experience: LONDON

aaah! nina, kiet, and i flew to london for the weekend [it was cheaper to fly than take the train, believe it or not...]

things that happened while london-ing...

--kiet and i somehow TOTALLY lucked out and were seated in business class on the plane, so we got to eat fancy hours d'ouvres and were offered champagne, etc.

--stayed at a RIDICULOUSLY nice hotel next to the famous london tower bridge. [and the london tower castle, which has QUITE the history!]

--heard ENGLISH being spoken! everywhere! WOOOOAH!

--went wandering all night to familiarize ourselves with the area

--woke up and went to leicester square, where i was utterly stoked to stumble upon the WEST END LIVE festival! [west end is the european version of broadway!]

--sat outside and listened to LOADS of london's finest performers... saw scenes from wicked, hairspray, dirty dancing, sister act [AMAZING], oliver!, the king and i, etc.

--lucked out and got cheap tickets to the closing night of west end's "carousel" revival... went to the show later that night and was moved deeply by the dancing and incredible singing [though their fake american accents were HILARIOUS]

--had a lovely lunch at a little cafe

--visited local art galleries downtown london [one of my favorite things to do in the whole, wide world], discovered some INCREDIBLE WORK, spent lunch money on a photograph =]

--got a haircut for only six pounds! LESS THAN I PAY IN NEW HAVEN! had a great time chatting with my hair stylist, jodie, who just moved to london from new zealand.

--visited the south bank and walked along the thames river [beautiful stuff!]

--visited the TATE Modern, london's most extensive and famous collection of modern art! [oh, modern art! how i love thee so...]

--went to dinner at an amazing little pub, had a shepard's pie, almost died at how utterly delicious authentic pub food is!

--stayed out late listening to street performers in tralfager square, finding fleet street [made infamous by sweeney todd!], ate at mcdonald's after carousel just because it's what i do after broadways shows in ny [seriously... nothing beats a dollar sundae! lame but lovely! =]

--woke up the next day and did a three hour walking tour of the city

--saw EVERYTHING... hyde park, buckingham palace, the changing of the guard, churchill's war cabinent bunker, the houses of parliament, westminster abbey, BIG BEN, st. james park, 10 downing street, and on and on!

--made faces at the queen's gaurds... tried to get them to laugh... failed miserably like everyone else...

--ate indian food for lunch because there were SO MANY indian restaurants around and curry was sounding DIVINE...

--wandered around to every possible corner and crevice of the city i could squeeze in... got lost a few times due to a really confusing map...

--noticed that london fashion is a bit more adventurous and loud than in paris [which i'm all for]

--realized that i can ABSOLUTELY see myself living in london for some part of my life

--headed back to the airport, boarded the plane, and arrived back home in paris [so fun to call paris home] with a renewed motivation to explore and discover!

such.a.perfect.weekend.

=]


^our hotel is in the background of this photo

^the london eye