Musicals, Museums, Food, Football, Markets.. Week of 7/4 London recap!

Ok well I know I posted Rome yesterday, but I have to tell you about my week in London!  This week we realized we were halfway done with our trip, so we kicked into gear and put things we still want to do on the calendar.  So after resting up on Monday, Tuesday evening after work we headed to a department store called Selfridges.  It is very similar to Harrods and to Bloomingdales for those of you who haven’t been to Harrods.  They had Food Halls like Harrods as well as makeup, perfume, clothes, accessories, a “shoe gallery,” you name it.. they had it.  It was nice to get out of flat for the evening, grab a few bites and do some shopping.  I even walked out with their famous yellow bags as I bought a dress! 

On Wednesday after work, KU had EUSA plan a trip to see the musical Billy Elliott!  Even though I have seen it in New York about two years ago, it was as great as the first.  Even people on my trip who don’t really like musicals loved it!

It was crazy how fast the time flew this week as Thursday came around the corner.  This was the best day at work from last week.  After arriving, we reviewed what needed to be changed for the project I was working on.  This kept me busy the whole day as we had a deadline of 5:00 PM for a conference call.  As weird as this may sound, that conference call was the highlight of my day.  We all sat around the presentation on Tom’s computer and a landline on speaker while Tom talked to the clients.  The clients were actually engineers as the project is in the final stages of being completed.  Once finalized, Tom will go present the designs in the States.  It was great to see the connection that has to be made between designers and engineers.  After work, Charlie and I grabbed some Thai food, which is everywhere here, and went to bed early, as I was exhausted. 

Friday morning, we headed to Oxford Circus for our class and then the British Museum for our field trip.

Cleopatra's mummy at the British Museum! 

On the way we ate at Hummus Bros, a place that literally gives you pita, hummus, and a topping.  It was beyond delicious; we need this in America!  

I got the guacamole one! 

After the British Museum we came back took a little nap and headed towards the Tower Bridge for dinner.  We got the best view as it we saw the bridge open as well as the bridge light up at night.  

On Saturday, we headed to the Chelsea stadium for a tour!

I didn’t plan on going, but I must say it was one of the best decisions I have made!  Even though they don’t start playing for a month or so, it was cool to see the inside of the stadium, the locker rooms, sit in the stands, and more!

Chelsea's locker room! It was massive, this was one of the six rooms inside.

I even bought a few things to take home; I guess I will now be a Chelsea fan!  We then headed to Notting Hill where there were a bunch of antique markets.  It was cool to see but definitely not my type of shopping.  We then headed to a pub for dinner and called it a night. 

Notting Hill Market

Sunday we slept in (it was a very restful weekend) and headed to literally the opposite of zone one to Spitafield Market.  Definitely my favorite market I have been to so far. I spent at least two hours walking around looking at the art, jewelry, clothes, etc.  I even bought a necklace!

Spitafield Market

We then headed to Camden Market, this market was beyond bizarre.  So many people, so much Chinese food, so crowded, so many piercing and tattoo parlors.  Definitely not my setting, but hey it was a cultural experience!

That’s it for this week, next week we have little things after work and then Paris this weekend!  I better start brushing up on my non-existent French I know.   Until next time, Cheers! 

Rome, Italy. Ciao!

Rome, Italy.  If you have never been, I believe it is one of the places you must go.  I was there for a little over 48 hours and I am already dying to go back.  Some British people in line behind us waiting for the bathroom at McDonalds said it beautifully: “We have to keep our country beautiful, here it is just pretty.”  Literally everywhere you look it a sight I wanted to capture, and I did with 500 pictures..  If you want to see all my pictures, email me as I can send you a link to the my Kodak Gallery.

On Friday, we sat through our “How London Works” class eager to just get up and go.  After grabbing some lunch, we headed to London’s Science Museum for our “How London Works” field trip.  We checked in and headed back to our flat to grab our luggage.  After waiting an extra half an hour, our taxi arrived at 3:30 instead of 3:00.  All six of us hopped in and headed to the airport.  Well London has a ton of traffic on a Friday late afternoon, so an hour airport ride took us two hours.  As a result, we were those college students running through the airport to catch our flight.  Luckily, no one had boarded yet when we got to our gate! Unfortunately though, some of my toilet trees had to get confiscated because it wasn’t the correct amount.  Here you can only bring 100 mL instead of 4 oz in America on the plane.  Luggage in hand, we boarded our flight.  RyanAir is definitely not as bad as people make it out to be.  You literally get the bare minimum.. not even a seat pocket!  Though it didn’t really matter as it all gave us a chance to take a little nap before arriving!  After the two hour flight we went through customs and found our taxi driver, thank goodness Charlie knew Spanish as Spanish and Italian are semi similar because the man didn’t know English.  We all needed money to pay him, yet all the ATM’s were out of service at the airport.  He took us to the van and we loaded in and drove us knowing we had no Euros.. all I have to say is thank goodness I am still alive as we were driving on the trolley road.  Once we got to our hostel Jessie and I got money from the ATM and paid him while the boys figured out our hostel as we didn’t stay at the actual hostel we booked.  Instead we staying in an apartment style room on the third floor of a building.  We are starving at this point, so of course we went out to get some pasta and wine!

Why it was delicious, we decided to head back and go to bed as we were all exhausted and we wanted to see Rome in daylight in the morning. 

First stop on Friday, the Colessum! 

We saw it coming into Rome the night before in the taxi, but nothing can describe looking right at the Coleseum with clear skies and the sun shinning.  We decided to pay a company a little extra than the normal fee to get in as we got to cut the line, have an ENGLISH guided tour, and get to the ancient ruins with guided tour as well.  This was perfect since we wanted to see so much in only two days.  After the tour, we decided to grab some pizza as we were dying to try some.  It was only noon but no one else was in the restaurant besides Jessie and I!  We couldn’t decide if people just eat late there or if we weren’t eating at the right place.  Either way, it was delicious. 

Before...

...after. 

Also, this was the first place I had to order bottled water.  Let me tell you that adds up, but a must when it felt like 90 degrees outside.  We were so just so used to 70 degrees in London, so this can also explain my sunburn.  After some pizza we wondered around Rome to find the office for the Pub Crawl we attended that night.  A four Euro taxi ride later, we finally arrived!  We grabbed our tickets and t-shirts and headed to the bus tour.  This tour was great as we got to sit on the top of a double-decker bus, you could get on and off, and it took you to all the major sites in Rome.  From the Colessum stop we went and saw the Vatican and Parliament and then headed to the Spanish Steps.

We walked around that area since the hostel women told us that the road nearby, Via del Corso, was full of shopping and 50% off for this month.  We were so on it, expect it was a lot of the stores we had in America.  We wanted more of the authentic Italian stores.  We bought nothing, except pizza and gelato.  We went back to the bus tour, which finished the whole route.  We then headed to the Trevi Fountain!  We were an hour late to meet Charlie, but he at least had a rose in hand when we found him!

This was a very crowded area, but so beautiful.  I wish I could have spent more time there. We then headed to dinner before the pub crawl that night.  The pub crawl consisted of two bars and one club, it was really great because we got to meet so many people our age that spoke English and were studying abroad.  It was a late night to bed but that didn’t stop us from waking up early the next morning.

On Sunday, we woke up and headed out with our bags as check-out was 10:00 o’clock.  Recommendation for future travels: pack light and in an easily carried bag.  We had to have breakfast so we got some pastries, juice, and cappuccino at a nearby café.  Café’s in Rome aren’t as popular as in London so we stopped at the first one we saw!  We then headed to the Vatican.. the boys informed us on Saturday at 2:00 PM that the Vatican Museum closed at 4:00 PM on Saturday and wasn’t open on Sunday so unfortunately I didn’t get to see the Sistine Chapel and all of the art there, but that’s for next time, right?  Instead, we walked around were the pope would speak and all of a sudden we noticed there was a huge crowd facing towards an open window.

After asking someone if they spoke English, and then further asked if the Pope was speaking soon, and he said yes at noon.  So, yes the Jew saw the Pope.  First it was cool to see the pope, but second it was interesting to the passion the people felt for this man and believed him through the prayer.

Next we headed to the Pantheon but we were starving, so of course we had to eat once again.  This lunch might have been the best one so far; I stuffed my face with pasta, bruschetta, and bread.

We got to sit in the middle of the street too, something you don’t get to do in America.  We then went into the Pantheon, a beautifully old constructed building.  It was really crowded, and free (great news)!

After taking pictures and looking at all the paintings, sculpture, and architecture, we needed to do four things.  Pee (probably the fourth time that day), get water (to pee yet again), get gelato, and buy presents for friends and family.   We walked around everywhere, sweating, lugging around luggage to finally find a McDonalds with a 15 person women’s line for the toilets.  We then headed towards the way of the metro to catch our train to the airport but stopped in different stores.   We also saw Prada, Gucci, Dior, etc. definitely a more expensive area so we kept walking.  Then we came across a shoe store; I noticed a pair of boots in the window.  I walked in and then walked out telling myself “No Elissa, you don’t need those.”  But before you knew it, I was in the store holding them, trying them one, and buying them!  Italian leather boots, check!  Can’t wait to wear them.  We then went to a restaurant for an early dinner before he heading off to the airport.  This was probably one of the best meals I ate in Rome!

Yummy pasticho gelato!  

We then took the metro and a 15 euro taxi ride to the airport; we made sure to arrive early this time so we don’t have to run through the airport.  Thankfully we were early and made our flight!  We didn’t get home until 2 AM.  Well that’s Rome, and I have withdrawals and want to go back.  There is still so much more I want to see!  I can’t wait to travel to Paris and Barcelona in the weeks to come! 

6/27/2011 Week Recap

I wrote this on Thursday night.. sorry it isn’t posted earlier!  Look out for an Italy blog post coming soon! 

Here is a quick recap of my week!  On Monday, Jessie and I went to KOKO to see the Barenaked Ladies! Before hand, we went to the pub.  This pub was different than usual with all different types of chairs and tables; it was really spacious, and the waiters were super nice.  We got a few drinks and dinner and then walked across the street to the concert! Although I didn’t recognize most of their songs, they played some great songs and last 4 songs I knew well!  See the video below to watch a glimpse of the concert.  

Don’t worry, I already bought their greatest hits album and loving it.  The venue reminded me a lot of the Pageant in St. Louis.  Monday was a super long day, but thankfully I had off work on Tuesday!  My boss had a prior commitment and he told me I could have the day off.  So what do you do with a day off? Well you sleep in a little longer for one thing.  I was going to go see the changing of the guards, but I ended up laying in bed for a little longer.. instead I met up with Jessie around her work and we went to a pub for lunch.  Another thing checked off my list: eating pie!  Jessie warned me that her work told her the pie’s with meat in them, well lets just say they don’t use just one part of the animal.. so I stuck with the all veggie.  And I got mash!  This is a very typical British meal.  

Next, I headed off to the British Museum.  I was dying to get there as it has a large collection of Greek artifacts and this past semester I took the history of Greek Art and Archeology.  It was so fascinating to remember seeing the images from the slides and my note cards to looking at the actual pot or sculpture.  It was beyond great.  Yet I believe the Brits need to give Greece their art back, it seemed a little weird looking at all this ancient Greek work but yet I wasn’t in Greece. I took way to many pictures here but everywhere I turned I got so excited as I could think back to information I learned from the class.

Right when you walk into the museum. Beautiful ceiling, interesting design. 

An early Greek pot, one can tell by the depiction of the apple-shaped human as they haven't developed the technique for portraying a human.

Sculpture from the pediment of the Parthenon! 

After walking around for awhile I was pretty “hot” (British hot is 80’s degrees), was with a ton of tourists, and my feet were killing me so I went back home.  But soon we headed to Harrods for a night of shopping and Italian for dinner!

Wednesday was a busy day at work, there were a ton of people coming in and out of the office with meetings or everyone didn’t leave for meetings so it was crowded, but in a good way.  I got to see business happen right in front of my eyes.  Also a girl from Spain, who studied Industrial Design, came to work for Tom to help with some of the 3D computer modeling for the project I am working on.  She is really nice, but I can already tell that I am going to have major culture shock when I go to a non-English speaking country.  I am still helping him with presentations materials as things keep changing and my boss should be going to California to present the products at the end of July.  After work, I did my laundry and met up with Dana, Jennifer, and Ashley!  London is there last stop so we met up!  KU rockin’ in the UK.

Today was a calm day in the office, kept working on my presentation material and even worked in some Photoshop.  I am not as familiar with this program, but thanks to the internet I did what Tom asked me too and he was satisfied with the end product.  I wanted to get out of work so bad today because I could not contain my excitement for Italy tomorrow!  It’s one o’clock in the morning here and I am pretty much packed and ready to go!  Can’t wait for tomorrow to come and to be eating pizza next to the Colosseum.  Well until next time, cheers! 

Spotted: Roger Federer on Centre Court

What a week it has been! Probably the best so far in London.  Where do I even begin?  This week at work has been going really well.  My boss and co-workers are starting to warm up to me and we sit around our computers all day joking around.  I am enjoying the British sarcasm, and I get asked a lot of questions about my own culture.  My boss is giving a presentation soon for a company in the States that sells printing supplies.  His project was to redesign a printer server as well as furniture to go along with it.  His presentation will include these huge boards with 3-D renderings as well as a presentation.  I have been helping him design and put together the presentation and boards.  I even get to design a few things myself, which is great as I get to put my own design knowledge into use.  I can’t wait to see his finished models he has been working on!  If anything, he reminds me a lot of myself.  Very hardworking and a bit of a perfectionist.  But this could be a trend of designers?

On Thursday, I left work early as Jessie and I decided to tackle Wimbledon and go watch some tennis.  Little did we know, we found ourselves sitting center court in Wimbledon Park watching Rodger Federer and Adrian Mannarino.  Let’s start from the beginning of our journey.  After taking the tube all the way to Wimbledon we got off and had absolutely no idea where we were going.  A very nice, old gentleman with a tennis bag in his hands told us what bus to get on and where to get off.  Without his help, we would have been lost for another hour.  All we knew is that he had to get in the queue (line), but we had no idea where it began or how the whole process of getting tickets worked.  Clueless then, but now experts.  The queue for us started in a grass parking lot.

Just the beginning of the queue..

Of course, right after we got in line it started to rain, but fortunately the line was moving.   After an hour of waiting we got our ground tickets!

We got into the grounds!

Which allows you to go to any of the courts expect center, 1, and 2.  While in the grounds queue we heard Federer was playing on center that night so we hopped in the resale line to hopefully get center court tickets.  When people leave they can drop off their tickets, and Wimbledon will sell them back to people for 5 pounds and the money goes towards charity.  It was super risky, but the resale queue started to move.  We were about 20 people away from the ticket booth when a lady came up to us and said she had single tickets that were really good seats.  We said we would wait, but after her roll of her eyes and gave us a your-stupid-for-not-taking-these look we knew we couldn’t pass these up.  To our luck, we sat about 12 rows back from center court for only 19 pounds.

Most people who have center court day passes where I was sitting spent 800 pounds for their tickets.  I watched every second as Federer beat Adrian.  Best part: watching Federer jump 5 feet into the air and for the final point and slam the ball down.  What an exciting day I will never forget! 

The next day was an early morning with class and a field trip to the National Portrait Museum.  After the museum we headed to the TKTS office to grab discounted tickets for Dirty Dancing that night!   What an amazing show, and since it was in London it was spectacular.  Now I want to watch the movie again to compare! 

On Saturday, we hopped on a bus at 8:45 in the morning and headed out to Stonehenge.  For me, after studying about this work of art in multiple art history classes, I was beyond excited.  When we first arrived, I was surprised how large the stones were. 

It added more to the mystery of Stonehenge.  We walked all the way around Stonehenge and snapped a ton of pictures.  Unfortunately, you can’t go up to it anymore as they stopped that in the 1970s.  I must say, it was pretty neat but a one time thing for me personally as I would only really want to go back if I was going for the summer solstice which was this past week.

We then headed to Salisbury, a local town 8 miles away.  Let me tell you, this was England for you!  Cobble stone roads, nice people, and great food.  So of course we headed to the pub for lunch as Salisbury is known for 3 things.. wool, water canals, and beer.

After lunch, our tour guide took us to the Salisbury Cathedral.  I didn’t know what to expect but I was beyond amazed. 

This working church was beautiful; pictures cannot do justice.  The attention to detail in this gothic church was incredible as was the history behind it; I even got to see one of the original parts of the Magna Carta!  

I even had fun experimenting my with photography skills.  We then headed home to go out to a top rated club in the world as it says online! 

After a late start this morning, we headed to afternoon tea.  Oh boy, they weren’t kidding when it says it is a 5 star hotel.  Not only was the hotel gorgeous, but the food was too as well as being delicious.  It was nice to sit back and relax after a busy weekend, drink some authentic chai tea and eat some scrumptious food.  We were stuffed afterwards and headed back home.

My yummy chai tea.

Finger sandwiches at the bottom, cakes on second tier, and pastries on top!

And then they brought us more..

In the Lanesborough Hotel! (stuffed)

Tomorrow we are going to the Barenaked Ladies concert; I can’t wait!  Then this weekend I am off to Rome, I cannot tell you how excited I am to see the places I am only dreamed of going when reading my textbooks.  Look out for another jam-packed post to come later! Cheers!

Synopsis: Week Two (it's long, but there are plenty of pictures!)

Hello, from London!  Since I haven’t blogged in a week I figured this might be a good time to update you about what has been going on!  Let’s start with Monday..

Monday morning I got news that I didn’t get the job with the design firm I was talking too, but after talking with my placement manager about other options she got right to the phone and her computer to find me something as soon as possible.  Thomas Keen, a London designer, emailed an inquiry for my CV and portfolio and the next day I had an interview.  The interview went well as I started on Wednesday!  I work at Sabotage Design Ltd.  “We do everything,” Tom would say.  Everything from products, to interfaces, to the web, and more.  For example, I helped him this week with presentation boards for a printer server design and furniture design.  He will be going to the States to present their concept this week I believe.  My commute is only 30 minutes, if that, so not bad, and I am going in the opposite direction of traffic so I even get to sit on the Tube (a rarity when during rush hours)!  There are only 6 people in the workspace, including myself, and we all sit in a L shape formation working on our computers.  Tom says London is such a big city full of designers that when he needs help when he’s busy he just calls up someone.  Networking people, I believe in it and always will.  For example, for the printer server he is working with another designer, they were skyping for a half an hour back and forth trying to finalize their design by drawing pictures back and forth and making changes to the 3D modeling. 

Ok, ok enough about my job, though if you want to check out Sabotage’s website it is: http://www.sabotagedesign.co.uk/display/51/Thomas-Keen/

After the exciting news about my job, we had to celebrate of course.. so why not a pub crawl?   Three boys, Charlie, Charles, John and I set off to area: Westminster.  Besides the great tasting beverages, it was really interesting to see the variety of pubs and how relaxed they are.  We also got to see the city and talk to a few locals; we even went to the original pub: The Red Lion! 

One of the pubs!

Wednesday and Thursday were both 9 hour work days, man it’s a long day I think I’ll stick to the college lifestyle for now (don’t worry dad, I’ll “try” to graduate in 4 years..).  After two long work days I was extremely tired and rested up. 

Saturday was our next big adventure!  We had heard the markets in London were good, but I was not expecting what we saw.  Holy moly, I was in heaven.

First tip, don’t come full to one of these markets.. there is a ton of food and it is fresh so take advantage of it! And you name it, there was everything there including fruit, meat (like ostrich eggs), fresh bread and cheeses, sweets, smoothies, wine, beer, etc.  

I have seen nothing like it in the States.  My roommates and I want to go back sometime because there was so much to soak in at once!  We then hopped on the Tube to go back to the flat but decided to get off at the stop for Harrods; little did we know it wasn’t the stop, but instead we were in Oxford Circus which is like Michigan Avenue = shopping heaven (until you convert it from pounds to dollars).  It was just fun to go in the same stores as America, but they are extravagantly decorated.  After shopping we did some grocery shopping and went to a laundromat to do some laundry. Well there is a for my first time for everything, right?  What an experience..  

Couple of things to note, you can only use pounds or 20 pence coins, the dryer’s get really hot so watch out for shrinking, don’t ask the lady for help, she’s not a happy camper doing everyone else’s laundry that pays her. But hey, now I have clean clothes, sheets, and towels and it wasn’t that bad! 

Today, was a great day and still going! After figuring out the best places for breakfast in London, we headed out early to go try one of them.  Thank goodness we got there when we did because the line started to get really long but oh was it good.  Just see for yourself:

When we left the line was super long.. glad we got here early!

We then headed to the Marylebone Summer Fayre.  You want jewelry, clothes, more food, drinks, music? Perfect, you would have been in the right place.  It was a free fair that they closed off streets for, many vendors were there and the fair was to support teenage cancer treatments.   I even got to bargain and almost saved 10 pounds, but opted out of paying for the dress.  Though I bought a print!  I love it; I can not wait to hang it up in my room back home. 

Well this was a long one, sorry! But now you have an update! So what’s to come?  A super great week.  First Wimbledonstarts this week so we are going to try to go after work one week and buy tickets from someone leaving.  Also, I am going to see the musical Dirty Dancing!  On Saturday we are going to Stonehenge/Salisbury and Sunday we are going to afternoon tea!  Well till next time..

Oh yeah, and happy father’s day daddy!