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.