One Lady in London: April 2012

Monday, April 30, 2012

So Many Pictures!

Since the remainder of my time here in London is pretty much just down time with not much to do, I've been keeping a list of things around the city I still want to do or see and have been using the past week and a half or so to start crossing things off. Things I've successfully crossed off this week? The Peter Pan statue in Kensington, Camden Market, Greenwich, the O2, playing tour guide to my good friend from way back in the Forest Lakes Elementary School days, and rockaroke at this bar called Roadhouse. Sadly there are no pictures of rockaroke because Hannah and I did not think the 100 pound bar tab was big enough of a prize for us to get on stage, but I've been carrying my camera around all week to just capture as much of this amazing city as I can before I leave. I don't particularly feel like typing much longer, so I'm just gonna go ahead and add some photos and write anything you need to know about them in the captions.

Regents Park- my happy place in London, just minutes outside my doorstep.

The Camden Lock, heart of the Camden area of London. Camden is amazing, I'm so upset I just went there for the first time recently, even though I'm making up for it and went two times last week. I didn't take pictures of the "cool" part of Camden this time, but next time I'm there I plan to. It's a huge, 7 days a week market with a stable motif and giant statues of horses lining the roads, as well as every type of cuisine you could possibly imagine. First time I went there, I got food for lunch, shopped around, then got food to go which fed me for 2 days all for 5 pounds. It's incredible. You don't go hungry or broke in Camden- so essentially it's a student's dream.

Camden

Greenwich Market- Greenwich is an adorable little area just shortly outside of central London and it is just so picturesque. It feels like you're on Main Street, USA, not in one of the busiest cities in the world.

Cutty Sark- the last clipper ship built for tea trading, as well as the fastest at the time.

On top of the massive hill to get to the Royal Obsertatory- home of the prime meridian. Best view of London anywhere.

Part of Greenwich Park is being converted into the equestrian center for the 2012 games. Like everything else...no where near completion.

The Royal Observatory

The prime meridian. London's timezone is GMT or Greenwich Mean Time. Took me a good four months to put two and two together that London's Greenwich was the same Greenwich.

Casually straddling the world.

The O2 -absolutely huge. I knew the O2 hosted concerts, and knew it was one of the biggest concert venues in the world...holy crap I did not think it was this big. In the center of the dome is the actual arena, but surrounding that are dozens of movie theaters, shops and restaurants. It's like a mall/outdoor park/concert venue all in one. You could very easily spend an entire day just hanging out in the O2 and probably not see all there is.

Papa Gerbes came through and got me, Liz, Hannah and Lara tickets to see a screening of the movie LUV, which he worked on and was shot in Baltimore, at Sundance London.

One of the many supports holding up the O2 from the inside.

The actual O2 arena. There the night we went to Sundance? New Kids On The Block AND Backstreet Boys. Our thirteen year old selves were going crazy.

Finally we got a sunny day today, so Emily, Liz and I spent the entire day in Hyde Park picnicing, having photoshoots, riding the serpentine paddle boats, and getting sunburnt. That's right, sunbrunt. Never been so excited to be red before. Sunburn means its not raining in London.

The only "successful" picture of all three of us. For the record: paddle boating against the current is a workout.

Titanic style

Boats, sunshine, and a banging country playlist...not a shabby Monday.

The Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens

"The boy who wouldn't grow up"

The Italian Fountains we accidentally stumbled upon in Hyde Park.

Our impromptu photo session during our picnic

Spring Break Part Five: Cardiff, Wales

After a busy week of procrastinating and ending up doing absolutely nothing, I finally figured I should get around to finishing up my posts about spring break and how I've been occupying my time from then til now, so, here goes.

I got back from the big part of break late on a Tuesday, had Wednesday to wind down/do laundry, and then left again on Thursday morning for a night in Wales. The trip was planned super spontaneously- I wanted to fill the unused week and a half I had of classless days before the final exam period started, and most of my London friends would be away then still on their travels so I figured why not. Knowing everyone else already had plans, I decided to take a leap of faith and planned to go on the trip solo- my attempt to be a big girl. I was a little intimidated at first, but slowly idea of doing something so spontaneously and own my own started to grow on me. I had no idea where to go, and hadn't been anywhere else in the UK, so I picked Cardiff, the capital of next door neighbor Wales. The whole trip was great because I found a cheap hostel as well as train fares, so transport and lodging was less than 50 pounds- not too shabby for a trip out of the country.

The trip ended up being really good, and I'm so glad and proud of myself for doing it. A lot of firsts happened on the trip: first time leaving a country 100% solo, first night alone in a hostel, first time eating out at a restaurant by myself (I've always envied those who are comfortable enough in themselves to do that) and first time just in general navigating a new city without any help. At the end of it, it was a very enabling feeling knowing that I can do things like this, enjoy them, and grow from them.

Cardiff really is a nice city, just not what I had expected at all. It was really, really small, at least compared to the other cities I had just previously been. Honestly, it was probably about the size of my home town of Forest Hill, and definitely smaller than Bel Air or Fredericksburg. The main part of the town could be walked across in 20 minutes or so, and the area on the bay was really tiny, 15 minutes and I could do a lap around it. The part of the city located on Cardiff Bay was beautiful though- it sort of reminded me of one of the smaller towns in the Outer Banks of North Carolina- small docks and piers with little shops and restaurants. Aside from the Cardiff Castle located in the city center, I was surprised by how modern and new all of the buildings were. They were absolutely beautiful, completely unique, but I wasn't expecting that at all. I learned later in my trip that the part of the city on Cardiff Bay had just recently undergone a major regeneration, hence why all of the buildings were so modern.

The best part of the trip though was a 20 minute bus ride outside of Cardiff to see Castell Coch- or the "red castle" as it translates from Welsh. Quick side note: I was shocked that Welsh was still being used. I guess I never really thought about it, I just assumed they spoke English in Wales, but every single sign was in both Welsh and English. I don't recall hearing anyone actually speak Welsh, or that I was aware of at least, but there were signs and ads everywhere in Welsh. Anyways, I debated going to Cardiff Castle which I could walk to, or Castell Coch, and after hearing numerous times Castell Coch being described as a "fairytale castle" my mind was made. The pictures below speak for themselves, but it was so adorable. Think fairytale and you think of Castell Coch- so worth the 5 pound bus ride out and back.

The Cardiff Civic Center has been rated one of the most beautiful civic centers in the world, and even though it was a rainy day, I completely agree. Beautiful buildings are outlined with perfectly manicured lawns and gardens- a great place for a picnic.