Wednesday. Last day of freaking class.

Thank goodness! No more class!! Oh wait, we have finals Monday. Hmm. yeah. Anyway, after class the girls decided we wanted cookies from Harrods so we headed over there and got dessert. We shopped around a bit (Anna and I showed them where our favorites were...) Then Anna Kim and I headed to Regents Park. Oh Man. This is my favorite park in London. It is so serene and beautiful. Its big, but still smaller than Hyde Park or St. James and is so much more intimate. There is a beautiful lake (well its beautiful as long as the pot smell isn't there haha), and then the rose and tropical gardens are amazing. We kept looking at flowers and saying "what is that?!" It was so beautiful. We also saw the largest bees ever!! We would get close to examine a flower and there would be bees humming everywhere and then I would look at the flower and the biggest bee ever would be pollinating! It was incredible, but of course I got freaked out and stayed away!! We took lots of pictures though ... I will probably take some of these and enlarge them for my room this fall. But until then, I will post them for all to enjoy.
After Regents we met up with Lexy, Patrice and James and headed to the Thames to the London Eye. We got there at 8:30, right before it was closing so we our group on the eye was small and the sun was setting. It was so beautiful. It was also cool to see the whole city and point out certain places, like our house, and places we have been to. I was also excited because its the biggest Ferris Wheel in the world!! I love ferris wheels! After the eye we watched Big Ben light up, and then walked around the city enjoying one another's company. It was such a mellow fun night. We totally started missing London already though...

BRIGHTON= BEACH ... I THINK NOT!
So we keep hearing that the beach in England is Brighton. Thats where everyone goes for Holiday. So when we found out we had an excursion to go to Brighton we looked up pictures to see what it looked like. We were horrified. This could not be a beach-- the sand granules in the picture are so large you can see them in low resolution! We were in trouble. Anna and I tried to get out of it, but our professors made us go.
I even tried to sleep in, but Lexi woke me up. Thanks Lex. On our way to Brighton we stop off where the Battle of Hastings was. I wasn't too familiar with this battle, but apparently it was a key battle of the Normans conquest over England. The coolest part of it was when William the Conqueror stabbed the Saxon king Harold in the eye with an arrow. There is a huge plaque where this supposedly took place, so naturally we re-enacted the scene ... yes we are dorks, but i would rather look at it as making the most out of a situation.
So on to Brighton. We went to George IV elaborate Beach house ... it was pretty gauty but totally beautiful. After that we headed to the beach. Just to see what it looked like. OMG. I couldn't believe the SIZE of the "sand". Its honestly not even close to sand. It is ROCKS. Larger than pebbles. Literally ROCKS. (see pictures below). We laugh as we saunter onto the "beach" and take a few seats looking out into the ocean. We relaxed there for a while and then headed back into town to check out the shops. Thankfully the shopping was great and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves there.
Brighton Smighten. Not too impressed.

Monday ... MY DAY.
After classes on Monday Anna and I had a failed attempt to go check out a new market, so we headed toward Harrods. We got a little turned around on the tube so we ended up walking in a round about way--- but we loved it! We walked through these local neighborhoods and found the COOLEST shops and omg the most beautiful wedding cakes at these Pasterie Stores! We had to stop at each one on the street and distract the workers so we could take pictures. We resisted from buying out half the store and just stuck to window shopping but we will be heading back soon enough to get our share of delights! We also couldn't help but look at tea cup sets at every store after we went through this awesome Tea Shop...
Finally we get to Harrods and go straight to the Food court. We took our salads outside Door 11 and ate our lunch quickly before going to explore Harrods. We pretty much covered the entire store; which is amazing. I think my favorite parts of the store are the Luxury Room (with all the designer bags....), The Christmas Store ( I love Christmas!) and the baby section...with Chloe, Burburry, and Dior Baby Clothes! Out of control but oh so cute!!
After Harrods we headed home, grabbed a blanket, a picnic dinner and headed to Regents Park to get grass seats for the Open Air Theater. Unfortunately we got there late and couldn't get tickets, but it worked out because we laid out our blanket and had our picnic next to the theater, with the music in the background. Regents Park is beautiful and I loved the scenery as well as the company. Our picnic was fabulous and Anna pulled a "kiley" and made me put the blanket out after she forgot to take a picture during our meal.
It was such a relaxing and "regular" day for me. I wish I could stay longer in London to partake of more days like this.

Back from Paris life goes back to "normal" in London for just 10 more days. I attend church, and then head to Westminster to attend Evensong. I was supposed to meet Mom and Dad there at 3:00PM. Although this was the plan, i knew it would not be the case. Hoping they were just running late, I begin to worry how we will get in contact with each other if something were wrong. However, as soon as I walk out of Westminster, they were there at the gate! Its amazing how 1 or 2 people can make a place feel like home. Ashley met us a few minutes later, and then we proceed to show them London.
Its not very exciting to show jet lagged people a city. Instead of "ooing" and "ahhing" over every cool thing they just nodded and kept walking. I have to admit I was a little disapointed by this. We took them by Downing street (where the Prime Minster lives), up to Trafalgar Square (The National Gallery), up to Covent Garden and then to Leisters Square. We covered a lot of ground. We also ate at Wagamama's, which was highly encouraged by a family friend back home. We loved it!! After dinner we headed back to Kensington and got mom and dad ready to leave for Ireland. It was so good to see them and I can't wait for them to get back from Cork withi some energy so they can fall in love with London like I have!

I love Paris in the Springtime...
I hate to admit it, but I just dont have time to really blog about Paris so I'll just let the pictures do the talking. I had a fabulous 3 days in this city, although I was more of a tourist than anything else, which really doesn't let you fall in love with a city. Fab art and Fab food though. I can't wait to go back and discover more!






































Saying goodbye to Paris with Phantom of the Opera on my shuffle as we pull out of the train station.

L'Opera

So a few weeks ago Anna, Kim and I stumbled across this great little restaurant, Sarasto's on our way to a play in the theatre district. We learned that on Sunday and Monday nights they have a dinner and opera special, and we vowed to come back. Tonight we got the girls together, plus James, and headed out. It felt so good to put my heels out and have a night out in London!





The ambiance of the restaurant is our favorite part-- it looks like an overwhelming opera house inside with bright colors, funky lamps, and even balconys! The booths are like little coves. Everything is so gauty and fun- we love it!! The food is Mediterranean, and the Opera menu was set with a 3 course meal; 8 different appetizers, main dish and dessert. Before we knew it we had a plethora of appetizers before us, and we just started eating and eating and eating. It was fabulous! All of our favorites plus some new ones!! Hummus, felafel's, etc etc. For the main dish Anna won the prize for best choice for the duck was far superior than anyone else's (I was mad I chose the boring dish and got chicken). For dessert we had a HUGE fruit tray and some Turkish Delights.





While we ate a string quartet serenaded/entertained us. These guys were SUCH characters and we LOVED every piece they played!! For some of the songs they came up RIGHT next to us (we were seated in the middle of the restaurant) and played inches from our faces! And if someone wasn't clapping this one guy would stop and go and poke them until they got into it! haha. Oh and the best part was watching them play and do the cancan-- these guys were awesome entertainers! It was so so so so so fun!! After the string quartet 2 professional opera singers came out and sang a variety of pieces which were beautiful. This was by far one of our favorite things to do in London-- I can't wait to take Mom and Dad!

Saturday. Am I at Disneyland? Wait. No. VENEZIA.
Let me take you through my day. WARNING: This post has a lot of pictures.

Our First Glimpse. Walking along the yellow brick road toward the water taxi.



On the Grand Canal.







We hopped off the water bus at a random spot and crossed the bridge to find food.








Gelato is IMPERATIVE in this heat!!


So cute. (the street or the people? the jury is out.)


All you need is LOVE.



The Square at the Basilica. So dramatic.




Feed the Birds?














Getting Lost in the City Streets.






WATER! (Acqua? Ok stuff we can drink! Right?...)




Nap Time?



Taxi Ride To Moreno Island




Christmas in JULY? Say it isn't so?! This means I can start my Christmas music now, right?


Now I know you are all very disapointed, but this concludes my pictures from this day. Due to the extreme heat I gave up taking pictures at the end of the day. The rest of my day in Venice consisted of dinner, bus ride to airport, shower at the airport, plane ride home, longest que ever for customs, spotting my lobster sister ashley in customs, missing the final train to london, realizing we can take a bus, get into london at 3am, dropped off at the bus station 10 blocks from the center in the rain at 3:15am, get to center at 3:30am. Finally in bed by 4am. Sigh.