8.4.09 Final Sketches.

Final sketches from the cites and countries that brought inspiring architecture into my life - organized by order of visiting them.

colosseo - roma

st. peter's square fountain - roma

roma skyline

duomo - florence

eiffel tower - paris

villa savoye - paris

big ben - london

london skyline

8.4.09 Country recaps.

ITALY.

Italy is…everything perfect.
bellissimo.
suave.
poised.
sophistication.
delicious.
generous.
old and new.
past and present.
inspiring.

Italy was kind, selfless, and all beauty. She shared her culture, friends, classiness, architecture, and cuisine freely, no questions asked. Italia was my dreams made in reality, influenced my design eye, and left me complete and gratified. Grazie Italia. I’ll be back to your flawless streets soon. Ciao bella until then…

FRANCE.

France is…not Italy.
It is city life.
prissy.
refined.
self-seeking.
posh.
palatial.

France was no friend of mine, but she brought modern design to me. It prompted growth in the present and required me to be open in mind, perspective, and interpretation. France was fresh and forward and sky-high. I was impacted through design, but unaltered by my surroundings. France came and went and buffered the transition of Roman ways to modern London days. Merci France for round two, but I fear we are through. Au revoir…


ENGLAND.

England is…countryside and city.
brilliant.
polished.
luscious.
scrumptious.
estates.
hedges.
rainy.
underground.

England was equal parts city and country. She brought train rides and bus rides and more train rides and bus rides. Gardens and hedges filled everyday and palaces line my memories. England brought clotted cream and dainty cupcakes and an entirely new vocabulary. From the beautiful language and contrasting environments, England was unique in its own right and she appreciated the modern taste I am so fond of. Cheers England and your nearly American manner. It’s off to my America now.

8.4.09 London.

i fulfilled my dream of standing in a london phone booth.

Wow I never thought I’d be blogging my last blog of this trip. It has flown by and most memories are just a blur and seem to have happened much longer ago than 5 weeks. We ended today with a visit to the Queen – too bad she wasn’t there. Buckingham Palace was…pretty much like every other palace/house we’ve been to. I never saw the view of Buckingham palace you see in the movies, nor did I see any of those guards that I know I would have made laugh. That said, I was a bit disappointed but I can’t deny the beauty of the palace. It actually used to be a home until one of the king’s decided he wanted to turn it into a palace and extended it with over 200 rooms. It is one of the only working palaces in the world and many important events have occurred there. Fun fact: one of the rooms we visited is a music room and greeting room for guests and is the same room where Prince William and Harry were both Christened with water brought in from Judea. Also, every gift the Queen has ever been given has a home somewhere in the palace or grounds; even a full-sized palm tree has a place in the Royal Botanical gardens.

back of buckingham palace.

garden and lawn of the palace.

the light pole at buckingham with a crown on top.

The rain came again today after yesterday being a perfectly sunny day where I actually felt warmth on my skin. On our way back from the palace, it took us quite some time to find an underground station. We finally found the Victoria line but there were all these police cars and ambulances surrounding the entrance and it was closed. Come to find out, there was a person under the train. It kind of made me feel sick knowing that someone had just died right below me. We got on another line that was open and they announced over the intercom so flippantly. They said “The Victoria line is closed due to a person under the train,” and they said it over, and over just making it even more creepy. Ashlee and I decided to come back to the flat because I am shopped out, while the others went shopping. We packed and cleaned our flats, which was an unpleasant task.

It is weird to think that this trip is over and we’ll be back in the US of A. Strange to think about but I am SO excited. I have loved Europe and this experience and will never forget what I’ve learned, seen, and who I’ve gotten to know. Cheers Europe…

8.3.09 London.

the hummingbird. could ya be more cute?

window display.

It was a very late night so sleeping in until noon didn’t seem too harmful. Lindsey, Kaitlyn, and Brady went with a few others from the group to an amusement park in London, but that just wasn’t me and Ashlee’s thing. We took the morning slow and packed a bit and then hit the town. We went to the Hummingbird, the world’s cutest little cupcake shop down the street. I have never tasted red velvet before but it just seemed like the classy cupcake flavor, so I got it. Best decision I’ve made. It was so good and the frosting even better. We sat outside, eating our cupcakes with silver forks watching the world of South Kensington around us.

red velvet cupcake. where have you been my whole life?

ashlee was so excited to take her first bite of adorable goodness.

beautiful.

our first bite.

and finished...

Once the cupcakes were gone, it was off to visit the infamous Harrods. We knew full well with shops such as Chanel, Prada, Louis Vuitton, and Gucci we wouldn’t be buying anything, but we had to experience it. That place is huge let me just tell you and it felt more like a museum then a shopping experience. As we were walking through Prada, a steezy man that worked there walked by us and openly scoffed in our faces. He just laughed and laughed knowing full well us underdressed Americans couldn’t afford what we were looking at. I found it quite rude but totally funny.

the infamous harrods. bigger than i ever could have imagined. it put the macy's in nyc to shame.

We found the gift shop and any store that has its own gift shop is a big deal. We made our purchases there and headed to another grocery store to see if we could find some chocolate and treats for our families. We were successful in finding what we needed except I was unable to find the wanted Harry Potter candy I’ve been searching for this whole time in London. I asked a guy that worked there if they had any HP candy and after leading me to the electronics and fiction novels aisle, he promptly told me they didn’t have any. I was slightly confused why he had led me to that aisle but after searching on our own, it was nowhere to be found, sadly. We just headed back to the flat to finish up our last few sketches and chilled for the remainder of the night.

8.2.09 London.

headed to the church. who took the picture you might ask? yup. self-timed again. we have skillz.

Round two of church and I could not have been more excited about attending. We decided to go to the earlier ward, which is a family ward and it was so great to see that no matter where you are in the world the church is the same. Families were coming in late and the kids were rambunctious. There were some very interesting testimonies and one that takes the cake for sure. A man stood up who was from the Czech Republic and was apparently speaking English, yet none of us could understand him until the very end, and I am so glad I was able to witness this. He said, “I’m going through an economic crisis right now, so if you could give the Bishop food or money for me that would be great,” and he sat down. The Bishop’s face was priceless and we all got a good laugh out of that.

the feast. SO good.

heaping plate round one. i had a few more.

we are as tired and pathetic as we look. please excuse my body as it protrudes out of the picture.

After church we were burned out and took a wonderful 3 hour nap to revive us. It was time to start making dinner and again, Ashlee didn’t fail us. On today’s menu: chicken with bow tie pasta and pesto sauce, an assortment of vegetables, and cheesy potatoes. YUM! I haven’t been that full in a long time and it was soooo delicious. Thank you Ashlee for feeding us so well! The rest of the night was open to what we do every night – sketch, blog, and lounge. I know it sounds so uneventful and boring, but it is about all we feel like doing after each day and my bed is always so welcoming.

8.1.09 London.

a nice little treat we saw on the way to the show. i have a problem with it being lime green, but you can't deny its beauty.

Today was another free day thank goodness and I slept in till my heart’s content. Brady went early this morning and got us tickets to the matinee of Mamma Mia. Being an avid ABBA fan, I was so excited to see the musical that is totally based off their songs. I have seen the movie and loved it and was excited to see the musical on Broadway. The other girls wanted to see Lion King so we split for the day and did our own thing.



Brady and I made it to the theatre and found our seats up in a box with two other people…aka Asians. I mention that only because of how they were acting and how many ridiculous pictures they took before the show started. I made sure I made it into every single one of their pictures and hope they appreciate my smile behind the girl’s head. Our seats were pretty good and after the Asians realized that if they scooted down we would all see much better, I was able to just lean on the balcony and I could see pretty much the whole stage. It was such a fun musical and is definitely more of a theatrical performance, much different than Billy Elliot and I enjoyed being entertained the entire time. I can’t get enough of ABBA and loved hearing all their music again. It was another great musical experience here in London.

brady had a great view from his seat and captured this classic song they did as the encore.

soccer store we went to that had 6 floors of pure sports attire. it was ridiculous to say the least.

7.31.09 London.

Preface for today’s blog: today is filled with the most pictures I think I have posted thus far. The only reason or explanation for it was that somewhere in the walls of Haddon Hall, we lost our insanity from being totally burned out and Brady somehow captured our acts that we now don’t fully understand.

haddon hall

Our morning began with the routine of taking the tube, 2 hour train ride, and chartered bus to our first destination: Haddon Hall. This little gem of a place was out in the middle of the English countryside and is the sight of some scenes in the movie Princess Bride. It was built in the 12th century and in the 1700’s it was closed for 200 years, therefore it hasn’t been tainted with any of the traditional Victorian decoration. It was the first place we’ve been to that has authentic medieval style and I really liked seeing something that is totally different from all the palaces we have seen. Learning about how people lived back then with no hygiene, utensils, and having the same stew brewing in a pot for over a year made me realize how I wouldn’t have lasted one minute living in the 1300’s.

interior of haddon. medieval style.

great hall in haddon hall where plays used to be performed in.

outdoor view at haddon. that view is priceless.

gardens of haddon hall.


these can't be explained. wish i could.

As has become our tradition, we took a visit to the home’s café and had wonderful cream & tea again. (that is what they call those yummy scones and clotted cream. There is actually no tea involved at all surprisingly.)

creamed tea. worth every pound.

We got back on the bus and our driver was taking us to Chatsworth and said that Haddon Hall and Chatsworth are “neighbors.” He used that term loosely as about ten minutes and several small mountains later we could see Chatsworth in the distance. Set on 105 acres of beautiful English countryside land, the house/small castle is absolutely stunning. In Pride and Prejudice, this is the home of Mr. Darcy and let me tell you the movie doesn’t do justice how incredible this place is. We had the day to ourselves to explore the HUGE gardens and tour the house.

stairs in pride and prejudice where kiera knightley runs out of mr. darcy's home.

We started in the gardens and after getting some hot chocolate to help ease the cold wind, we found ourselves in the Rock gardens. It is exactly what it says – a place filled with huge boulders everywhere and make a natural playground. We climbed up and found a lovely place to just lay and sit for a little bit. Moving from there we found the maze and really attempted to complete our first English garden maze, but failed. It was just so incredible walking through these gardens and I found it hard to really take in all the beautiful things around me. There were perfectly cute hedges everywhere I turned and trees hundreds of years old lining every walkway.

kaitlyn helping me over the chasm in order to get to the rock gardens. "hold my hand pretty princess!"

taking a quick nap in the garden.

you can't really see what is in brady's hand but it is an orange, therefore that is where he gets banned to if he wants to eat it. i won't be having that devil fruit anywhere near me.

girls on rocks. we rock.

there is a very creepy statue man behind me if you can't tell.

leaning tree shrubs.

winding hedges. brilliant.

entrance to the maze.

After spending a few hours in the gardens, we decided we better make it into the house before we had to leave. I think this house was my favorite one we have been in so far in England. It was totally different than any place we have ever been with much more wood and masculine touches and much less gold and glitz. I just loved the feel of it and loved seeing the movie exhibits they had showing scenes from Pride and Prejudice and the Duchess, which were both filmed here. The style of the home felt totally different than everything we have seen and for that, I think I appreciated the home more.

dress worn by kiera knightley in the duchess.

original harpsichord. it was absolutely beautiful. it took much self control to not hop the ropes and go play that sucker.

gazing up at the masterfully painted ceiling.

a very comfy red leather sofa and it fits all five.

statue gallery in pride and prejudice.

All in all, it was such a wonderful day at Chatsworth and I wouldn’t mind returning there someday and exploring all those gardens again and again.