Loving London more and more every day

While at work on Monday I was dreading going to class but broke up the day with a nice lunch out with Danna. We went to the first hummus bar in the UK, hummus bros. and it confirmed the fact that I now love hummus. I might try to go vegetarian again or maybe vegan once I am back in the states. It’s a possibility, and if Victoria Beckham can look that good while eating Vegan, I think I could do it too! Soooo to continue, as I was checking popsugar at my desk trying to not think about sitting in class … surprise! Denise was to the rescue. She had a client back out and had an extra ticket to the Mamma Mia play. I was offered the ticket, I phoned George on his mobile and got permission from ‘the master’ to entertain clients and forego class.

The performance was great. I feel as though I am now a Mamma Mia expert; after seeing the Broadway show with Kevin in March, then the movie and now the London performance. Sophie, the main girl, was better in London…while the mom, Donna, I liked better in New York. The overall show was great, and the English accents definitely added a little something special.

Tuesday Danna and I did some shit shopping…actually found some decent gifts. It is very hard, like I mentioned before, to find gifts that are souvenir type but aren’t a stupid piece of plastic that does a special function like sharpen a pencil.

Lillian took me out for my going away lunch yesterday, to a Malaysian style restaurant. They recommend that you order 3 dishes per person. We were both picturing a tapa type place. (My experience with tapas has not been super great…) Our waitress said we ordered the perfect amount but we ended up getting so much food that they had to pull over another table to sit it on and we didn’t even touch half of the stuff. It was great tasting none the less and was really great to be able to sit down and talk to Lillian. We have never been able to have just a conversation between the two of us so this was nice. She, along with everyone else from work, was very interested in sorority life and the recruitment process. It was really funny to try to explain but she was loving it! Lillian decided that she wishes she could go back to university now and join a sorority. It is something that has not yet become anything in the UK but definitely should! They would love it, because you can tell that they love the concept (and the only thing they base their decisions on are what the interns tell them and from movies like Legally Blonde).

After the multi-hour long lunch we headed back to the office and then I continued on to a screening of Tropic Thunder with Danna. It is the new film that Ben Stiller directed. Get this: Matthew McConaughey, Tom Cruise, Robert Downey Jr., Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and more. I hated the movie. Love all of the blokes in it but was about to get up and walk out of the theater; I thought it was so bad. I checked my watch like 10 times throughout just hoping it would be over soon.

We ventured to the Absolut Ice Bar after the movie and met a group of girls there. The entire bar is made of ice, the chairs, the cups, everything. You go in for a 40 minute session and they give you a cape to wear. It was cold, and I was a little worried that my toes were going to get frost bite but it was really cool. We all looked like Belle from Beauty and the Beast when she is in her cape in the snow.
The day was never-ending and we decided to go listen to some live music at O’Neils. While watching the band, I happened to look to my left and who did I see? Andrew Born! Hempfield people are just attracted to each other like magnets. It was bizarre.

Tonight we did the London Eye, pretty much a huge ‘ferris wheel’ type thing that you ride for 30 minutes and can see a panoramic view of the city. It was beautiful with all of the lights at night. Tomorrow is my last day at Bauer and I am sad. I foresee tears maybe…. But it will be nice to have a week to do last minute London things and get everything in I possibly want to do before leaving this amazing city. (I might ‘accidentally’ miss my flight home….)

Champagne, Crepes, Croissants...the French know what they're doing.

So with about 2 weeks left, I am running out of underwear.  What is the logical action point to take? Do laundry.  This is what I would normally do and what I have done all summer but now it is slightly a different story.  There are only two weeks left (very bitty sweet) and I have debated this for a few hours now.  I think it would be cheaper to purchase a pack or two of new underwear to last me the remainder of the time instead of paying to get my laundry done again.  I have plenty of clean clothing to make due and this way I win both ways: I spend less and I have more underwear in the end.  The only losing factor is that I will have more dirty clothing upon my return to the states and that the nice lady at the laundry place won’t fold all of my clothing is very tight neat piles which would make for easy packing. 

 

Anyway, the more interesting stuff: PARIS. Started off with the coach ride there.  We were waiting to pull out of the station when a very smelly boy plopped down across the isle from us.  Sickkkk. The body odor must have dispersed because it ended up being hardly noticeable and the ride was bearable.  We made it into Paris and found Ally’s cousin’s apartment.  It was pretty much the most beautiful apartment ever and her cousin is living a storybook life.  After studying abroad in France, she moved to Paris and got married.  Her current French lover/husband, Nico, is adorable.  They have two boys, who are also cute as a button.  You would think that we met this family to know how cute and perfect they are.  Nope. We just stayed in their apartment.  We met Nico, who drove us around the Arch and a little bit of the city and gave us trendy recommendations.  We also met their oldest son (he’s 6) for about 15 minutes.   But majority of what we know is from their beautiful apartment that is filled with photographs of them.  Nico enjoys photography as a hobby and this is very apparent with the vast amount of pictures covering the walls and countertops with his pretty family in them. 

 

The apartment was about a 10 minute walk from the Eiffel Tower, had 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 kitchens, 2 living rooms and other rooms we never went into.  If that doesn’t impress you yet, every single room looked as if it popped directly off of the page of a Pottery Barn catalogue.  We were in pure heaven.  We finally got to sleep in comfortable beds, take showers with proper h2o temperatures and just love our surroundings to the extreme.  Nico suggested a bakery for breakfast, where we got the best croissants I have ever tasted.  He then drove us around for a little (on the right side of the road…hello London, learn something from your surrounding countries) and dropped us off at a photography exhibit.  The exhibit was all pictures taken by an American photographer.  Many were of important political figures, celebrities, musicians, models, etc.  It was cool to see an exhibit on photography, since most of the museums we have gone to are filled with more sculpture, paintings, etc.

 

Speaking of art, we then ventured to the Louvre.  The building was spectacular.  We walked into one of the most anticipated rooms in Paris, and probably in all of Europe.  Standing in the middle of the room is a huge wall divider, with a tiny picture in the middle that is about 8.5 by 11 inches, a little larger, and it is covered with thick glass.  There are guards on either side of the wall, and a massive crowd surrounding the painting.  The Mona Lisa.  I went and I saw it and I was not super impressed.  It looks like any copy we would have seen in art class in elementary school and it is so much smaller than a lot of the other masterpieces in The Louvre, and in most museums and galleries actually.  We did venture through the Louvre and saw the famous winged statue of Venus one of Aphrodite.  I enjoy sculptures.  They are so smooth and intricate and look impossible to do…and I just find them very impressive.  The David, in Italy, was the most impressive to me but I like them all. 

 

Paris continued with Notre Dame, the Ile of Saint Louis and a walk along the river back to the apartment.  Notre Dame was breathtakingly beautiful.  Ally and I sat in a pew and stared for a long amount of time.  The stained glass was the prettiest than any of the other churches we have gone into…and we have seen our fare share of churches.  My grandma taught me to make 3 wishes every time you go into a new church.  She told me this on my first trip to St. Pat’s cathedral in NYC, and I have done so ever since.  I also tell everyone else to make their wishes too.  I make the same 3 every time, and after this summer, they better all come true because I have been able to wish the same ones over and over and over again, all in new churches of worship. 

 

Business Traveler recommended a sorbet/ice cream place in the Ile of Saint Louis so we figured we might as well try “possibly the best ice cream and sorbet in Paris.”  Couldn’t find it.  We gave up and gave into a different place with a long line.  We have learned that any place with a line or that requires reservations… it is probably worth the wait. 

 

We returned to the apartment and got ready for a nice, fancy, trendy French meal.  Around the corner of the flat was this awesome restaurant.  We sat outside and had the view of Napoleon’s tomb.  Our waitress helped us translate the menu and we had a fabulous French dinner, trying new foods.  My family would be proud to hear I tried encompote…which is like a steak.  Considering I didn’t eat meat for a few years, and didn’t eat red meat basically my entire life… I have done a pretty good job this summer trying new foods.  My meal was served with fries.  I found it kind of ironic to be eating French fries in paris,… they are not really a French food, but whatever.  The crème brulee was a perfect ending to a perfect meal. 

 

We finished off the evening with a bottle of champagne in front of the Eiffel Tower.  It was a lot bigger than I expected.  But it was lit up blue.  Kind of tacky, I thought.  There were a ton of people on the park area in front of it, so we joined in and enjoyed the warm Paris weather, under the stars, sipping some bubbly, the four of us (Megan, Ally, Danna and I). 

 

At midnight the Tower all of a sudden began this crazy light extravaganza show thing.  We thought maybe it would go for like a minute and this was a daily occurrence.  Not the case…the flashings lights when on for a few minutes before going crazy fast and then stopping.  It was humorous. 

 

Sunday Ally wasn’t feeling up to par, but Megan, Danna and I took a train to Versaille.  We waited in a windy, long line for the Palace.  It was worth the wait.  It was beautiful.  Megan continued on into the Gardens while Danna and I got crepes at a ‘famous creperie’.  That’s a bunch of bull.  They were not that great, and we were both kind of unimpressed.  This was made up for at dinner when we got some off the street and they were simply melt in your mouth fantastic.  After Versaille, we traveled back to the center of Paris (only like 30 minutes) and did some shit shopping.  We now call all souvenir shops shit shops.  I can hardly get myself to buy anything from them, because most of the goods are just crap and pointless and I don’t understand who buys or uses or wears any of that stuff.  We kind of gave up on finding stores that stayed open on Sunday and Danna and I ventured to the red light district in Pigalle to see the Moulin Rouge.  It was an interesting street, and the Moulin Rouge looked like I pictured it but a lot smaller.  It was more extravagant in the movie.  The Eiffel Tower made up for the small size of the Rouge. 

 

Oh! And Sunday was the end of the Tour de France.  So there were tons of crowds and bikers and fans.  Kind of cool to say we were there.  My guess is that Lance was there as a sponsor at least.  We didn’t get to see him though. We just saw the set up in the city centre and heard some announcing going on in French. 

 

Sunday night it was time to hop back on the overnight bus and head back to our summer home in London.  This trip was simple, because I was just exhausted from the long fun filled weekend.  And soo sleepy from the amount of walking that especially Danna and I fit in on Sunday…I slept the entire way back.  Made the bus ride go so quickly. 

 

Paris was beautiful and I could see why it is considered to be the city of romance.  We witnessed a lot of snogging going on at the Tower Saturday night… but all tried to just ignor it, have fun, and love the city being in the presence of each other.  I had an amazing time and was not ready for our short weekend trip to be over.  It was like a little tease.  I wish I knew some French, so it would have been easier to communicate and to understand.  But none the less, it was a perfect weekend and I think I can speak for all 4 of us when I say that we enjoyed every last minute of France and we were sad to go.  AND… we did not have one problem with rude staff.  Everywhere you look, they warn you of the ‘rude French.’ That’s a lie.  We were in touristy places and non-touristy places and didn’t encounter the apparent rudeness.  Maybe we got lucky, or maybe we are just pretty and it is hard to be mean to us… I don’t know but it was fun ;-)

 

Miss you all, more later!  

If my boyfriend were Batman...

If my boyfriend were Batman, I wouldn't want to know, because I would be nervous every night that he was going to get killed or cut up.

Catch up on the simply fabulous week I have had so far.

Tuesday evening was very chill, filled with a home-cooked meal of what else? Pasta. I am going to be so sick of noodles by the time I get home. They are the cheapest meal to make. You can buy a bag of pasta shells and some parmesan cheese and that can last you 2 weeks at least. Trying to save some mula here… because I would much rather spend it on other things besides food. I took a long walk along the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Walk. It is by far the best walk, in terms of sights I have taken in London.

After work on Wednesday Danna and I decided to be very cultural and go to The Mikhailovsky Ballet of Spartacus. It was beautiful. Made me wish I was that talented and that I was built like a professional ballet dancer. It was a great performance. We were both a little bit confused during the second act but it didn’t matter because it was 3 hours of my life that I would do again. I am looking into seeing one more show, either another ballet or a musical before we leave. It is really easy to get tickets, and you can get them for half price the day of; which is what we do. We get great seats for a low price and get the full experience. Plus it adds a little bit of spontaneity with the not knowing for sure if you have tickets until lunch time the day of the performance.

Thinking that the ballet made my week complete, I came into work happy yesterday (Thursday) and to my surprise was pleasantly given more great news! There was a chance I could go to a screening of The Dark Knight. It came out today, and we went to a pre-screening last night. Not having tickets, or technically being on the list made Blake and I a little jittery, but we made it in! It was by far one of the best movies I have ever seen, due to Heath Ledgers acting. There were scenes in the film that you almost forgot he was acting, it seemed as though he was not a real person and must have been like the Joker in real life at all times. Scary. I went into the theatre thinking that it was going to be good but I wasn’t sure if it would live up to all of the hype. Considering the film got loads of press after Heath’s tragic death, you never know if it would have gotten such great reviews had that not occurred. This was not the case. It deserves every great review, and every nomination that I’m sure it will be up for. Fantastic film, brilliant acting. It was a great night.

This morning Blake and I continued our movie dates with a screening of ‘Jesus is Magic’ – the new Sarah Silverman film. It was filled with racial ‘jokes’ and made me feel slightly guilty and uncomfortable for watching. There were some funny moments in it and was everything I expected out of Ms. Silverman. It was kind of sad that she mentioned her ‘boyfriend’ throughout the film a lot, but popsugar has informed me a few weeks ago about their Jimmy and her breaking up. Sad story. They seemed so happy together and are both funny creatures, that it makes me wonder what they would ever fight about.

We are leaving for Paris tonight. Doing an overnight bus and should get there early tomorrow morning (8ish). As horrible as it sounds, the overnight bus really isn’t that bad…we can sleep the entire way there and when we wake up the beautiful, romantic city will be at our fingertips. Flying is definitely more posh and convenient, but saving money always makes me feel good.

Work is continuing to go well. I went to a presentation yesterday at COI, one of our major clients. From my position, taking notes in the corner, it seemed to go really well. I think they enjoyed the effects I added into the power point, and all the time I took to make sure all of the fonts were the same. Such labour intensive work…! Two of the interns left yesterday, and it made me think of our last day coming up. I will cry, most likely.

Kevin has complained about my use of ‘ou’ in spellings. I apologize if this is annoying but often I use my spare time at work to write these entries and my computer uses the British spell check. Therefore I throw out a lot of weird spellings.

I was happy to hear from Dad that he reads this thing, because I do not get any comments and therefore I never know if I am writing this for no reason…or only for the reason that I can then have the written memories upon my return. So I hope someone gets pleasure out of hearing about my day to day adventures in Europe. It is much easier to type it all on here than repeating it to everyone over the phone. I am sure I will still have many stories for the family over thanksgiving break, but still this is a good backbone.

PS I Love You

So I have some updating to do… a lot of exciting things have occurred. Let’s begin with the premiere of ‘Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging’…It was adorable! I felt like I was fourteen again and throughout the movie I cried, sighed and laughed. After the film, we went to the after-party. The ‘stars’ of the film were all there. The boys were cute. Well…they looked cute on the big screen and the band was good looking from the stage but then when I saw them face to face I realized that makeup and airbrushing can sure do a lot and they all definitely looked to be not old enough to drink (and the drinking age is 18). So that was wayyy out of the question. Good movie though. I don’t believe it is coming out in the states but purchasing or renting the movie would be well worth it. I think Aunt Shell would like it a lot.

Work took us to the Horse Races on Thursday night. I have never bet on anything before, and I made two small bets on beautiful horses. Lost them both, so that was a bummer. The races were followed by a Girls Aloud concert. Everyone loves them here, and I don’t understand the fascination. I was not impressed. We left and went to a comfy pub/café with the co-workers for a little while before calling it a night.

At work I have been continuously working on the Retail Council and some random little projects. Lillian is eager to give me things to work on that I can use in my portfolio later, which is good. They treat me very well here and I feel like a princess being pampered with premieres and fancy lunches and parties and whatnot.

After work on Friday I wondered around looking for this vintage store for ages and never found it. I think it must have closed down since the address is non-existent. Sad for me.

Danna and I left super early on Saturday morning for what turned out to be a perfect weekend.

BACK UP… I forgot a very important story!! Thursday morning I got into work and was told to walk around the block to see Keanu Reeves. I left immediately. He was sipping on a cappuccino outside of the Covent Garden hotel (like 30 feet from the entrance to Bauer). After walking past him about 3 times, I ducked into an ally across the street from him and took a paparazzi shot. Then I came back to the office and recruited a girl to go with me so I could get a picture with him. She agreed and I then introduced myself to Mr. Reeves, got a picture, told him he looked good, and now we are going to get married and I’m going to be famous by association.

Okay, so we are not really going to get married but I did meet him. (For proof check my fb pic).

So the weekend:

We arrived in Dublin and decided to walk around and observe the city without a map for a while. We saw St. Patrick’s cathedral which is located on St. Kevin Street (Kevin was meant to be born on St. Patty’s day!). The Georgian doors were really good and the history behind them was interesting, especially how the one that is different than all of the others (it is a double door) was because the mayor was visiting and refused to walk through a single door so they had to change it and it is now very intricate and has a fancy white design on it. I thought the doors were fun.

We sat in a park and enjoyed the nice weather then made our way to a pub to try a traditional Irish coffee. As much as I hate whiskey, it was really good! We went to the Guinness storehouse, and I tried my first pint of Guinness. Not a fan. It was a weekend of a lot of firsts for me, actually.

After struggling to find a restaurant for dinner, Danna and I had to settle for this sketchy burger joint. No one warned us that the Irish don’t like to eat after 8 o’clock. Oh well... the burger was sketchy and good enough. We met some equally sketchy men at a pub in the Temple Bar area, and literally ran out of the place away from them.

My favourite part of Dublin was the live music throughout the streets in Temple Bar. They bands and individual musicians were great. I purchased a few cds actually, and made them all very happy I am sure.

We got to do some shopping on Sunday and found a great restaurant for traditional corned beef and cabbage boxty. Danna’s mom always made corned beef and cabbage for st. pat’s day and she was determined to try it somewhere in Ireland. We succeeded and it was good! As soon as we were seated at dinner, in the basement…this man stood up and started giving a toast to the entire room in a different language. Really weird. We then realized that everyone else in the room was together and there for a work function deal from Germany. I think they forgot to reserve a table for us and threw us into their banquet kind of. It was strange but we ended up meeting a few of the younger guys and going dancing with them after dinner.

When I say younger, they were 19 and acted as though they were about 15. Danna’s boy was loving her and we were just having a good time dancing and enjoying our wine. It ended up being a really late night followed by an early morning. We had to be up to catch a coach for our ‘Wild Wicklow Tour.’ It was beautiful! We stopped by the coast, then went to the Guinness Lake and toured the hills of Wicklow.

We stopped by St. Kevin’s monesory. GET THIS. As we were walking from the bus, I saw three girls and one was wearing a Hempfield sweatshirt. I didn’t think it was possible but yep! From Hempfield.. in Lancaster. We got to talking and I found out they knew Mark, and his ex-girlfriend was there. It was crazy.

So we kept walking toward the park and ran into more Hempfield people who I either knew or I knew their siblings (Greg Vardaro’s sister and Zach Murphy’s sister were there). I met Marky’s girl, and she was so sweet and so pretty! I was in shock and looking pretty dirty, which is embarrassing slightly. But that was a very ironic and small-world 30 minutes. Of all the places that I could have been, and all the people that could have been there…crazy! Danna and I were loving it.

Walking through the park was beautiful, and it really reminded me of PS I Love You. Maybe because we were in the town where they filmed the movie!! So cool. We tried some more traditional Irish food and took the scenic route back to Dublin on the coach. The tour guide was a great time, and he loved us for sure.

Overall.. the weekend was perfect. It was an amazing holiday weekend, and was more than we expected. The airport was a different story. We had issues finding food, and then once we found it we were not allowed to go into that area. It was difficult but we survived, and made it home to London safely...and tired from the 4 hours of sleep a night we were averaging.

Back at work today, and dreaming about the rolling hills of Ireland. It is prettier than the scenes from PS I love you. It was just breathtaking.

Currently, I am working on finding another vintage store because I am determined to find one like the one that I searched for forever on Friday. It will happen. No worries.

Wed. Update from Work

Yesterday after an amazing Dim Sum lunch I had the afternoon off. I strolled through Hyde Park, as it was beautiful outside. I walked the Diana Memorial walk and then went to The Supreme's Exhibit at the V&A (my fav. museum here). My afternoon was filled with Diana loving; with the princess and D. Ross.

I then window shopped through Harvey Nichols. I was telling Kevin that one day, when I am successful I will be able to buy something from there. It's depressing knowing that even though it is July any everything is like 50 to 70% off, I can still not pay those prices. It's crazy, but someday... someday...

Last night Danna, Emily and I went to O'Neils. We tried a traditional Irish mixed drink, Clover Top. D and I were prepping ourselves for the weekend. Cooke met up with us after her dinner/movie date with her boss, who I really would love to meet soon. She sounds like an interesting character.

I'm sporting my 'birthday dress' today for the premier of Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging. The film isn't coming out in the US so I'm excited to be able to see something special and British. As always, I am excited to walk down the red carpet and pretend I am glamourous.

I am a little nervous I just accidentally drew on my face with my pen. Oops. Must fix that before lunch at the Century Club.

From Lobster to Walle

Last Thursday night was magical.  The event was the Soho House Festival, and it was held at Chiswick House and Gardens.  I have been coordinating and communicating with clients and other Bauer employees since I started interning so it was cool to see the festivities in action.  We arrived and once we entered the gates everything was included with our ticket fee, that was covered by Bauer.  There were amazing food and drinks, including lobster and a Grey Goose bar.  There was also live music throughout the entire afternoon and evening, with performances by The Sugababes, the Kooks and more.  I def. enjoy live music and was having a great time with my champagne, cheese and the rockin' bands.  We stayed for the entire night and then had some issues finding our car.  Major drama there, but we managed to make it home.  

The weekend was spent in London.  Alli and I took a trip to Portobello road and then met Danna, Emily and Emily's friend Katherine to go to the Tower of London.  Loved it. Very historical and cool.  The ravens were intense.  

Saturday evening we celebrated our flatmates 21st, Kaylin at a club called On and On.  It was a great time, and involved some pole dancing.  I decided it was time for me to leave and proceeded to walk home via directions that Kevin was telling me over the phone.  Thank goodness for google maps and nice boyfriends who will direct me when I am lost and alone.  

I continued with the alone-ness on Sunday at the Wall*E premiere.  I was just a seat filler this time, which is sad to say "just," because it was still awesome but I am so used to having a ticket in hand.  They are spoiling me rotten.  The movie was so cute, and a definite must see.  After a nice walk home, I stopped for authentic fish and chips.  I have become a true Brit considering I was craving fish & chips...! 

Work was busy today, and class tonight was filled with the good news of no class this coming Monday.  That just means that Danna and I are probably going to spend an extra day in Ireland.  We are traveling to Dublin for the weekend, and are looking into staying all day Monday as well, hopefully being able to see some of the country side.  I am thinking about the scenes in PS I Love You, and hoping we can find beautiful sights and a fun pub like in the book and movie.  I have no doubts, since we have become all star travelers.  

Good things to come for this week.. I'm not exactly sure what yet but I am thinking a lot of fun will be had.  We are making lists of everything we still want to do before we leave because we are running out of days here... tear. 

London is pretty much telling me to go back to Italy

We got off of the plane Monday morning to be welcomed with the typical London weather. It was cold, windy, rainy and no sun in sight. What a pitty.

Like I said work on Monday was difficult, but with about 7 cups of tea I pulled through. Class Monday night was actually kind of entertaining and I think I would have enjoyed it more had I not been enhausted. GK gave me two A's in a row. I take this as a sign that my life is coming together, and George decided it was not worth watching my eyes tear up every time I got back my paper with a red C on it.

Yesterday I spent a total of about 1 hour in the office. Went to two screenings during the day. The first was Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D... it was very entertaining. We went with a coach load of 50 5 year olds who absolutely loved it. As much as I dislike Brendan Fraser, I really enjoyed the movie. The 3d glasses definately helped and added a little something.

The afternoon was filled with canapes and a screening of Mamma Mia. This was cool because Kevin and I recently saw the broadway show, and the movie was just as good. It was not my fav. broadway performance but I def. liked it a lot. The movie is not my fav. movie but I certainly enjoyed it as well. Pierce did a great job, as did the chic from mean girls. The music was good, the acting was good, the singing was fun to listen to and overall I held back tears a few times for fear of breaking into an embarrassing cry session.

Last night I gave in and got ice cream from the strange Patisserie 3 feet away from the flat. It is not good. The pistaccio is the best and it satisfies my ice cream cravings but it is not even close to the gelatto in Italia. Pistaccio is my favourite flavour now. I remember the first time I tried it, Mom got it for me when I was sick with something... probably one of my wisdom teeth episodes and I thought it was absolutely disgusting. It is now so pleasing to my tastebuds and I love love love it. Must find a place in the states that makes it well, so I will be able to continue this fetish when I return.

I miss everyone a lot. But am still having an awesome time. We are planning our next trip possibly to Dublin, Ireland or somewhere in Greece for a long weekend. Paris is already planned and paid for and we think that 1 more trip can fit into the remainder of the summer. It is going so fast.

I am currently at work. Just finished my first cup of tea. If it is possible I love tea more now than when I left. Jackie knows how much I loved my ice cream and tea at school, and both passions have grown even more than before. I like my tea 'British style' now (with milk.. con mil, they would say in Italy!) It is superb.

Not doing a whole lot at work today, but am looking forward to two huge events we have tomorrow. Starting at 3 Lillian and I are taking clients to the Soho house festival and then I will unfortunately have to leave for the 189 party on a boat. It is the annual work party. Both events have free food/drinks all night long. It is sad that they are both on the same day because then I will have to spread myself between the two but it will still undoubtedly be an awesome time!

Italia = Amore

Beware... this is very long. I apologize in advance.

So let’s see, there is so much to tell right now. I just had the absolute best week of my entire life and I take back my saying that I might become super bohemian and move to Amsterdam. I now would like to move to Italy, specifically to Florence. It is the new love of my life, I really think that I would be happy day in and day out for the rest of my life if I could begin to learn the basics of Italian and move to Florence.

But I will start from the beginning of the trip. We flew out really early on Wednesday morning into Venice. Our hotel was actually in Mestre, which is across the bridge and about a 10 minute trip to the centre of Venice. No big deal since we were only there for 1 day, but it did take us quite a while to find out where the hotel was. We made it to Mestre, and called the hotel from the bus/train station. They gave us directions which included a few turns, a Blockbuster and a huge fountain. Needless to say we had some troubles but once we found it and settled in, we were out for the night! We had no idea what was coming our way… When I say we I mean me, Ally, Danna and Emily. Rebecca met us later that night around dinner time and we were able to spend the week the 5 of us. It was purely fab.

In Venice, we went to a Saint Mark’s Basillica, Piazza San Marco, Galleria de Accademia, tried our first authentic Italian gelato (to die for!), the Rialto Bridge and walked through the winding small streets surrounded by canals. Thought it was a good idea to buy a day but pass, that you could use for the busses and for the water taxi busses also. It was def. a cool thing to do but we learned that no one ever checks your tickets so it was kind of a waste of a few euros. But we did ride down the Grand Canal on the boat, which led to some great pictures. Wine was calling our name as we were waiting for Reba to get there so after searching we settled on a nice crisp bottle of Pinot along side the Grand Canal. Once all 5 of us were there, we chose a cute place also by the canal for some classic pasta (gnocchi..so tasty)! After a pleasant dinner, we got back onto the boat to see the city from the water’s view at night. Emily took a turn for the worse. With the combination of heat, exhaustion and motion sickness let’s just say that she got ill. We had to get off of the boat at a random stop that was completely dark, no people or businesses around and we had no idea where we were. We were far from the hotel but eventually found the bus stop and ventured back to Mestre. The bus did not help Em’s condition and it got worse. She dealt with the embarrassment super well and we put her to bed with a throbbing head and upset stomach among other things. Luckily the feeling wore off in the morning.

We woke up early, to go straight to the train station and get our tickets to Florence. While waiting we got some breakfast and began planning the rest of our day. The train ride was quick and easy. It gave me time to read my book about Italy, which was attached to my side throughout the entire trip. It told us the monuments, museums, galleries and churches to see (and gave us a little bit of background info. On everything). I used this to the full extent and became somewhat of a tour guide.

The weather everywhere throughout Italy was spectacular. We did not have a drop of rain and we were walking around in temperatures at least 92 degrees… probably closer to 95 during the hot hours of the afternoon. It was greattt!

In Florence, we struggled once again when searching for our hotel/apartment. It was located at the heart of Florence, very close to the designer clothing shops. The apartment we stayed at was two floors (kind of like a loft) with a kitchen. Someone came up with the great idea to cook our own Italian dinner.. Rebecca made some great pasta as the rest of us feasted on appetizers of mozzarella, bread and olive oil, and vino! It was great. During the day we walked around and saw some spectacular sites. We went to the Galleria del Accademia in Florence as well. Saw Michaelagelo’s David. It was breathtaking. The fake copy stands in the Piazza Signoria, along with a bunch of other statues. This was a really cool square that was busy with people, statues, pictures, etc. Il Duomo, a cathedral was breathtaking in a different sort of way. It was one of my favourite churches that we went to. The use of different coloured stones and marble made both the outside and inside simply spectacular. Every building kind of runs together, but it was amazing to think about how old everything was and yet it is still standing, and more beautiful than anything I have ever seen before. The Pantheon was one of these mind boggling buidlings. The Babtistry was closed when we were near, but the bronze doors, which were actually a reproduction were very cool to see.

After our dinner at the apartment, we took a walk and sat on Ponte Veccio, the famous bridge. It was so pretty at night. At midnight we sang a bunch of American patriatic songs to start the celebration of the 4^th of July. Everyone that walked past us on the bridge thought we were crazy, I’m sure but it didn’t seem to phase us. The shopping was fun throughout the entire trip, but I thought the jewellery was especially pretty in Florence. (Everyone should be looking forward to the great gifts I have been picking up along the way!) The atmosphere of Florence was just perfect. I could seriously see myself living there for a little while. It was perfect, and everything I could ever ask for, dream of, imagine, etc.

We also saw Santa Croce, another spectacular church…among other amazing sites. The gelato tradition continued, and I managed to try one every day in Italy. In Florence, we went to the place that my beloved book recommended and they were right…! It was superb. Literally was a party in my mouth.

Friday afternoon we hopped on the train to Roma. This was a bitter sweet moment for me. I could have stayed in Florence for the rest of my life but was so excited to see all of the historical sites in Rome. Definitely glad that we decided to spend almost three full days in Rome. There is just so much to see and as our new friend Leonardo said “A lifetime is not long enough to experience Rome.”

Danna should be a travel agent. Our hotel in Rome was just awesome. It was a standard hotel but the location was to die for. We were a 10 minute walk from the Colosseum. Jealous yet..? First thing we went to The Paletino and the Arch de Constantine. We learned that you could get tickets to both there and the Colosseum and beat the lines. This was a great idea. We go to see a ton of ruins, which you would think would get old but really didn’t. It was interesting to see and made for a fun time imagining what once was there. The Paletino used to be where an emperor lived and there was a bunch of historical stuff I read in the book about it. There were awesome views from the top of the hill of the city and of the Colosseum. We then continued the afternoon at the Colosseum. What an amazing structure. Kind of made me think that we should be more advanced with our stadiums now-a-days. If they could create a stadium as advanced as the Colosseum then…what have we been doing for the past hundreds of years…?

After freshening up after the Colosseum visit, we went for authentic pizza. Seriously, Italy knows what they are doing. Gelatto, pasta and pizza…perfection. The pizza melts in your mouth. So good. We ventured to the trevvi fountain with a bottle of champagne (prosecco actually) to celebrate 4^th of July American style. We sat and enjoyed the overwhelming appearance of the fountain for a while, threw coins and made wishes. All five of us will eventually return to Rome now that we threw coins into the huge fountain. Cross your fingers..!

Saturday morning we started at St. Peter’s Basillica. Words cannot even describe. We then toured the Vatican. I was unaware how huge of a building the Vatican museum actually is, with a crazy amount of galleries inside. The building is mind boggling when thinking about the amount of art, sculpture, tapestries, historical pieces, etc are there. It’s crazy. The sistene chapel was the final stop of the tour. Def. worth waiting in line and meandering through the crowds. Very cool.

We took the afternoon to do more sightseeing. With a square (Piazza) on every corner, there is something to see no matter where you are planning on going or where you end up getting lost. We saw a ton of fountains, monuments and squares and then we ran into Leonardo. He took Rebecca on a trip on his motorcycle around the block which then led into a 24 hour tour of Roma. Ally was jealous but we were all so happy she got to have such an awesome experience. While Reba was with the cute Italian man, Danna, Ally, Emily and I saw a not so pretty field that used to be used for chariot races apparently. During the evening, it was still only four of us (Reba was falling in love and working her magic with Leo). We went for calzones and canollis and had a lovely evening. (Of course it was lovely…we were in Rome!) It was almost hard to believe that we were actually there.

Sunday morning we listened to Rebecca’s love story, and lived vicariously through her and Leo’s night. We started off the day at the St. Angel Caste, and then did some shopping. We also walked through a pretty park/garden that Leonardo took Reba and went to the Spanish steps. They were thoroughly unimpressive. The shopping was actually unsuccessful which was a bit depressing but we fixed it with an amazing multi-course Italian dinner.

The things we saw in Rome are difficult to list off, because there are so many. I would consider the group to be A+ travellers. If we had made a physical list of everything that all of the girls wanted to see and do while in Italia, I think that there would maybe be like 3 things that we couldn’t check off. I don’t know what they would be, but I figure someone would put some random thing on there or something that we just overlooked.

I know I have said it a million times, but I am in love. With Italy. Best trip ever… it didn’t even matter if anything went wrong because the cities were so perfect. This is getting super long but there was just so much to say about the week.

While in Rome, on Saturday we saw about 5 weddings taking place and the brides getting their pictures taken at the Colesseum. On the flight on the way to Venice there was a couple that was getting married in Venice on Friday. I have wanted to have a get-away wedding, and now I think I decided I would like for it to be in Italy. Maybe on the coast of Florence. No shoes. Dad, you can start saving up for that once I pay you back for all of these travels in Europe.

We stayed up Sunday night as long as possible looking at the Colesseum that was lit up in the dark, and sitting with vino next to the Arch de Constantine, with Leonardo. Ally finally got her wish and rode on his motorcycle for a little. I cried, for one of the first times this entire summer. It was beautiful, and I didn’t want to leave being the main reason.

So we flew out early on Monday morning, and by early I mean we left our hotel at 4 am (the busses were on strike on Monday in Rome, the nice man at reception told us) so we taxied it up to the airport. Went straight to work, luggage and all and as much as that sucked, it was sooo worth it.

I have become an A+ packer

I have decided that after packing for everywhere I go for the past three years, I have actually come to enjoy it.  I made a long list today at work of what to bring for the week in Italia.  Then I crossed everything off that I knew I wouldn't need.  I didn't even have to use the list to pack.  It just comes so naturally now.  Maybe after doing these short weekend trips over the past month and taking only what I can carry during the day in my handbag, I have simply learned that I do not need to bring a whole lot to look presentable enough for a few pictures and to not be mistaken as homeless.  

I am all packed with the minimum amount of clothing and shoes as possible.  The weather forecast looks warm and sunny all week, which is great.  It will allow for me to get awesome use out of my dresses.  And dresses take up pretty much no room when packing for an entire outfit.  Lucky for girls, and boys who think it's okay to wear dresses. 

Finally got a chance to paint my nails and toes today.  It has been way too long.  It made me think of my roommates last semester since they always liked to crack jokes about me painting my nails twice a week.  Now that I have no time for that, I really am thankful for taking advantage of a semester of pretty nails.  

Kind of sad that we are leaving London when the weather is beautiful.  It is hot and sunny and not raining, which is unusual. I'm over it though.  

Must write my paper now, that is due next Monday.  How's that for being responsible and managing my time?!