The 8th marked the day of tours. First, though, a walk with a new friend up to the observatory, which offered a nice view of the city through the tree branches. I enjoyed the sun for as long as it was out (which wasn’t very long).
Photography
Friends make places, not vice versa
Photography, TravelTruthfully, there is nothing that a fine conversation with a wonderful person over sushi and tea can’t cure. And an invitation to a party filled with more lovely locals. Rain, you can’t spoil my parade.
But oh how it will try. Apparently, rain is forecasted for the entire time I’ll be staying here, which makes any good photo opportunities scarce and the thought of sidewalk meandering a full-on fight with logistics – I will not get sick because of soggy socks. I will NOT.
The point of this blog is to blog, not to photo dump. But let me tell you before I start getting into Denmark, how very lovely it is to fly. Even with my head flattened against a frozen plastic window, feet stuffed under a low-lying seat, headphones that refuse to decipher what’s playing on the overhead monitors (The King’s Speech), a chicken dinner that could pass for some artifact in a steerage museum, and turbulence that makes you grip your complimentary thread-bare blanket for dear life, the views are what really do it for me. I am a window seater for life.
Sleep now. Tomorrow: aesthetics and Danish design.
the sunrise and last looks
Lindsey Travels, London, Photography94 more views and this blog will hit the 2000 mark! Help me do it! Today is the day I LEAVE London, and so end my life-changing journey abroad. This will probably also be the last day I update this journal. SAD NEWS 😦
AH381: final class
Architecture, Churches, Iconic Sights, London, PhotographyHis last night in London
London, Photography, QuotesWhoo over 1,000 hits since this weekend!
So today, I had my internship till 18:00, which meant no daytime hanging out. Fortunately, he got to show himself Camden Market and visit the inside of the Tower of London! With pictures to prove it! And he bought me the most ADORABLE little Paddington Bear dressed up as a Beefeater. SO good to me! I’m still deciding what to name him.
After reuniting after a long day, we walked around the little souvenir shops around Bayswater Tube Station and eventually decided to eat dinner at the Black Lion, the local pub. Things did not work out and I didn’t get the yorkshire pudding like I wanted but nonetheless, a hearty meal. We decided to spend his last night in London down by the water again.
And some Keats I found in Westminster Tube Station on the way back.
Mom & Dad visit: Day One
Iconic Sights, London, Nightlife, PhotographySo I realize I haven’t posted in a few days. I promise I haven’t been slacking, I’ve just been so busy with things. So on Thursday, I went to the Press Complaints Commission with my journalism class where we talked about the code of privacy and the English press in terms of photography. Our class of 20 girls (and one guy, the poor thing) were hanging on edge to the lecture of one young and good-looking British man, but we kept ourselves mostly composed. Afterwards, I headed to a store called Neu and bought some necessities (black flats, cardigan, jeans, shirts), then sped home for my internship briefing. That night, a group of the usuals went to Vendome—this club with amazing decor and landscape design to die for. The dancing was fun but the free drinks are always the best part about knowing the right people. A good night.
Today, mummy and dad arrived! We went out for breakfast and then traveled to St. John’s Wood on the Jubilee Line to see Abbey Road and take the appropriate pictures of walking across it. Which was harder than I thought it would be–the road is really busy!
The studio and some graffiti from the wall outside it:
Dad taking a stroll.
And me!
Also to note: Kris Allen was there doing the same thing which was really cool. For the confused: he was the winner of the latest American Idol. I saw my first celebrity! (alas, I was too shy to ask him for one personally)
Then we went to Baker Street to browse the Beatles store and got to observe the outside of the Sherlock Holmes museum.
By that point Mom and Dad were exhausted so they went back to sleep and I took a trip to Westminster, where I walked from Parliament to Shakespeare’s Globe. Although they had no tickets left for the show that day, I bought myself an As You Like It programme and button. Went back, took a shower, then napped till dinnertime.
Parents in tow, I took them to Notting Hill Gate to walk down Portobello Road and peek through the antique shop windows. Eventually we found ourselves seated at the Earl of Lonsdale pub for a spot of dinner. I ordered Toad in the Hole, a traditional English dish of sausages laid in Yorkshire pudding with gravy and peas&carrots. It was really good! (I’m easy to please when it comes to Yorkshire pudding) Then we took the Tube to Westminster to see downtown at night–Big Ben and Parliament, the Eye, the bridges, Trafalgar Square.
I LOVED that the Eye was purple that night.
A collage of the fountain’s changing colors.
Back home, we stopped in Stanhope Arms pub (my usual spot) for some spirits and then went back to our respective rooms to recuperate.
Tomorrow: more time with Mum&Dad (where that will lead–only time will tell) and a bit of studying.
V&A Museum
London, Museums, PhotographyFor class today we went to the National Portrait Gallery (Leicester Square) to see some Henry VIII and Elizabeth I portraits.
And it off-and-on POURED rain 🙂 Which means I got to wear my rain boots and amazing raincoat out. After class, Melissa and I browsed the Victoria and Albert Museum, which houses an odd arrangement of things, from ironworks to plaster castings to Rodin sculptures to Turner paintings to jewelry, costumes, persian rugs, silverware, etc. A selection:
Nice way to spend the afternoon. Did I mention Prince William visited the Natural History Museum yesterday and Melissa saw him? YEAH. WE LIVE ACROSS THE STREET.
Anyways, we did that for a while before coming back to chill. Then I went to Shakespeare’s Globe Theater at 19:30 to see As You Like It. Under an open roof, in the pouring rain, without an umbrella.
And it was brilliant. Absolutely lovely. The thing I love most about Shakespeare is that on stage, it is the easiest literature to understand. And the actors were funny, and having fun in the rain, and everything about it was just so delightful. It was the first time I actually went out into London alone and navigated the streets and stood by myself–it felt so exhilarating!
Lindsey Olander 