London Part III

Okay this will about do it for London, I think. Our last day was spent in Kensington and Hyde Park, just how I like it. We started at the delicious Coco Momo for breakfast in Kendington. We then went to the Natural History Museum--mostly because I think the architecture and the art there are wonderful. We continued to the Victoria and Albert and saw some cool sculpture casts, like my girl Judith slaying Holofernes. Then we just wandered about the parks and Kensington Palace. I wore my new jumpsuit, which was very hot-making but I powered through. Somehow every time I go into Gap I find something I want, as strange as it is. I was determined to wear this jumpsuit in London. It was good for romping in parks. We ended the evening with pizza at the delicious Homeslice--which I definitely recommend--and one more visit to Hyde Park to sit on a bench in the still of night.

Wearing: Jumpsuit - Gap // Necklace: Gorjana via Rocksbox // Sandals: Prabal Gurung for Target

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London Part II

I think one of the reasons we love London so much is because we really appreciate green spaces in big cities. We fell in love in Hyde Park after all. So on day 3 of London, we ventured out to Hampstead Heath--somewhere we wanted to go the entire time we were in London last time but never went. It was gorgeous. Grassy plains and forests as far as the eye can see. We loved stumbling upon flower and raspberry patches and getting ice cream and tea in front of the Kenworth House.

Upon leaving the park, I was much too excited to learn that we were very near John Keats' house in London. So naturally we had to go there. We didn't do the full tour but we enjoyed looking at the garden, taking sneaky peaks into his rooms, and reading about the tree under which he wrote Ode to a Nightingale.

And then we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening doing my favorite tourist-y things. We visited the beautiful Fortnum and Mason for some scones and to marvel in the many many things I would buy involving cookies and tea towels. We also hit up Liberty of London just because the decor kills me and I can't help but be inspired there. 

Our evening ended with Thai food and then an accidental walk through Chinatown to get to my favorite thing in London (after the Peter Pan statue) Big Ben. A beautiful day indeed.

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London Part I

So it begins, Scarlett and Giselle is now a travel blog. I have been in Europe for 5 days. I flew from LAX to Charles De Gaulle on Wednesday. Took a very long nap and went out to Korean food with Ian and his friends. The next day we went to St. Chapelle with his class and then headed off to London. I think it's going to become a curse that whenever I go to Europe or just anywhere out of the country, I will have to make a stop in London. This probably won't end until I live there. And I do plan to live there. I don't know what it is, but it just feels like the place I am supposed to be. But for now I must settle for visiting every time I can. 

Sadly the fact of the matter is that I got notably better at taking out my camera and snapping photos as the weekend went on. We spent 4 days in London and I took as many photos on the last day as I did on the first 3. C'est la vie. So this post is days 1 and 2, with much fewer photos than will be in the following posts. I tried to link to as many restaurants and cool spots as I could, so click on the names to check them out. I would pretty much recommend everywhere we went. London just has the best food.

Day One started with the Eurostar Chunnel train, complete with a cheese plate as our "light meal." We got into St. Pancras (shout out to our Tube stop in our Travel Study days) and made our way to our Airbnb in Chiswick to check in. It was a bit out of the city, but still in Zone 2 on the Tube and it was rather nice to be able to go back to a quiet flat. We then headed out to the Serpentine Bar & Kitchen to drink some Pimms and watch the sunset. We got some ice cream and walked around Hyde Park, reminiscing about our days in the park two years ago, drunk on beer and each other. We made our way to my favorite thing in the whole wide world, the Peter Pan statue. It was nice to say hi to him. Then we headed home after a very long day that started in Paris and ended in a little flat in London.

Day Two found us up around 11 AM (boooooo we are bad travelers) and took us to a cute bakery called the Stamford Larder for some goodies to hold us over. We then headed inwards to hit up Tortilla, which is a chain burrito place that is kind of like our Chipotle, but the food actually tastes like it's made of real ingredients. Ian and I actually met at a terrible burrito place in London so we just had to get burritos this trip. Then we walked to Southbank and visited the Tate Modern. I spent waaaaay too long in that museum when we went on our Travel Study because I wrote a paper about two of the works in it, so we didn't feel a strong need to spend a lot of time there. We did see some cool stuff like the Nam June Paik installations and a very spooky video piece by an LA local. We kept going and made it to the Southbank Centre. I just love Southbank; it always feels alive and un-self-conscious. That's how I feel about a lot of London, and I think that's why I like it so much. There is just a sincerity to it as a city that grows and changes with time. So as the day came to and end (and I got colder and colder - I packed for hot Spain and forgot about cool London) we sat in the gardens of St. Paul's cathedral to read a bit before our dinner plans. We made reservations at a restaurant in a crypt of a church called the Cafe Below. It was ridiculously delicious. We split a caprese salad and gnocchi with lentils and asparagus and finished off with a delicious apricot parfait. It was a beautiful first full day in London.

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Assorted Photos to Catch Me Up From London

HEY SO this is a massive photo-dump because I haven't been updating and I have pictures from London which was the most amazing time of my life. I really might need to move there. I just LOVE IT.

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Touristin' Hardcore

So I am doing a Travel Study program to London that I haven't really mentioned before this, but anyways I AM IN LONDON NOW. Went adventuring, here are some pictures of the obligatory tourist spots and my first full day here!

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