Friday, Cleo and I went out to a place called Café De Paris with her boyfriend’s sister and her friends. It was a fun night out. If you type in the name of the place, celebs come up on google. Apparently, they like the place. I thought it was only okay and there was an expensive cover charge. We had fun though! Good thing they played some great music!
Saturday 3/6- Today starts a whole different life in London……SUSAN BEING HERE!
She is scheduled to arrive at about 12:30. I told her when she gets to Edgeware station (4 blocks form my flat), to meet me at Starbucks. As I’m enjoying my hot chocolate, I hear “ALICE.” This is the start of our wonderful week in London together. Suze was exhausted from being up all night and wanted to take a quick nap, so she did just that as I studied a bit for mid-terms on Monday and Tuesday. After her nap, I showed her my neighborhood and walked around for a while.
For the evening, I surprised her with tickets for the show, “Havana Rakatan” because I had seen posters all over London for it…it’s a Cuban dance/music show that ended up being sooooo good! We are both into that style and culture! After that, we headed to a Brazilian club but ended up not going in there but another one close by…it had a sweet atmosphere of a mix of people, music, and styles.
Sunday 3/7- Today, we headed straight to Camden market (I had never been, and heard its best to go on Sunday mornings). We love markets, and this one is one of the biggest and well-known. There is everything there including clothes, bags, coats, art stuff, and of course, food stalls. We headed there for lunch and got fajitas! After walking around, enjoying the sun, exploring the markets, and of course getting chocolate fondue, we headed to Trafalgar Square to starts our journey of the major sites and landmarks in London. We stepped inside the National Gallery, St. Martins in the Fields church, and then headed towards Buckingham palace, which then lead us to the London Eye, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and all the other “Westminster” sites of London.
We then headed over to the Soho section of London, full of trendy cafes, restaurants, bars and boutiques. We found a great café to relax and drink some tea. After being in that area for a little longer, we headed back to my flat to make dinner. We then went to the section of London called Piccadilly Circus (almost like the Times Square of New york, but better and classier) to see where the night would lead us.
We came across this spot, Be@1 with buy one get one free cocktails. We loved the milkshake ones with cookies n cream and baileys…….yum! There, we met people from all over the world including Greece, Poland, and italy. It was a funnnnn night!!!!!
*In the middle of London streets being ourselves
Monday 3/8- I had a mid-term for biology at 11 AM, so Suze walked to Regents with me so she could see my walk to school everyday, campus, and meet some friends. We ate in the refractory (campus caf), explored Regents park a bit, and headed off for a full day in London. Our first spot was the Tower Bridge. We walked around that area and across the bridge, then went to The Monument. You climb up 300 something steps in a small spiral staircase and then there is a view of London…its was soooo cool!! Each person that makes it up gets a certificate of achievement. We then went to St Paul’s Cathedral and paid to view the galleries and climb to the top, which was another amazing view of London! This cathedral felt magical to be in it and was cool knowing my mom and grandma did the same thing when they were here. We went back to Piccadilly area to a salsa club, and didnt stay to long because the people there were amazingggg and we just knew the basics. Hopefully ill be back there to take the salsa lessons, as its my dream!!!!!
Tuesday 3/9
**MEETING JACK BLACK!**
- Today, Suze met me at campus for lunch because I had a mid term in the morning. I also had another at 2-3:20. After, i decided to take her to Oxford Street (the Mag Mile in Chicago times a million). We shopped a bit, then headed to a night out with Imran. We met at one of London’s supposedly best spots for cocktails. It was okay....the place as nice inside. We chatted there for a while,then decided to go to another place. We then headed to a really classy, lounge/bar and Japanese restaurant recommended by someone at the previous place. Ill just say.....we felt a little out of place…everyone was wearing Louis and Dolce. Let me explain: you walk in the door to the place and there were 3 snooty girls who then proceeded to greet us and click the elevator button FOR US to go on the elevator to upstairs to the bar and restaurant in another room. It was pretty intense. lol.
The evening then lead us to an Italian restaurant that Imran found on a quick google search of “the best Italian food in London.” Little did we know, JACK BLACK WOULD BE THERE. Yes, you read correctly. Jack Black, the actor and singer, was at the table right next to ours. The waiter politely brought us to our table, and he was right thereee! Imran was trying sooo hard not to freak out b/c he's a fan of his music (which me and susan hadnt heard). We tried our best not to stare at him...Susan had the best view because she was directly facing him the whole meal. I thought it was interesting that everybody at the restaurant was sitting there nice and calm…until him and his 3 friends were done eating, drinking wine, and having dessert. That’s when me, suze and imran, as well as some other people got up and followed him to the front door of the restaurant to take pics and meet him. He was a litte….ill just say…different in real life. He didn’t seem that happy, but then again he was probably so sick of people taking pics with him. So thats it, thats the story of meeting my first celebrity. We had a great time at the restaurant, in general!
As far as the restaurant, it was a neat smaller place with a friendly atmosphere. I would go again, especially after knowing celebs go there! We left feeling full from their yummmmy food, and giddy after meeting a celeb, and headed to our last spot for the evening, dont remember the name, which had an excellent atmosphere (if you hadn’t realized, I like good atmospheres in places).
*Suze, Jack Black!!!!, Imran, and Alice
Wednesday 3/10- Suze wanted to go on a “day-trip” and wanted to see a castle during her visit here, so we decided upon Hampton Court Palace and Gardens, in Richmond in Southwest London. We had to take a train, about 45 minutes. The Palace was lived by the British Royal Family in the 18th century including Anne Boleyn, one of King Henrys VIII wife (the famous story of his 6 wives…divorced, executed, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. We had fun saying that all day. LOL)
We liked this palace because of the history and stories behind it. The palace’s styles are brick, symmetrical, and low wings. The gardens were even more beautiful. There were trees that were shaped in triangles symmetrical in a long line. Almost felt like we were in a fairytale. After exploring the inside and outside of the castle and learning about the different stories that went down during the good-ol-days, we went to the gardens, walked around, sat, relaxed and took pics.
Early afternoon, we decided to head back to London to eat lunch. After, we went to Covent Garden and came across the most adorable green & pink café that served sweets. We had fun exploring the markets and surrounding area of London. This whole area is very us…lol. We had a blast!!!
For the evening, we knew we wanted to see a show (duh, in London!) so we headed to Picadilly Circus to find day-of cheap student tickets. We had our choices of what we wanted to see, and ended up with a great deal to see Mama Mia (in honor of our mom J Test to see if she reads this….haha) We headed back to my flat to eat dinner real quick and get ready for the show! Suze and I had seen the movie and enjoyed it and our mom & dad saw the show in Chicago and liked it, so we knew we would enjoy it. It’s a fun, lively, and some-what tacky show that leaves you feeling happy & wanting to dance! Although, we were exhausted and headed straight home when it was finished.
*Me and Suze at fountain in Gardens at Hampton court palace
Thursday 3/11- Our last full day in London! SADDDD! We hadn’t been to any museums yet, so we decided to use this morning for some museum-hopping. We went to the Victoria & Albert museum, the worlds largest museum for decorative arts & design…perfect for us! There, we hit the fashion gallery, a collection of outfits from 4 centuries ago. It’s the most comprehensive fashion gallery in Britain, so Suze was pretty much in Heaven! We also went to the Jewellery collection, photography (my favorite!), and contemporary. After, we went to the Science museum, where we explored the “energy”, “measuring time”, “plasticity”, “the secret life of the home” (our fav!), and “things.”
When we were all museumed-out, we met imran for lunch and had amazing curry!!! We went back to Oxford street for more shopping and walked around for our last moments in London. That night was pretty low key as I had to pack for Ireland and wake up at 3:45 AM!!!
*eating curry!
Reflection:
Overall, the week was amazing!!! Some glimses:
Looking forward to most: Showing her my neighborhood and school!
Day highlights: Camdem market, Climbing up the Monument & view, St. Pauls Cathedral, Hampton Court Palace (sorry couldn’t chose just one)
Night highlights: Havana Rakatan, Be@1 in Piccadilly Circus, night out with Imran, Mamma Mia
What Suze thought was different: Curry served everywhere and the street cross-walks
What Suze thought was interesting: The longgggggg escalator in the tube system and all the people standing on the right and people walk up on the left. Americans DO NOT do this! She thought it was hilarious!
What Suze loved about London: Tube system, restaurants/cafes, shopping, overall atmosphere
Didn’t have a chance to do: Go out with all my roommates, which I wanted, but its okay. We all hung out a bit in the flat.
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