. In a span of 5 minutes I saw 3 Ferraris at Harrods, and one parked across the street was black and had a velvet/suede body and also had the name “Bader” in diamonds on the front…maybe the person’s name who owns it? The car was pretty sick. I was thoroughly loving the fact that I was walking around in shorts and a t-shirt and felt perfectly comfortable. The rest of the week is supposed to be this nice and I am thrilled. I hate the winter and I am so glad I picked the perfect semester to leave NYC and not deal with all the snow. For dinner Keni and I made fajitas with chicken and peppers and onions and it was the perfect way to end a great day and great weekend.

Hyde Park running.

running over the pond.

Ferrari…

diamond personalization.

fajita time!

good dinner result.

haaaallelujah

Tunes on Tuesday

As I’ve been in London I have been picking up some new music played in restaurants, the University of London Union or clubs. I love finding new songs, so I figured I would share my new London jamz with those of you in the states where these songs might not be popular yet (or even in the U.S. iTunes Store) in case you might like some of them!

1. Rather Be (feat. Jess Glynne) by Clean Bandit

2. Fire Blaze by Rascals

3. Dibby Dibby Sound (feat. Ms. Dynamite) by DJ Fresh & Jay Fay

4. The Spark (feat. Spree Wilson) by Afrojack

5. Red Lights by Tiësto

6. Trumpets by Jason Derulo

7. Change Your Life (feat. T.I.) by Iggy Azalea

“Pinkies Up”

Highlights of this week:

Tuesday: 

Last semester I began googling the best teas of London, and I discovered a fantastical fashion tea called Prêt-à-Portea at The Berkeley. Here is the description: “The Berkeley London designer afternoon tea, Prêt-à-Portea, is inspired by the themes and colours of the fashion world. The menu is transformed every six months to follow the changing seasons in fashion. The new Autumn/ Winter 2013 Prêt-à-Portea collection is our most exciting to date. This seasons showpieces include Burberry’s signature trench coat and Saint Laurent’s must-have red leather duffle bag featuring on the Berkeley’s tea stand. Prêt-à-Portea adds a creative twist to the classic elements of the traditional English afternoon tea with cakes and pastries resembling the latest catwalk designs for the style conscious.”

I was immediately hooked and added it to my mental list of things I should do in London.I had been yearning to go to this tea for months. It just looked so cute and adorable and I just wanted that little Burberry trench coat cookie so badly. I finally found someone to go with me and fortunately I don’t have class Tuesdays because that was the only day open for reservations until about May. I wish I was kidding. So Ayden and I were off to drink some tea and eat mini purses and shoes. The whole experience was great, and all of the treats they served were very delicious and we felt fancy.

Burberry trench.

Wednesday:

Today my Writing London class had a walking tour of “Dickens’ London.” We walked around and saw some buildings that were featured in the books, and saw where Dickens lived for a period of time. We learned that a certain type of lawyer in London, called a barrister, is required to wear black Harry Potter-esque robes and these totally colonial-era wigs. Even the women. We lucked out and a woman barrister walked past us in her garb, and she looked quite amusing with a little wig atop her hair. At one point we were walking through a parking lot and there were Ferraris parked next to each other and even an Aston Martin in the lot, so clearly the people working there do quite well for themselves.

Aston Martin and a Bentley… casual.

Friend Ferraris.

lawyer garb.

where Dickens lived.

cute pub down an alley.

Thursday:

I toured Benjamin Franklin’s house today with my architecture class. Fun fact: this is his only surviving residence. It is located on Craven Street near the Thames and Charing Cross tube station and he lived there for 16 years. It was pretty cool being in the house and imagining old Ben chilling in the rooms and this vision was even more enhanced by the lovely actress who pretended to be the landlady’s daughter who lived there when Benjamin lived there. She walked us around the house and was dressed in the garb of the time, and in each room they had visual and audio effects and at times she pretended as if she were talking to Ben. It was quite the tour. After Benny’s house we went to Trafalgar Square for about an hour to sketch, and I decided to sketch the huge bright blue rooster statue in the corner. London always rotates the artwork on the Fourth Plinth, and this time it is a piece called Hahn/Cock by German artist Katharina Fritsch and will be on display for 18 months. After sketching the cockerel, we moseyed our way to the Mall and then up to Piccadilly Square where we were able to depart back to our flats.

Ben’s house.

Polly the landlady’s daughter.

Aslan.

the blue rooster.

Trafalgar Square.

This night we had tickets with NYU to ride the London Eye, so I was pretty psyched. Fortunately, it was a great clear night in terms of weather and there was no rain at all. In the past when my family and I had gone to the Eye, there has always been an ice cream truck outside waiting to serve the dessert-desiring people. I had high, high hopes that this ice cream truck would still be there even in the late winter, so as we walked up to the Eye I was absolutely delighted to see that the truck did not let me down and I could finally buy my first ice cream with flake of the semester! Even though it was a tad chilly that night, that did not stop me and I enjoyed every second of that delicious soft serve ice cream and Cadbury chocolate flake. The soft serve here is different than the states, and is kind of like a more frozen Cool Whip consistency, but so so good. I had a good time riding around the Eye for my third time, and seeing the aerial views of London never gets old. After the ride we took some pictures in front of illuminated Big Ben and walked over Westminster Bridge to tube back home.

happy.

Friday: 

There is a random Monday in May that we have off classes, so unfortunately today we had a makeup day for the classes we will be missing that day in May. So we had Gothic Lit this afternoon but fortunately we only quickly discussed Frankenstein and then watched the Frankenstein movie from 1931. As we were leaving the academic building, Keni noticed that my name was on the package list. Surprised, I went over and received my package and then was shocked when I saw that the sender address was Momofuku Milk Bar. Keni said my face lit up. Who is sending me something from Momofuku Milk Bar?????, thought I. We got home and I tore open the package to find not just one, but FOUR tins of Karlie’s Kookies from my ever amazing and wonderful Nana. She went through the trouble to so generously send me two tins of the perfect10 kookie and 2 tins of the 5boro kookie, both creations from Karlie’s kookie line. Needless to say it made my day and I was so thrilled to have such a stock of Karlie’s Kookies for my remaining time here. Back at NYU, I keep a pretty constant supply of Karlie’s Kookies in my freezer, so I was sorely missing my healthy and tasty treat/snack here. And now, thanks to Nana, my freezer is stocked with so many kookies just ready for defrosting to be consumed by me. Minus the kookie delivery, Friday was pretty uneventful and consisted of me writing a lot of my Gothic Lit paper about modern gothic fashion.

Saturday:

This morning I woke up, ate some breakfast and headed off to a cute cafe near me, Fork Deli Patisserie, to grab a cappuccino and finish up my paper. I had some of a pain au chocolat, a soy cappuccino and felt so legit while working on my paper. Then I came home and caught up on some TV shows as a reward for finishing my paper and that night Keni and I booked our remaining transportation for spring break! I am officially going to Prague, then meeting up with Keni in Germany and then we are traveling to Spain. That night, Keni, Emma and I walked to Yog to grab some froyo. I got pomegranate and natural with strawberries and dark chocolate balls.

Sunday:

A super eventful Sunday, Keni and I went grocery shopping, I did some yoga, wrapped up the loose ends/sources of my paper, and Skyped my lovely family. I usually live for award show Sundays, and I was definitely bummed that the red carpet/Oscars start so late here so I unfortunately couldn’t watch, but I’ll find some highlights of Ellen being a great host online.

British flavors….

vinegaaaaaaaah.

Keni found my position comical.