A Photographic Diary of My Trip: Back in London

I split the rest of my time in London between stalking Jude Law and getting more sightseeing in. For the rest of the program, I had time to see Kensington Palace, the Tower of London, and the British Museum, as well as go shopping on Oxford Street and Camden.

Garden - Kensington Palace

Afternoon tea with friends at the Orangerie, Kensington Palace
This delectable assortment of goodies was called the Debutante's Tea, I think - yummy

Entrance to the Tower of London

My Beefeater guide at the Tower - 20+ years in the service and available, he jokes

The Tower Bridge

The Globe Theater - where I watched performances of As You Like It and Romeo and Juliet.
Watching As You Like It during a heavy rain, as a groundling, was not fun. Not fun AT ALL. I wore a jacket that I thought was rainproof, but quickly discovered was not, and got completely soaked. I bought a plastic poncho at the Globe, but then discovered how steamy it can get on the inside - icky.

I spent my last day at the British Museum.

The Elgin Marbles at the British Museum - I wish I had more time to explore, but I did get to see the Rosetta stone

OH - and I totally forgot - I got to see Ethan Hawke playing a flamboyant Autolycus in a performance of The Winter's Tale at the Old Vic. If I had stuck around, like my roommate did, I would have been able to take a picture with him - bummer.

What I wore for the end-of-program banquet

I am SO glad I picked up this dress from J. Crew - the ruffled cotton sateen dress - it was completely worth the price since I wore it for both my graduation and this trip. I got a lot of mileage out of it, wearing it for a few of the nicer play performances and for the end-of-program banquet, as well as for an evening out to the Monte Carlo casino in Monaco.

I wish I had taken a full-length photo so I could show you what I usually paired it with - my navy blue Alessia patent-leather peep-toes, black polka-dot tights from Topshop, my J. Crew beaded flamenco polka-dot cardigan, and the Temperly beetle bag I got on Gilt.

Next up: Paris!

A Photographic Diary of My Trip: Sexiest Man Alive

JUDE LAW!

Yes, I saw JUDE LAW in London! After coming back from Stratford, I got to catch Jude's performance in Hamlet at the Wyndham, and then I came back with an army of friends at night to mob him. Yes, I paparrazied the shit out of him - I'm sure he didn't mind the blinding flash of my camera. I got so close I could have reached out and touched his receding hairline. *sigh* He stayed out for a while to sign autographs.

Also, Rachel McAdam slipped out the back entrance door.

More on London in the next diary post -
I felt Jude deserved his own little post.

EDIT: I have this really cute group photo of my friends and I in front of the rear entrance of the Wyndham that I wanted to share, but I felt torn over whether or not to include it because it shows their faces and I know how iffy people get about having their faces on the internet. Rather than blur their faces (which I think is really creepy), I decided to use Picnik to mask their identities (which I think is more appropriate because it is in the spirit of Halloween, and therefore slightly less creepy)

but I really really wanted to include it, because it shows the Temperley beetle bag I got on Gilt!

and now that I think more about it - covering one eye with with eye patch probably isn't gonna cut it for identity protection, haha - but it was either that or a full-on Jason face mask, which is totally not cute

A Photographic Diary of My Trip: Stratford

After spending more than a week in London, the program switched scenery to Stratford, birthplace of Shakespeare. I could only expect from Stratford what little I knew about small towns in the English countryside - think the village green from Hot Fuzz, without the excessive gore and awesome soundtrack, meets Pride and Prejudice's picturesque open country. What I found was a small town that's been Shakespeared out - his name is everywhere, the puns are endless.

The birthplace of Shakespeare

A day trip to Warwick Castle - the castle is beautiful, but it's been commercialized into some kind of cheesy theme park for kids

gardens behind New Place/Nash's house - where Shakespeare retired and where his granddaughter lived

A bust of Shakespeare that's been mounted over his grave in the Church of the Holy Trinity

Where RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company) performances are held - part of my program involved watching RSC productions of A Winter's Tale, As You Like It, and Julius Caesar.

Happy memories at the Dirty Duck, popular pub for RSC actors and thirsty UCLA students - far too many nights spent here!

One of five Shakespeare-inspired statues in a garden in the main square, just by the Thames River

EDIT: I almost totally forgot about mentioning a very unusual incident, where my friends and I got recruited to be extras in a new, low-budget film called Will's Diaries. It was the funniest thing because we were told to pretend like we were talking, and the filming took so long that by the end of it, my friends and I were wildly gesticulating for fun. I'm sure they'll cut us out of it, haha. And it was also funny because the guy who recruited us was talking about the film and where they were filming, and he asked us if we knew about the Dirty Duck, and let me tell you - we know all too much about the Duck. And we even had plans to go there that night, so it was a bit awkward and funny to have filmed there, go back to the hotel for dinner, and then show up again that very night. I don't think the bartenders liked us very much :o)

A Photographic Diary of My Trip: London

Midda's book reminds me that I still have yet to create a proper post about my trip! I've been feeling extremely lazy (and still am) so to tide the appetite until I create a proper post (or maybe this will be my proper post if I never get around to it), I'll post a few select pictures of my trip to London, Paris, Nice, Avignon, and Morocco.

Week 1: London

National Gallery, in Trafalgar Square (I now know why there are no pigeons - bird seed contraceptives!)

parade ground of Horse Guards

Big Ben

Hyde Park (I went rowing here, the park is beautiful)

Buckingham Palace - rear, near gardens

Buckingham Palace - front

I'M IN LONDON!!!

I flew from San Diego to San Francisco to my final destination - London - yesterday!

I've never travelled by myself before so navigating the airport was a stressful experience. The line going through the border agency gates was extremely long, so long that when I realized I left behind Winter's Tale in the backseat of my plane seat (a book which I'll need for the first day of class), half way through the line, I decided it wasn't worth retrieving. Then, when I tried to get cash from an ATM, my account was frozen! My credit card still worked, so I wasn't completely in dire need of cash but I felt a little terrible for not tipping my insanely eccentric cab driver or using my credit card for 2 pounds worth of internet.

My cab driver definitely had a lot to say throughout the drive, being an impromptu tour guide, freely spitting out his own disparaging opinions of the queen (which he offed with his hands), the country ('London is a stupid city - why are you here?'), and the pedestrians (which he joked about running over). He was definitely a personality (all was said and done in good fun... I think). And he gushed about his life story, how he's stuck in London working at this job because of gambling away 1 million pounds from his family business, from which he has been expelled. I laughed the first time he said all this because I totally thought he was joking. But then he repeated it a second time, and I felt bad for laughing it off the first time.

The hostel I'm staying at is way better than I expected, the reception/lounge area is fantastic (with a working bar!) and everything is clean and the staff is super welcoming. The dorm room reminds me of my first year at college, living in a triple-room at Dykstra Hall, but add in a fourth bed and no rancid carpet. I met two Australian besties who are backpacking for a month together and who have a shopping addiction possibly worse than mine, and conked out at around 7PM (I have no sense of time being without my cell phone, plus the time on the computer is unreliable).