Autumn Awesomeness

I thought I was on par to update my blog once a month- just realized its now November and my last post only covered until mid-September! Ooops!

So, where were we? Ah yes- mid-September. Grandpa had just left London. That seems like SO long ago! That Thursday I joined everyone for "Thursday-Night-Drinks." Its a pretty big thing for everyone to go to drinks on Thursday and most of the interns in the program have done a great job adopting that customs. Its hard for me though because most people's jobs are concentrated in an area of London called "The City" (a big financial district) an my work is pretty far away. But this particular Thursday I decided I was going to go. It took me an hour and a half to find the place they were at- but it was worth it. Made it just in time to catch the end of happy hour and then we switched to another bar called Amber. Amber is a pretty interesting place. When you walk in you head down some stairs and it seems like a pretty normal bar. I was excited to go because I had heard that there was a roller-skating rink inside. And there is- sorta. Haha. What it really is is a raised dance floor with different colored light-up panels and a few girls dancing around on roller-skates where far to little clothing... But as the night progresses everyone ends up getting on the "roller-rink" and dancing to great oldies. It was a ton of fun!

None of my pictures did Amber bar's "RollerRink" justice so I had to get a stock photo. Now just imagine a few girls on roller-skates dressed in sports bras and booty shorts skating around with a bunch of British bankers and American interns... :-)

That weekend a group of us went to one of London's many spectacular markets- Borough Market (http://www.boroughmarket.org.uk). Its pretty much dedicated to delicious food (which is why we went there) and it has a lot of it. I thought before we went that there would be more vendors selling ready to eat food (and there might have been and we just didn't find them) but mostly we saw vendors selling tons of other delicious things- jams in every flavor you can imagine (all of which you can sample!), honeys, cheeses, chorizo, cookies, etc.etc. etc. I ended up getting a delicious burger with aged cheddar cheese (which seemed awfully blue-chessey) and grilled onions (cause I like onions now!) and a brownie. I don't have any pictures from this little outing though because my camera got stolen during my next adventure. (don't worry I have since bought a new one)

That night we went to a bar called Zoo Bar in Covent Garden- it was packed and a lot of fun (and we got in for half price) but it also proved to be a trying night on people's belongings.  My friend Jessica's wallet went missing and, even though the bartenders later found it, all the cash was gone. I am pretty sure this night is when I lost my camera, and one other girl lost her whole wallet that night. Not a highlight of the trip- but since it explains why my camera disappeared it needed to be included so that all of you who love to make fun of me for losing things can't. :-)

The following Tuesday my roommate and I skipped out of work early to go to Buckingham Palace before it closed for season. It is only open 10 weeks out of the year and we really wanted to go during this opening because Kate Middleton's wedding dress was on display! And the tickets are good for reentry for a whole year so we will be able to go again next year when it opens too! The palace was really really cool. Only some of the state rooms were opening for viewing- but thats ok because it would have taken forever to see all 775 rooms! (and 78 bathrooms!) 

They don't let you take any pictures inside the palace (and my camera was gone anyway) so this is another stock photo- but this room is really cool because the two long mirrors in the back are "trap-doors" and swing around to open into the next room!

My roommate Emily and I in front of the back of Buckingham Palace!

    Seeing Kate Middleton's dress was actually a lot cooler than I expected. I had no idea how much thought went into the design. It was perfectly weighted so that if the train of the dress was picked up it would fall back into perfect position! And all the lace was hand-sewn and in the shape of the four flowers of Great Britain (English Rose, Scottish Thistle, Welsh Daffodil and Irish Shamrock). Her shoes also had the same beautiful hand-sewn lace stitched onto them and the cake (which was something like 17 little cakes with 900 sugar flowers on it) also incorporated a ton of ornate flowers.

Ok and to round out September-  and this one is important- ANISSA'S VISIT FROM FRANCE!!! Anissa had a pretty good idea of the things she wanted to see while she was here and I think we did a good job getting to most of them. 

- Primark- a super cheap department type store in London that topped Anissa's list (haha) 

-We got super lost trying to find Notting Hill and walked around 3/4 of the perimeter of Hyde Park, found and walked around Notting Hill, saw an adorable antiques market and had cream tea

The scone, clotted cream (which is way way better than it sounds) and jam that comes with cream tea

- Camden Market - a giant market that has nearly everything you could ever want. It seems to go on forever. It has a lot of hippie type things, and then a lot of ready to eat food from all over the world and paintings and sculptures and its just giant. Anissa and I got a little fish pedicure (little fishes eat the skin off your feet and it tickles like crazy!) while we were there!

Anissa and I trying to smile through the tickle of our fish pedicure!

@ Camden Market!

- we spent a bunch of time trying to figure out my phone situation which was really annoying! But in the end I switched to a new phone provider and got a special plan that lets me call my mom and brother for free and provides me with an american number that links to my British phone so anyone can call me without worrying about international fees!!! (let me know if you want the number! I love getting calls!)

- we attempted to go to the top of the Tate Modern tower but it turns out that isn't really an obvious option so we decided to go get fish and chips from the Anchor (the same restaurant that Grandpa had wanted to eat at!)

- we each got a proper English breakfast (well we each got at least some of the main parts - baked beans, eggs, fried tomatoes and mushrooms, toast) from a little cafe near my apartment.

- oh and we had to deal with this CRAZY lady who lives in the building next to me. She normally doesn't bother me because my apartment doesn't face the other building, but we were hanging out in my friends apartment which its really close to hers. This woman hates Americans and deals with it by screaming bloody murder from her window while she is topless. She threw a chair and a lamp out the window proclaiming it to be America's electric chair, she yelled at my friend to close her window because she was ugly- she literally screamed for hours- on more than one night. Its crazy.

- oh and the best part of Anissa's trip is the following picture. Anissa has never been so proud of an idea in her whole life. It took her about 10 minute to get up the courage to ask someone to take the photo- but in the end she loves it to bits so it is worth it!

Note- Anissa is in the phone booth at the back, I am in the phone booth at the front and Big Ben fills out the picture nicely on the other side. Its a little blurry here because I had to make it big enough so you could tell what it is (not going to say I told you so Anissa)- but the idea really is great.

Well folks that rounds out September and my night of blogging! I'll try to get October updated ASAP and I'll even give you all a little teaser! Next months blog will include- my trip to the south of france, a Mountbatten led weekend to the English Countryside, my first weekend of class and Halloween! (wow that doesn't seem like much, maybe I'll just start a new blog right after this one and see if I can get all caught up!)