london | the three musketeers

meet eunice.

you may have seen a glimpse of her in some of my earlier pictures,

but i have yet to give her a proper introduction.

for those of you who didn't know,

eunice was my roommate this past semester in oxford.

we arrived at oxford as friendly acquaintances,

having only spoken to each other two times in person prior to england,

but i know that i left oxford with a truly wonderful new friend.

over the course of the three months that we lived in the same room,

we did not have a single issue or dispute.

in fact, she was always incredibly thoughtful,

 giving me snacks and food when i was too deep in a furious writing frenzy

to even go out of the room for food

and kindly allowing me to borrow her adorable dresses

whenever the occasion arose.

i was so excited when eunice agreed to come to london with me

one saturday in november.

because eunice had class on monday's & friday's

with essays due on thursday/friday nights,

her schedule was not very ideal for traveling.

in light of this, dan & i decided to plan a really special day for her.

[actually, this day was mostly dan's planning.

from lunch to goodbye, he had everything all set for us]

stop #1: lunch @ a korean restaurant

on the way to our lunch location, we walked down oxford street,

one of london's largest luxury shopping districts,

taking everything in with our eyes.

i think there were 3 aldo shoes stores and 4 h&m's,

all within a few blocks.

then, we saw ben's cookies

in a small nook on the corner of an adjacent street.

this place is kind of a big deal 

as far as cookies go.

i'm usually not too picky when it comes to cookies.

i will eat them crispy or soft, moist or crumbly.

anyway, we bought a box of seven.

i wasn't expecting anything more than delicious cookies;

however, that quickly became a clear understatement.

these cookies are soft & moist, but not too fluffy

with a perfectly textured middle section.

the chocolate chip ones even have melted chocolate in the middle.

i think the craziest part about these cookies 

was the fact that even after dan & i returned from

our 10-day trip to barcelona & paris,

they were still perfectly soft in the box. 

thank you, ben.

stop #2: king's cross train station/platform 9 & 3/4

eunice is a fellow harry potter lover

and had been dreaming about visiting platform 9 & 3/4 for quite some time.

so, of course we needed to incorporate

a trip to king's cross station into the itinerary!

we told her not to get her hopes up too high,

but it turns out that she absolutely loved it.

roommate love! 

this is the inside of king's cross train station.

with the white domed ceiling,

i almost felt like i was inside of a huge golf ball.

i can't even count how many times i rode this during my three months in england.

my oyster card (tube pass) became a basic necessity.

stop #3: harrod's (disney/christmas display)

yes, i was right.

harrod's does look even more magical at night,

twinkling with all of its lights.

i'm not sure if this is an annual occurrence or not,

but harrod's had a special disney display that opened in early november.

each of the glass windows on the ground floor depicted a famous fairytale.

from snow white to cinderella to mulan.

this was my favorite display:

a modern rendition of cinderella's glass slippers.

but instead of the fairy godmother,

these were the work of french shoe designer, christian louboutin

(famous for his shiny, red-lacquered soles)

i'm a sucker for things that sparkle.

then, we took eunice through the food & chocolate halls.

the bakery even switched up their dessert selection to match the holiday season!

we ended up buying some turkish delights,

as none of us had tried them before.

i know i've wanted to ever since i read the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe

with the scene when the witch offers edmund a box of them.

they tasted just as i had imagined.

chocolate-covered oranges and other sweets.

i love how fresh everything is at harrod's - from their main entree foods to their fruits.

after wandering the food halls,

we headed upstairs to the 7000 square foot disney pop-up boutique.

hello there, magician mickey. :)

they even had a cinderella slipper salon

where little girls could try on limited edition replica glitter-embellished glass slippers.

the plush, pink stools were simply precious. 

we had a lot of laughs and fun walking around taking pictures.

ariel's pink dress is actually one of my all-time favorite disney princess outfits.

imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. ;)

stop #4: london eye & big ben

the grand finale of the day was supposed to be watching the fireworks display

from the top of the london eye.

well, we ended up getting slightly behind on our schedule,

and the rides were already coming to a close as we approached.

in place of it, we decided to take a night walk along the thames river.

it was chilly, but a really great time, nonetheless.

i think the most interesting part of this walk was when a group of american college students

asked me to take a picture for them. of course, that was no problem.

i was a bit surprised, however, when the girl whose camera i used

asked if she could take a picture with me.

apparently, i looked just like one of her friends.

then, in return, she took this group photo for us 

with big ben glowing in the background.

these two were here for me all throughout the semester,

through late night papers, homesickness and more.

i am so thankful to have had them with me.

we were all pretty tired by the end of the day.

look at these troopers.

and lastly, i included some of the silly photobooth pictures that we took earlier in the day.

in november, eunice & i requested each other as roommates for the upcoming semester.

we were told by the housing people that this would not be very likely,

since students are first assigned to their preferred housing,

and they could not guarantee and empty room for the two of us to live in.

so, i literally jumped up and down when i received the email from housing

informing me that eunice & i will be rooming together on east campus for spring/summer.

it's going to be so wonderful :)

wishing you all a happy new year!

london | thames river boat cruise & famous london landmarks

the day began with a quintessential shower of london rain. 

dan and i hurried, sopping wet, from the streets into the king's cross train station.

does the name ring a bell?

yes, it is the fictional portal to the magical train whose destination is hogwarts!

as your resident harry potter nerd, 

i knew that this was one attraction i could not leave london without seeing.

to be fully honest,

it's nothing fancy that merits any loud "ooh's" or "ahh's."

you would probably walk straight past it if you didn't know it was there.

luckily, at the early hour we were there,

the place was ours.

and regardless of its humble inconspicuousness, 

it was so much more than a shopping car in a brick wall to me.

goodbye, we're headed to hogwarts!

if only it worked that way...

afterwards, we headed to the tower millenium pier,

(the departure location of our thames river boat cruise).

while the cloudiness of the sky made the day 

a bit more dismal than expected,

it was still a great experience that allowed us to see 

a more historic side of london.

this is the gigntic sundial

that doubles as a historical timeline for london/england.

we enjoyed walking around it

& reading about some of the major events 

that have taken place over the centuries.

i included some notable events:

the black death, building of the globe theater, shakespeare's arrival in london, etc.

this is the famous, or perhaps more aptly termed, infamous tower of london.

a historic castle on the north bank of the river thames,

it has been used as an armory, treasury, menagerie, and a prison

for those accused of committing treason

(e.g. Henry VI, Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth I).

the grass here replaces the water once used to fill the moat for defense.

also, the crosses in the walls are holes

used by archers to shoot their arrows from when defending the castle.

the shard from a different perspective.

while most people are under the impression that this is the famous london bridge,

you'd be interested to know that this iconic landmark is actually

london tower bridge.

london bridge will be featured a bit further down.

smolder time! 

there always have to be some silly pictures in the mix, of course.

the inside of the river cruise boat was much nicer than we expected.

it had the comfiest lounge chairs and a small drinks bar,

& the huge glass windows really enabled a good look at everything

on both sides of the boat.

HMS Belfast is a museum ship permanently moored in london on the river thames.

it was originally commissioned for world war II 

and later used in the korean war.

it's currently operated by the imperial war museum.

the monument to the great fire of london, is a stone roman doric column

commemorating the 1666 great fire of london.

it stands 202 ft tall & is located 202 ft from the origin of the fire. 

this is london bridge.

not nearly as glamorous as london tower bridge,

it cost 4 million gbp to build and is constructed of concrete and steel.

in 1866, the cannon street railway bridge was opened after 3 years of construction.

it is currently being used to carry trains to the cannon street rail station.

southwark bridge is an arch bridge linking southwark to the city of london. 

i really loved the bright turquoise/gold contrast

and, oh my goodness, the lamposts!

i'm not sure how famous this is in relation to some of the other buildings,

but i had to snap a picture of it because i read excerpts from samuel pepys's diary

in my tudor/stuart history class.

pepys was most famous for the diary that he kept for 10 years 

which is one of the most important sources for the english restoration period.

his hard work and talent gained him favor under

charles II & james II.

the london millenium footbridge is a steel suspension bridge

built specifically for pedestrians to cross the thames river.

it may look familiar because it's been featured in a couple of movies in recent years:

at the beginning of harry potter and the half-blood prince, 

it's destroyed in an attack by death eaters 

in place of the fictional brockdale bridge mentioned in the book.

also, if you watch the movie love actually carefully,

you just might catch a glimpse of this famous bridge 

during a brief montage scene of the city.

the victoria embankment building was originally home to the

city of london school, a boys' independent day school, for one hundred years.

it is presently occupied by the investment company JPMorgan.

the statues on the front of the school represent & emphasize

the school's literary and scientific traditions.

the men are as follows:

William Shakespeare, John Milton, Sir Francis Bacon, 

Sir Isaac Newton, & Sir Thomas More.

these lion heads are a form of measurement for the thames water line.

& the famous saying goes something like this:

"When the lion's head is drinkin'

London is sinkin'

When the lion's head is ducked

London is...flooded."

;)

the hungerford bridge, sometimes known as the charing cross bridge,

lies between waterloo bridge and westminster bridge. 

this picture primarily shows the cable-suspended pedestrian bridge,

which is located on both sides of the hungerford.

& together, these two pedestrian bridges are called the golden jubilee bridges.

& after a 30 minute ride, we reached big ben and westminster abbey!

on the other side of the bank is the london eye,

a giant ferris wheel that stands 443 ft. tall and has a diameter of 394 ft.

it's the tallest ferris wheel in europe

& the most popular paid tourist attraction in the united kingdom.

originally built to be a temporary attraction for celebrating the new millenium,

the london eye was so popular that it became a permanent attraction.

we were never actually able to go on it (details in the next post),

so this will go on the list of things to do for my next trip to england!

there are 32 capsules that hold up to 25 people each.

it's quite an expensive ride at around 18 gbp per person.

the sea life london aquarium is the largest aquarium in london,

and it has around 1 million visitors each year.

after getting off the boat, the first thing we saw was big ben himself.

interestingly, big ben is actually the name of the great bell inside of the clock,

while the clock tower is officially named elizabeth tower.

after seeing it in books, movies, magazine, etc. growing up,

it was exciting to get to see it so close in person.

i was glad to have captured this shot with big ben, the iconic double-decker buses,

& the james bond skyfall advertisement.

how very british, indeed!

dan pointed out that the lamp posts had chanel-esque designs on them.

after westminster, we got back on the boat and took it further south

until we reached greenwich.

this wasn't exactly part of our plan for the day,

but we had fun standing at the prime meridian & being in two hemispheres

at one time.

after a ten hour flight from london-heathrow,

i finally made it back to atlanta!

the past week and a half has been filled with special catch-up time

with my family and friends.

while i do miss all of the sparkling christmas lights 

adorning the streets of london,

i am really looking forward to this holiday season at home.

i've already finished my christmas shopping, so

i'm just going to relax, drink some vanilla chai, & continue with editing my pictures!