A Little Rock 'n Roll

When you think of the London tourism market, there are a few things you think of right away. 

The London Eye, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, etc.

You get the picture.

I think of the same things, but as my time in England begins to draw to a close, I've been making it a point to find hidden treasures. If you're a regular follower, you know I've found the location where the last D-Day briefing was among other gems. 

St. John's in Notting Hill 

One of the things that I've been interested in was learning more about the Notting Hill/Ladbroke Grove area.  Knowing general history of the area especially with the notable musicians that hung out in the area in the 1960s and 1970s, I did a simple Google search to see if anything interesting sprung up for locations. Let's just say that I got more things to do than I expected! 

Last week, I hunted down two key places based on the Google search results that I got. 

The first? The building or rather house where Jimi Hendrix was found dead.  22 Lansdowne Crescent was the former Samarkand Hotel where Hendrix was found in dead in the basement in September 1970. 

Down the road, I found my second destination of the day. The Elgin Pub is a pub that I literally pass multiple times a day on my way to school, run errands, or just take in London life. Joe Strummer used to play and hang out at this local spot in Ladbroke Grove before he joined the Clash! 

The hidden treasures of London are my favorite! Stay tuned for what I find next! 

Halloween and a Birthday!

Happy Belated Halloween! 

And, Happy Official Christmas Season in London!!

The latter is the most important to me. Clearly. 

I'm not a fan of dressing up for Halloween. If you want me to decorate or bake something, then we can talk. But, dressing up is not my cup of tea. Now, Christmas...we can just keep talking about for days. The Christmas decorations have been going up for a few weeks in London, and without Thanksgiving over here, I can officially declare it time for all things Santa. 

Starting with my first red cup from Starbucks on Friday: 

Anyways, before I continue on my quest for all things Santa, time for the weekly, weekend recap! 

On Halloween, I had both class and a group meeting that cut into attending any Halloween parties I had been invited to. I grabbed dinner and drinks with the girls in Mayfair instead! 

Notice the normal clothes...

Yesterday, as I continue to try to be a tourist as much as I can in the city I call my home, I wandered around Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. Stopped to say to Albert at the Albert Memorial, walked along the Serpentine, and also found the location of where the Crystal Palace once stood. Finding the exact location of the Crystal Palace site has been on the London bucket list forever! 

Location of where the Crystal Palace once stood

I also met up with my friend, Allison, yesterday. She is a first-year, but had never really explored the Knightsbridge area. And, let's just be honest. Everyone has to experience Harrods at least once! We topped our afternoon of exploring the legendary store with some macaroons from Laduree!

Last night, I went out and celebrated my friend, Naomi's birthday! She's in the same year as my program, so it was a lively evening with the MPA-ers! Even ran into a girl from Syracuse that we had briefly met once on campus, and now are connected in London due to the SU alumni club! It really is an orange world. #orangenation

#orangenation

BG and me

The Birthday Girl

Intern Love

Venice Day Three

Our last day in Venice was spent taking a walking tour of the city. We met our tour guide and group around 11am to begin walking and hearing the history of St. Mark's Square. We had saved doing the Basilica till that day because  we had wanted to hear the history as well. It was well worth the wait. I would never have learned about the construction of the Basilica and the influences that came from Constantinople.  Inside, it reminded me of the architecture that I saw in Istanbul especially with the mosaics.  (Sorry, no photos were allowed inside.)

For you, Marco Polo

The rest of the walking tour consisted of visiting the famous squares including the one named after Marco Polo, seeing the Bridge of Sighs, and learning about decrease in the number of permanent residents on the island.  There is the trend lately to see residents move to the mainland or other islands due to costs of living. The numerous houses that have been left abandoned are now being turned into hotels. Yes, it did make me miss my econometrics class. I was thinking of numerous regressions that could be run. 

Closed Home

We grabbed one last lunch of Italian food- bruschetta, cannelloni, pizza, and mozzarella, and one last gelato scoop before we headed off to the island where the airport was. 

When the moon hits your eyes, it's like a big pizza pie...

Venice and Verona was an amazing way to end the traveling portion of my spring break. We were delayed getting back to London last Friday evening, but getting there and home is half the adventure, eh? I'm so glad that I was finally able to see other parts of the country, and I'm already planning a trip to Lake Como, Naples, and Milan in the future. Arrivederci!

Father-Daughter Eurotrip: Day 3

Day three of being based in London consisted of taking a fairly long day trip to the countryside. Needing a break from the city life, we boarded a bus through the Evan Evans tour company early in the morning to set out for Salisbury, Stonehenge, and Bath! We booked the tour through Viator.com which then serviced the trip to Evan Evans. Before you read what we did for the day, I highly recommend that anyone wishing to take a tour outside of London use this company. The Blue Badge Tour Guide we had for the day was outstanding, the free time in each place was more than enough to see the main sights, and it was a group of about 15 people! 

Salisbury Cathedral

Salisbury was about a two hour journey outside of London. I had done the town in 2010 with Syracuse, so I was looking forward to going back and showing my Dad the place. We ended up only having time to see the famous Cathedral, yet inside the Cathedral, there are tons of treasures.  We were able to see the famous stained glass windows, one of the oldest surviving working medieval clocks, and saw one of the remaining copies of the Magna Carta. 

The Cloisters at Salisbury Cathedral 

After a quick mid-morning coffee break, our tour group was off the short distance to see Stonehenge. Again, I did this in 2010, so I was more interested in having my Dad see the weird wonder. Although, I had thoughts of my econometrics class and the idea of valuation running through my head as we used the public highways to get there. It was windy at the top of the hill as we made our way around the weird wonder. And, no...Dad did not let me steel any of the sheep. 

Stonehenge

Dad and Me at Stonehenge

From there, we took the drive to Bath. Now, I have had Bath on my to-see list for years. In 2010, I was away for the weekend when Syracuse took an excursion to the city. We only had time to see the town centre and the Roman Baths, so I know I will be headed back to do the Jane Austen activities. 

The Roman Baths exhibit consisted of an audio tour that described what it would have been like to live in the ancient city. A lot of ruins had been discovered throughout the years, so the exhibit contained a lot of information and artifacts. After having visited Rome in 2010, the ruins at the exhibit rivaled some of the ones I saw there-especially with the explanation of what life would have been like.  

Head of Mirvena- Goddess

Eventually, we found ourselves at the bathes level. Some of them have been drained, but the large one was still supplied by the underwater hot springs. You are not allowed to go into the water, but the experience is the same. I imagined what it would have been like to live in the ancient times as well as the times of Queen Victoria when many of the royals traveled to use the cleansing water. 

The Roman Baths

About to Take a Dip!

Our day ended with a two-hour drive back into London and an early dinner! We had a lot to accomplish on our last full day in London. Again, you can see why I would highly recommend the Evan Evans tour company. It was an amazing day seeing a lot of the fascinating places- some of them World Heritage places!

Upcoming Travel Plans!

Exciting News!

I'm headed to Prague for my 23rd birthday this year! I cannot travel the weekend of my actual birthday due to a group project being due, but I'm headed there the weekend prior. I've always wanted to go to Prague, so I'm excited to check the city out while celebrating. 

Spring break plans are also coming together. My Dad and I are going to be traveling for three weeks, but I wanted to spend some time traveling to other places before my summer term begins! 

After my Dad leaves, I'm going to be taking a solo trip up to Edinburgh, Scotland. I just booked the hotel for four days of exploring the city as well as a day trip to find the Loch Ness monster! From there, I'm headed home to London for an evening before Nicole and I head off to Verona, Italy. We're spending several days in Verona before heading off to Venice! 

I'll essentially be traveling for a month to a wide range of towns, cities, and countries. I'm super excited to get traveling again in Europe. I cannot wait to see these places and see what I stumble upon!

Walking Tour of the City & St. Paul's

Apologies to the delay in posting! I came down with a combination of the flu and lack of sleep this past weekend.  Not a fun time at all, especially with all of the grad school work piling up. Nevertheless, I'm back to my old self.

Right before I took a turn for the worse, I was able to volunteer as a student guide for one of the Syracuse University's London Center "Love London" Weekend. I was a student guide for a walking tour of the City around St. Paul's as well as the inside tour of St. Paul's. Having done St. Paul's in 2010, I was looking forward to heading back and checking out more of the amazing cathedral. 

The walking tour was around an hour and a half. We were able to see several ruins that were still left the way they were found after the Blitz as well as the old London wall and an old memorial to those Londoners who gave their lives trying to help others. One of the coolest ruins was part of a factory that had been bombed by the Germans in WWII. Underneath the bombed out factory, the remains of a Roman Wall had been found. 

Roman Wall in the bottom left corner

Memorial 

After the walking tour was over, we headed inside St. Paul's. While you still cannot take photos inside, I'll leave you with the shots I snapped outside!