Sunday: home across the pond

I can’t even begin to express how amazing it was to have Madre here and on how many levels.  Above all, though, it was great to have a bit of home in London with me — it was still an adventure, but I got to have my favorite companion by my side.

In typical Sunday style, we headed to mass at Our Lady of Victories, but the London flare was definitely there: 11:30am Latin mass with a gorgeous choir (personal highlight: being able to kiss Madre during the sign of peace! It was great to not be a loner for once!)!  We then headed up Kensington High Street to Kensington Church Street, where we stopped for brunch at the Kensington Wine Rooms (another establishment I frequently pass and always dreamed of going to!).  Sufficiently fortified, we headed up to Notting Hill Gate and back onto The Big Bus for another sightseeing route through London!  We hopped off at Westminster Bridge to spend some quality Kodak time with the London Eye and Big Ben, Madre’s new crush.  Once we were chilled to the bone, we hopped on the Tube at Westminster station and got off at South Kensington.  Yet another dining dream of mine came true when we stopped for a light dinner at Carluccio’s before heading home to the LVH for another sound snuggly sleepover.

More details in the picture captions and descriptions below!

Published in: on November 16, 2009 at 2:29 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Saturday: the madre has landed!

Here it is: the Madre’s Visit series!  Disclaimer: we took a ton of pictures, we ate a lot of food (I almost forgot how much I missed it), and we made a lot of magical memories.  Here’s my attempt at documenting it all; a lot of the posts will be works-in-progress as I update them with little details I forgot/didn’t take the time to initially include–I know we have an eager audience awaiting!  Enjoy :)   I know we did!

After a very Love Actually airport reunion, Madre and I hit the Londontown running!  First, we headed to the London Visitor’s Hotel in Kensington to drop off Madre’s luggage; the LVH is a quaint little bed & breakfast style hotel with an extremely welcoming staff, but the best part is its close location to my flat in South Kensington!  From there, we walked through our ‘hood to my flat, stopping for a pub lunch at The Gloucester Arms and several Kodak moments — we soon realized that we were capturing Madre’s visit to London, my semester in London (flying solo makes getting pictures with yourself in them quite tricky), and our time together (again, only two makes it tricky, but we definitely capitalized on the kindness of strangers and waiters).  Next on the agenda, taking a very wise arrival activity cue from Madre’s The Unofficial Guide to London (the same trusted series we get all of our Walt Disney World advice from), was to purchase two 48-hour tickets for The Big Bus Company’s hop-on, hop-off sightseeing bus tour of London.  We caught one of the last buses and, thanks to the ridiculously early sunset at 4:30pm, Madre got to see all of the London sights for the first time in their twilight glory.  We hopped off at Marble Arch, the end of the route, and grabbed a spot o’ tea (like the real Brits) before embarking on Madre’s first ride through London on a red double-decker bus (“yes, those really are the public buses!”).  Then, the jet lag hit, so we made a quick change of route to South Kensington where we stopped for a delicious Italian meal at Il Falconiere (the first of many delicious, spot-hitting meals).  I grabbed sleepover supplies for the next two nights; we were met outside, after already being freezing, by rain and a black cab…magic moment!  We hopped in, headed ‘home’ to the LVH, and snuggled the night away–the one thing I missed about home most of all!

Published in: on November 16, 2009 at 1:38 pm  Comments (2)  
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London Eye

Thanks to a sweet hook-up through FIE, I got to experience the London Eye for only £10!  I headed over after work on Thursday and was lucky enough to meet up with some other Manson Place residents–3 girls who live in another flat but go to Marist, so hang out in my flat a lot–which means I actually got to be IN photos!

Our “flight” began at 6:30pm, and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect.  We got to experience sunset, seeing London by day on the way up and London by night on the way down.  I know there are a lot of photos of the same views, but I really wanted to document the temporal experience more than anything.

Afterward, I headed back home to the lovely sight of Julia Arena!  We were both on the Cushing house team last year and lived in the same hall.  She is studying in Copenhagen, Denmark but was in London all week with her program for a study tour.  She came over and out with us on Tuesday night, and instead of leaving on Thursday with everyone else from the program she stayed with me until Saturday morning.  It was great to have a true friend here with me, and we had a great time.  We had a true pub dinner Thursday night, cooked an exceptional stir-fry with king prawns and oyster sauce for Friday dinner, invested in Party Rings for dessert, and went out on the London town to Zoo Bar (Leicester Square) on Friday night, where Annie Black met us with two of her flatmates.  It was quite the reunion!  I was so sad to see her go so early on Saturday morning.  It might have been a little too great having her here, cause now not pales in comparison :(

Published in: on October 10, 2009 at 6:33 pm  Comments (1)  
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London via Coach Bus

FIE arranged a coach bus tour of London for us on Saturday (5-Spet) afternoon.  Driven by Paul and narrated by Pamela, I was lucky enough to snag my choice seat in the front so I had front and side window view!  (Being in the front not only served well for soaking it all in, but also for listening to P & P bicker in British, and get my inquiries answered!)

It was a great way to see all of the sights…for a brief, fleeting, glass window/tree obstructed second.  I tried to take the best pictures possible, but a lot of the moments passed and many of the identifications and information went over my head.  Above all, it was overwhelming…but in a good way — I saw how much there is to see and explore, and there is a ton of it!

The route:

The tour’s absolute aim was to see as many of the quintessential landmarks as possible while hitting the least amount of traffic.  The Thames served as our guide as we zig-zagged across it and followed its banks, weaving through the West End and the City of London.

The photos below are being documented as my first glances at the city.  I can guarantee improved images and captions in the future when I return to the areas!

Although the coach bus medium wasn’t ideal for taking pictures of the city, it was for mapping it.  I definitely feel like my conception of London has improved.  It was a prime pace and flow to see how the city is planned.  Many striking similarities emerged with New York, from infrastructure to attractions to tourists, and it definitely got my brain working in the Urban Studies grove.  A native New Yorker and isolated traveler, my only previous first-hand comparisons to draw were between the Big Apple and Walt Disney World; I am thrilled to be able to add London to my repertoire and look forward to exploring it more–for pleasure and for analyzing–throughout the semester.  This grand-scheme approach has been serving me well; I am finding that I like to survey areas at large before diving into their intricacies.

Published in: on September 7, 2009 at 11:05 pm  Comments (2)  
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