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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
meg takes london 
Very cool that you saw Ben Franklin’s house! Another great week in London! 🙂