Take me back to London town

I would have never guessed that my summer of a lifetime would guide me throughout the fabulous French terrain, much less spit me out momentarily into England.  Three of my new SCAD-Lacoste friends and I decided to seize the much-anticipated weekend of August 11th, the most popular period to travel, and try our luck in the unfamiliar UK territory.  London seemed like a shiny new penny: The sights, colors, and energy that compose this great place could not be more different from the home I have found in France.  Upon exiting the smallest airport outside London, we were greeted by the familiar face of one of my dearest friends from SCAD-Atlanta.  London would not have been the same without our honorary tour guide.  To say we conquered London would be an understatement, and there is simply no way we could have done so without his sincere hospitality.

The most amazing moment of this experience was when I found myself standing in front of Stonehenge, an iconic destination most tourists miss when they visit the Greater London area.  When learning about this miraculous yet mysterious place in school, Stonehenge was one of those mystical landmarks that I believed could only exist in textbooks.  The colossal gray stones were extremely addicting: I could not turn my eyes from the hundreds of colors resting on the surface of these famous forms.  As I was gazing upon the natural beauty of the rocks, the sun began to set which cast an angelic pink hue that illuminated the contrasting colors of green fields and neutral stone.  The sky soon popped with a blend of blue, orange, and magenta that framed Stonehenge in the most picturesque way possible. While Stonehenge itself was the central focus point of my vision, the sun was setting on the right side while a full moon began to rise on its left.   The juxtaposition of day plunging into night produced stunning images that will forever be locked away in the back of my mind.   This encounter was like poison penetrating my heart; an event so intense that life itself seemed to pause for a brief moment - enabling me to soak in all of the exquisite beauty.

           I still have a hard time believing that this little girl from Mississippi was in London only yesterday.  It felt like a flash of fun so impeccable that it could only exist in my wildest of dreams.  Photographs have become my only reassurance that London was more than an illusion, but in actuality a reality too flawless for words.  I would not change one second of this vacation: every single spectacle of this great place intrigued me.  London was almost too good to us, and for a brief period only friends, fun, and firsts consumed my life. I fear that all of my enjoyable moments in France have been momentarily overshadowed by the few brilliant days I spent in England.  Life can be so humorous sometimes.  As soon as I thought it couldn’t get any better, London teased me with cheerful moments that will never stop racing through my mind.  The UK welcomed my friends and I as if we were family, and a sense of comfort consumed me from the time I arrived to the moment I departed this crazy adventure. 


~Peace & Cupcakes~ 

What I did & saw in London:

• Rode the London Eye
• Big Ben
• Parliament
• Westminster Abbey
• Strolled through the gardens of Buckingham Palace
• Buckingham Palace
• London Aquarium
• Priceless strolls through central London
• London Underground
• Walked along the river in Richmond
• London Trocadero (famous shopping and entertainment center / clips of Harry Potter where filmed there)
• Odeon Theater (famous theater in London where movie premieres occur)
• China Town
• Regent Street (famous shopping street in London)
• Oxford Street (an even more famous shopping street in London)
• o                   Top Shop flagship store
• Harrod’s department store
• Club Oceana
• Town of Windsor
• Tour of Windsor Castle
• o                   State’s Apartments
• o                   Fine China collection
• o                   Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House
• o                   The Drawing Gallery
• o                   Artwork by Van Dyck, Rembrandt, Reuben, Tintoretto, Leonardo da Vinci
• o                   King and Queen’s bedrooms, studies, grand hall, dining room
• The Food Guard’s march
• Passed a Cricket Tournament
• Hampton Court (where King Henry the 8^th lived)
• Shopping at Bentalls
• Stonehenge at sunset
• o                   Chased the moon
• Traditional Indian munch

A British lingo lesson:

·        Fancy a fight? – Let’s fight.

·        one-punch wonder – One punch from me and you’re done. 

·        birds – pretty girls

·        dog and bone phone – cell phone

·        rubbish bin – trash can

·        squid – one Great British Pound

·        wellies - rain boots

·        petrol - gas

·        munch – food

·        bobbies – London police

The London Eye

View from the top.

Parliament 

Big Ben

Westminster Abbey

Buckingham Palace

Gates around Buckingham Palace

A "bobbie" and I!

Dinesh and I outside Buckingham

The famous balcony!

Silliness outside of the palace!

Kali and I strolling the streets of central London!

London Aquarium

Kingston at night.

CRUMPETS<3

Trocadero

China Town

Top Shop flagship store

The most epic text to receive when shopping in London<3

I think I should apply...

Cupcake section in Harrods!

Inside Harrods.

Chocolate shop in Harrods. 

Actual cupcakes in Harrods!

London in the evening.

TAKE ME BACK!

Windsor

Liz, Kali, and I outside of Windsor Castle.

The town of Windsor was absolutely precious!

Windsor Castle

I had to do it...!

Leonardo da Vinci's Studies for the head of Leda, inside Windsor Castle 

Out of Order

Hampton Court

Behind Stonehenge

Stonehenge

The final dinner - Indian munch.