The past week we spent 5 days in London!! London has been my favorite city so far and I don't understand why everyone told me the food was horrid there because I had some of the best meals. Heres a rundown of our days spent in London!!
Day One:
We left for London on a Tuesday. Our flight was from departed from Pisa and got us into London and at the hotel around 4:00. Upon immediate arrival to the hotel we had to rush out because we had booked tickets for a 6:30 Harry Potter tour at Warner Brother's studio! Pushed for time we realized that there was no way we were making our tour on time. Luckily a nice lady on the train let us use her phone to call the studio and warn them that there were 15 of us on our way and they allowed us to push our tour time back! We were picked up by the Harry Potter night bus and it took us over to the studio!! THE TOUR WAS AMAZING!!! It had all original props, scenes, and outfits from the movies. I can't even being to explain how intricate the tour was or how this is a must see attraction for every Harry Potter fan! I won't get into details because this blog post would go on for days but that tour was worth every pound! I even managed to find ice cream on the tour! We walked around for about 3 hours and by then the studio was closing for the night. When we got out the London weather was on par and it was pouring! We quickly hopped back on the night bus and headed back to our hotel. Next to our hotel was a gas station that had the best food! That was our saving grace that night because all the restaurants were closed and we were hungry! The hotel we stayed at was called "Thistle" in Kensington Gardens and was beautiful. By far the best place we have stayed! It was two to a room and we had our own bathroom..with a REAL shower and bathtub and they spoiled us even more because we had maid service...oh and the best part was a working tv in English!! This sounds ridiculous that I am obsessing over these simple things but it really brought back the comforts of home hahah. We turned in on the early side and enjoyed a great nights sleep.
Day Two:
We woke up around 8 to enjoy our FREE (if you study abroad as a college student you'll understand that any free meal is equivalent to winning the lotto) continental breakfast. Unlike the French and Italians who think a croissant or a baguette is an efficient breakfast, the English love their big fatty breakfasts just like Americans! And we wonder why everyone in the world is skinner! Praise the English for this breakfast though!!! The breakfast had everything from fruit to scrambled eggs! FINALLY!!! From the hotel we headed to the Thames river for a quick tour on the boat and transfer from Embankment Pier to Bankside. From the boat we all herded to Starbucks for our favorite drinks. Side note: if you every want to find one of the KSU fashion students just head to the nearest Starbuck because someone WILL be there, which comes into great use later on in the trip. After everyone had gotten there "pumpkin spice latte" fill, which I personally think are gross, we went to take a tour of the Globe Theater. The Globe Theater was really cool because it was rebuilt years ago to look as accurately as it could to the original theater and it is still a functional theater today! Our guide went over what the theater was like in the time of Shakespeare and took us around. After the tour we headed inside to a separate part and we learned how the people used to dress in the time of the Shakespeare. Here one of the fashion design majors Michael got to model and be dressed in the women of that times attire. It was hilarious! After all our tours had commenced we were given time for a quick lunch. Around London there is a chain called Eat and it has soup, sandwiches, and salads, its almost like a Panera and they're everywhere! So we stopped in to eat...at Eat. When we were finished lunch we had to go to the Tate Modern Museum for another tour. This tour was of Modern art. We were guided around the museum where significant pieces like some of Picasso were pointed out and explained along the way. When the tour was over we walked over to go on the London Eye. When we reached the London Eye we realized how smart we were to get our tickets in advanced because the line was atrocious! Before we got on the Eye we got to watch a quick 4D movie on the London Eye experience which was really cool! The London Eye was breathtaking. It is the tallest ferris wheel in London thats located on the south bank of the river Thames to overlook the city. I am so happy we decided to see it! After the London Eye we walked across the bridge to Big Ben and to get our first London dinner, which of course had to be fish and chips! After our meal we went back to the hotel because we had plans to go out for the eve of Taylor's 21st birthday. We got ready and headed out to go to an exclusive club that a girl on our trip Cassie "had all set up." Unfortunately the club ended up being a disaster. The club was super exclusive and half of us didn't even make it in because although we were promised free bottle service and free entry none of those ended up holding true. About 7 of us got in while the others were dealing with the no heels no entry situation...ridiculous. We entered this snooty club only to find after a 20 pound entry fee and a 2 pound forced fee to check a coat that we did not fit in at all. This was no club for college students. It was a bunch of posh, business men and women who wouldn't even look at us because obviously we weren't rich business people. So after about 10 minutes we were out of that club in attempts to try and make up for a bad place on Taylor's birthday night. We all felt horrible. We headed over to another club where there was no entry fee (more our style) but it still was still very businessy. In attempts to turn the night around I immediately whipped out the birthday cake we had gotten Taylor and convinced someone to light the candles even though he told me "this is illegal." We soon found out that the area we were in was all very businessy and the people at this club were all taking out their boss and a guy they were trying to make a business deal with. So once again we just tried to make the best of it because we really couldn't get over to the more college pub area in time before things started closing down. The night ended up not being too bad. We danced funny..doing the moves like the robot and other awkward dance moves because there was really not many girls in the club either...we convinced a few business men to buy us a drinks and then pretty much ditched them hahah and by the time we got back to the hotel it was almost 3 so we passed out!
Day Three:
The next morning we enjoyed another lovely breakfast and went to the V&A museum to get a tour of fashion through the years and to tour the "Club to Catwalk" exhibition. The museum was awesome! Especially the "Club to Catwalk." It was the 1980s in London so they had all these exotic outfits and fun music and fashion shows running through the exhibit. After the museum tours a few of us went to go find lunch in the area. We came across an organic health restaurant and decided to try it out. I got the most amazing salad...I barely even know what was in it but it was so good! From there we took the tube (which is so easy to use) over to Harrods and Top Shop to do some window shopping. Harrods is just like the English version of Macy's. They have everything in there!! Including a whole section of chocolate and candy that was making me want to die. We weren't able to spend too much time in Harrods because we had to make it over to a seminar at Central Saint Martins on sustainable fashion. It was only me at Taylor at this point because majority of the group had went their separate ways right from the museum and the other to girl we were with decided to skip the seminar. Having no idea where Central Saint Martins was exactly we had to just wing it. This is where Starbucks played a key role! As soon as we walked out of the train station we went into the nearest Starbucks and what do you know about 8 KSU fashion students were in there getting drinks. From there we all found Central Saint Martins together. Saint Martins is a beautiful school and one of the best in the world for arts and fashion. We listened to a seminar on sustainable fashion and then were broken up into groups to research companies and their sustainable fashion policies. We then presented our findings and received a certificate for completing the seminar. Taylor wasn't feeling well after the seminar so while the others decided to go out to shop and get Indian food I went back with Taylor to the hotel. But of course we didn't go back without getting Chipotle first...god the addiction is so bad. England's Chipotle was perfect! Once again the comforts of home! After Chipotle we spent the night in eating junk food and watching scary movies on TV.
Day Four:
When we got up Taylor was still feeling sick so she stayed in and the rest of us went to take the tube to Cockpit Arts. Cockpit Arts is a group that helps artists, like weavers, jewelry makers, and handbag designers, make their own company and/or establish themselves. It was such a nice place, very low key and everyone in there was pleasant and happy to show us around. We got to listen to a weaver and a handbag designer talk about why they are there, what they are doing, and even show us what they were working on. It was one of my favorite tours so far and it was such a casual and simple one. After the tour we had plans to go on a walk tour to see major sight seeing points in London...we got off the tube at what we thought was the meeting place for the tour...turns out it wasn't. We realized it wasn't the right spot too late in the game to get to the actually spot so instead we decided to make up our own walking tour! With super organizer Amanda of course this was possible! We hit up Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben for the second time, took the classic "in a red telephone booth" picture, and walked around the area until it was time to go to high tea at Harvey Nichols. The high tea was also THE BEST THING EVER! We went to the top floor of Harvey Nichols and were served tea, crumpets, jam, butter, and cucumber sandwiches. It was delicious! We then got a tour of the entire store by one of the sales associates. She told us how certain things are merchandised in the store and I felt like it was extremely relevant to the merchandising majors. After tea we made our way over to Apollo Victoria Theater to see the musical Wicked! The area around the theater was really busy and the tube station we got off at for it was like Penn Station. It was my second time seeing Wicked but I loved it all the same! We were so lucky to have a musical incorporated into our trip! We were exhausted after the play so we went back to the hotel and again watched another scary movie "Halloween H2O." The movie was really dumb.
Day Five:
The last day was a free day to do whatever we wanted. We had one last delicious breakfast and headed out for the day. We went into a couple souvenir shops so we could buy post cards and then Taylor and I decided to break away from the group because we wanted to go to Kings Cross Station to see platform 9 3/4. The line was a little long to take a picture at the platform but the photographer and assistant kept the crowd entertained. After it was finally our turn we walked into the shop to see the pictures up close (even though you were allowed to take your own pictures for free). The guy in the store told Taylor and I that our picture was very unique...I guess not too many people ask to get into the cart to take the picture. Taylor ended up buying their copy of the picture because she thought it was too good not to. From there we took the tube to coventry garden and walked around. In Europe they have a store called TK Maxx...sound familiar?? It is the exact same thing as TJ Maxx in the US. I don't know why they changed the J to a K but logo and all it is the same! After walking around and window shopping we decided to head back closer to the hotel so we could try Indian food before we left. It was a bit early to be eating lunch but we knew we couldn't leave without trying it. We walked into an Indian restaurant that was completely empty and struggled to order food. We tried to order these dishes and the waiter was like "sooo you've never had Indian food before" and of course we said we hadn't and he told us that there is no way we could eat the meals we got without ordering rice with them...and he was right the rice made the meal! The food was absolutely delicious! I got a chickpea, spinach, tomato, onion, and spices dish. I definitely will want to eat Indian food again! Before we knew it, it was time to go back to Florence. We all got on the bus and waited, and waited, and waited...turns out we were missing 3 students. Our teachers who brought us there were so mad. We were seconds away from leaving without them when they finally showed up. We continued on to the airport and soon it was time to board. We all board the plane then realize once again there was a different 4 students missing...once again my teacher was like are you kidding..and we had to page them to the flight...my goodness! We arrived safely home and basically went straight to sleep and slept for the whole next day.
Harry Potter Tour
Globe Theater
View from top of Tate Modern Art Museum
London Eye
Big Ben
V&A Museum
Harrods
Central Saint Martin
Buckingham Palace
Westminster Abbey
High Tea and Tour at Harvey Nichols
Wicked
Platform 9 3/4
Coventry Gardens
Indian Food
Day One:
We left for London on a Tuesday. Our flight was from departed from Pisa and got us into London and at the hotel around 4:00. Upon immediate arrival to the hotel we had to rush out because we had booked tickets for a 6:30 Harry Potter tour at Warner Brother's studio! Pushed for time we realized that there was no way we were making our tour on time. Luckily a nice lady on the train let us use her phone to call the studio and warn them that there were 15 of us on our way and they allowed us to push our tour time back! We were picked up by the Harry Potter night bus and it took us over to the studio!! THE TOUR WAS AMAZING!!! It had all original props, scenes, and outfits from the movies. I can't even being to explain how intricate the tour was or how this is a must see attraction for every Harry Potter fan! I won't get into details because this blog post would go on for days but that tour was worth every pound! I even managed to find ice cream on the tour! We walked around for about 3 hours and by then the studio was closing for the night. When we got out the London weather was on par and it was pouring! We quickly hopped back on the night bus and headed back to our hotel. Next to our hotel was a gas station that had the best food! That was our saving grace that night because all the restaurants were closed and we were hungry! The hotel we stayed at was called "Thistle" in Kensington Gardens and was beautiful. By far the best place we have stayed! It was two to a room and we had our own bathroom..with a REAL shower and bathtub and they spoiled us even more because we had maid service...oh and the best part was a working tv in English!! This sounds ridiculous that I am obsessing over these simple things but it really brought back the comforts of home hahah. We turned in on the early side and enjoyed a great nights sleep.
Day Two:
We woke up around 8 to enjoy our FREE (if you study abroad as a college student you'll understand that any free meal is equivalent to winning the lotto) continental breakfast. Unlike the French and Italians who think a croissant or a baguette is an efficient breakfast, the English love their big fatty breakfasts just like Americans! And we wonder why everyone in the world is skinner! Praise the English for this breakfast though!!! The breakfast had everything from fruit to scrambled eggs! FINALLY!!! From the hotel we headed to the Thames river for a quick tour on the boat and transfer from Embankment Pier to Bankside. From the boat we all herded to Starbucks for our favorite drinks. Side note: if you every want to find one of the KSU fashion students just head to the nearest Starbuck because someone WILL be there, which comes into great use later on in the trip. After everyone had gotten there "pumpkin spice latte" fill, which I personally think are gross, we went to take a tour of the Globe Theater. The Globe Theater was really cool because it was rebuilt years ago to look as accurately as it could to the original theater and it is still a functional theater today! Our guide went over what the theater was like in the time of Shakespeare and took us around. After the tour we headed inside to a separate part and we learned how the people used to dress in the time of the Shakespeare. Here one of the fashion design majors Michael got to model and be dressed in the women of that times attire. It was hilarious! After all our tours had commenced we were given time for a quick lunch. Around London there is a chain called Eat and it has soup, sandwiches, and salads, its almost like a Panera and they're everywhere! So we stopped in to eat...at Eat. When we were finished lunch we had to go to the Tate Modern Museum for another tour. This tour was of Modern art. We were guided around the museum where significant pieces like some of Picasso were pointed out and explained along the way. When the tour was over we walked over to go on the London Eye. When we reached the London Eye we realized how smart we were to get our tickets in advanced because the line was atrocious! Before we got on the Eye we got to watch a quick 4D movie on the London Eye experience which was really cool! The London Eye was breathtaking. It is the tallest ferris wheel in London thats located on the south bank of the river Thames to overlook the city. I am so happy we decided to see it! After the London Eye we walked across the bridge to Big Ben and to get our first London dinner, which of course had to be fish and chips! After our meal we went back to the hotel because we had plans to go out for the eve of Taylor's 21st birthday. We got ready and headed out to go to an exclusive club that a girl on our trip Cassie "had all set up." Unfortunately the club ended up being a disaster. The club was super exclusive and half of us didn't even make it in because although we were promised free bottle service and free entry none of those ended up holding true. About 7 of us got in while the others were dealing with the no heels no entry situation...ridiculous. We entered this snooty club only to find after a 20 pound entry fee and a 2 pound forced fee to check a coat that we did not fit in at all. This was no club for college students. It was a bunch of posh, business men and women who wouldn't even look at us because obviously we weren't rich business people. So after about 10 minutes we were out of that club in attempts to try and make up for a bad place on Taylor's birthday night. We all felt horrible. We headed over to another club where there was no entry fee (more our style) but it still was still very businessy. In attempts to turn the night around I immediately whipped out the birthday cake we had gotten Taylor and convinced someone to light the candles even though he told me "this is illegal." We soon found out that the area we were in was all very businessy and the people at this club were all taking out their boss and a guy they were trying to make a business deal with. So once again we just tried to make the best of it because we really couldn't get over to the more college pub area in time before things started closing down. The night ended up not being too bad. We danced funny..doing the moves like the robot and other awkward dance moves because there was really not many girls in the club either...we convinced a few business men to buy us a drinks and then pretty much ditched them hahah and by the time we got back to the hotel it was almost 3 so we passed out!
Day Three:
The next morning we enjoyed another lovely breakfast and went to the V&A museum to get a tour of fashion through the years and to tour the "Club to Catwalk" exhibition. The museum was awesome! Especially the "Club to Catwalk." It was the 1980s in London so they had all these exotic outfits and fun music and fashion shows running through the exhibit. After the museum tours a few of us went to go find lunch in the area. We came across an organic health restaurant and decided to try it out. I got the most amazing salad...I barely even know what was in it but it was so good! From there we took the tube (which is so easy to use) over to Harrods and Top Shop to do some window shopping. Harrods is just like the English version of Macy's. They have everything in there!! Including a whole section of chocolate and candy that was making me want to die. We weren't able to spend too much time in Harrods because we had to make it over to a seminar at Central Saint Martins on sustainable fashion. It was only me at Taylor at this point because majority of the group had went their separate ways right from the museum and the other to girl we were with decided to skip the seminar. Having no idea where Central Saint Martins was exactly we had to just wing it. This is where Starbucks played a key role! As soon as we walked out of the train station we went into the nearest Starbucks and what do you know about 8 KSU fashion students were in there getting drinks. From there we all found Central Saint Martins together. Saint Martins is a beautiful school and one of the best in the world for arts and fashion. We listened to a seminar on sustainable fashion and then were broken up into groups to research companies and their sustainable fashion policies. We then presented our findings and received a certificate for completing the seminar. Taylor wasn't feeling well after the seminar so while the others decided to go out to shop and get Indian food I went back with Taylor to the hotel. But of course we didn't go back without getting Chipotle first...god the addiction is so bad. England's Chipotle was perfect! Once again the comforts of home! After Chipotle we spent the night in eating junk food and watching scary movies on TV.
Day Four:
When we got up Taylor was still feeling sick so she stayed in and the rest of us went to take the tube to Cockpit Arts. Cockpit Arts is a group that helps artists, like weavers, jewelry makers, and handbag designers, make their own company and/or establish themselves. It was such a nice place, very low key and everyone in there was pleasant and happy to show us around. We got to listen to a weaver and a handbag designer talk about why they are there, what they are doing, and even show us what they were working on. It was one of my favorite tours so far and it was such a casual and simple one. After the tour we had plans to go on a walk tour to see major sight seeing points in London...we got off the tube at what we thought was the meeting place for the tour...turns out it wasn't. We realized it wasn't the right spot too late in the game to get to the actually spot so instead we decided to make up our own walking tour! With super organizer Amanda of course this was possible! We hit up Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben for the second time, took the classic "in a red telephone booth" picture, and walked around the area until it was time to go to high tea at Harvey Nichols. The high tea was also THE BEST THING EVER! We went to the top floor of Harvey Nichols and were served tea, crumpets, jam, butter, and cucumber sandwiches. It was delicious! We then got a tour of the entire store by one of the sales associates. She told us how certain things are merchandised in the store and I felt like it was extremely relevant to the merchandising majors. After tea we made our way over to Apollo Victoria Theater to see the musical Wicked! The area around the theater was really busy and the tube station we got off at for it was like Penn Station. It was my second time seeing Wicked but I loved it all the same! We were so lucky to have a musical incorporated into our trip! We were exhausted after the play so we went back to the hotel and again watched another scary movie "Halloween H2O." The movie was really dumb.
Day Five:
The last day was a free day to do whatever we wanted. We had one last delicious breakfast and headed out for the day. We went into a couple souvenir shops so we could buy post cards and then Taylor and I decided to break away from the group because we wanted to go to Kings Cross Station to see platform 9 3/4. The line was a little long to take a picture at the platform but the photographer and assistant kept the crowd entertained. After it was finally our turn we walked into the shop to see the pictures up close (even though you were allowed to take your own pictures for free). The guy in the store told Taylor and I that our picture was very unique...I guess not too many people ask to get into the cart to take the picture. Taylor ended up buying their copy of the picture because she thought it was too good not to. From there we took the tube to coventry garden and walked around. In Europe they have a store called TK Maxx...sound familiar?? It is the exact same thing as TJ Maxx in the US. I don't know why they changed the J to a K but logo and all it is the same! After walking around and window shopping we decided to head back closer to the hotel so we could try Indian food before we left. It was a bit early to be eating lunch but we knew we couldn't leave without trying it. We walked into an Indian restaurant that was completely empty and struggled to order food. We tried to order these dishes and the waiter was like "sooo you've never had Indian food before" and of course we said we hadn't and he told us that there is no way we could eat the meals we got without ordering rice with them...and he was right the rice made the meal! The food was absolutely delicious! I got a chickpea, spinach, tomato, onion, and spices dish. I definitely will want to eat Indian food again! Before we knew it, it was time to go back to Florence. We all got on the bus and waited, and waited, and waited...turns out we were missing 3 students. Our teachers who brought us there were so mad. We were seconds away from leaving without them when they finally showed up. We continued on to the airport and soon it was time to board. We all board the plane then realize once again there was a different 4 students missing...once again my teacher was like are you kidding..and we had to page them to the flight...my goodness! We arrived safely home and basically went straight to sleep and slept for the whole next day.
Harry Potter Tour
Globe Theater
View from top of Tate Modern Art Museum
London Eye
Big Ben
V&A Museum
Harrods
Central Saint Martin
Buckingham Palace
Westminster Abbey
High Tea and Tour at Harvey Nichols
Wicked
Platform 9 3/4
Coventry Gardens
Indian Food
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