TFC: last looks

four [Wed, 9-Dec]

My first task of the day was to do my last London laundry load and begin the packing process.  I made a lot of progress and by afternoon it was time to get out on the Londontown.  Avey and I set out for a day full of assorted errands and final “must-dos.”  A major highlight: we climbed the 311 steps of Monument just in time for sunset and got to take in a breathtaking scape of London from above–definitely a great way to gaze at the city for the last time!  When we were over in the shopping district on New Bond Street I realized we were right near Postcard Teas, a specialty tea shoppe featured in the Savoir Fare: London book Allison Tomasino gave me.  Good thing we did!  We each savored the greatest cup of tea of our lives (Big Smoke black tea for Avey, Nokcha green for me), and posted some to ourselves to our Vassar mailboxes to be waiting for our arrival in January.  For dinner, we headed back across town to Brick Lane for Indian food, a classic London culinary experience that I never actually did but Avey relishes in.  We settled on City Spice after being offered a free bottle of wine AND 25% off our meal.  Cha-ching!  After sweating from the inside out, we met up with Lauren, Sarah, and John at Jerusalem Tavern located in Farringdon and awarded the title of “best pub in town” (or something).  It was a great place and I loved putting out my Indian fire with their delicious Winter Ale.

Americans in London

Thanks to a connection made by Miffy “Mrs Miff” Ruggiero, I spent a lovely afternoon with Kelley Reid, an ex-pat teacher at the American School in London.  We met at. St. Pancras station and strolled to St. Pancras Church and Churchyard where we found this:

Hardy Tree

Hardy Tree

Hardy Tree

Besides being a really cool tree, it is also The Hardy tree!  I do love me some Thomas Hardy, particularly Tess of the D’Urbervilles.

We also stumbled upon and explored an ecological education center on the bank of Regent’s Canal before heading back to the station for tea and coffee.  We had great conversation and it was particularly nice to be with a fellow American-London transplant the day before Thanksgiving.  Miffy, you were definitely there in spirit!

Darice in London!

Fellow Vassar and Cushing House gal pal Darice Murphy was in London this weekend!  She traveled from Madrid where she is studying abroad and it was lovely to be able to spend some quality time with her–she stayed over Saturday and Sunday nights.  Luckily, I was in prime London tour guide shape following madre/ma mère’s visit and showed Darice around the Londontown!  Her visit was also a great occasion to spend time with Annie and Jenna.

Besides seeing the sights documented below, we spent some time at the Tate Modern, danced Saturday night away at Zoo Bar in Leicester Square (to ridiculous 90s pop throwbacks while sipping on delicious cocktails), and watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix (clearly the best, and clearly tons of London references). All in all, a great weekend!  The downside: my bed will never be as warm as when I was spooning with my girl

Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace

Victoria Memorial

Buckingham Palace

Hyde Park Corner

Hyde Park Corner – gallop!

Piccadilly Circus

Ripley’s man

Changing of the Guard – IT’S COMING!

Changing of the Guard

classic

Westminster Abbey

Full English Breakfast

Big Ben

Houses of Parliament

London Eye

Big Ben, Big Darice

Mean Mickey?!?!?!?!

MEAN MICKEY RAH!!!!!!!!!!!

City Cruises!

cruisin’

yum.

random musicians in Blackfriars pedestrian subway

Tea & Crumpets at the Tate Modern Café!

Christmas Fair candy

my two favorite buddies

massage after a long day

Monday: Madness!

As I set off to a full day of classes and meetings, I set Madre off with my camera and A to Z map on a royal adventure: first to St. James Park for the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace followed by a tour of Kensington Palace featuring the Last Debutantes exhibit.  I was jealous as could be, especially because those were two things I would love to do but particularly with my Madre; the fact that I couldn’t due to class set the jealously over into the realm of anger   But I was glad to know she was having a great day on her own in London, something I’ve been experiencing and enjoying for the past 8 weeks.

We reunited over tea and Digestives at the London Visitor’s Hotel (again, so British) before heading to dinner at The Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman’s Sticky Fingers restaurant off of High Street Kensington!  We were in our element.  I obviously wore my Stones t-shirt.  The hostess was super nice, noticed, and made sure we had a great time…but really, how could we not?!  In typical “Foxy” fashion, Madre attracted an Australian man named Kerry who just happened to be in London with a group of Rugby fans on the last leg of their spectator tour through Europe; he sat at our table, grabbed my camera, and was very comfortable entertaining us for the evening.

Needless to say, the following photo gallery is one for the books!  It begins with Madre’s photos from her solo excursion and ends with Kerry’s drunken snapshots.  Cheers!

St. James Park

Buckingham Palace

Queen Victoria Memorial

Kensington Palace

Kensington Gardens

The Last Debutantes

Queen Victoria’s Bed

LVH Parlour

LVH stairs

LVH dining room

reunited at tea time!

in we go…

the view from our table

the menu

festive shots!

air guitar!

greatest. nachos. ever.

our Austrailian visitor Kerry

Big Head

Kerry’s Big Head

Australian Rugby Group

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!

London Visitor’s Hotel

room 23

the view

FIE Foundation House

The Gloucester Arms

fish & chips

mail at Metrogate

Imperial College

Manson Place

“peeper’s house”

safari piglet

The Big Bus Company!

on board

<3

Trafalger Square

Big Ben & Big Head

London Eye & Big Head

Lion & Big Head

in awe

Tower Bridge

Marble Arch

Marble Arch

tea time!

first bus ride

first dinner: Il Falconiere

first black cab ride!

snuggle time!