part ten - bashing around london.

remember that day when the editor of vogue walked in on me in a dressing room in a vintage dress shop in london? 

ya. 

good times.

I bought a pretty lace 50's dress. 

it was expensive. 

but now has an incredible story and well...totally worth it and beautiful.

also...I found the tardis (doctor who reference for all you non-whovians).

went to a classical music shop and picked up a few records.

and am sitting at the sherlock holmes pub awaiting my fish and chips.

today's been pretty freaking cool (even though half of the subway is closed down and a mess).

we finished the day off at the british museum. 

we stared at a bunch of old things we didn't know anything about. 

they all looked fairly important but...who knows. 

we probably should have studied up on our ancient egyptian artifacts.

also interesting...i swear i saw "the doctor" intently staring at the rosetta stone at the british museum.

and any doctor who fan knows this must mean one thing...he was somehow involved in it's creation.

i wanted to follow him around to see what happened...but he disappeared before i had the chance.

very curious, i must say. 

we grabbed some crisps and cookies at a small store inside the metro station and headed back to the hotel. 

whilst walking we saw a lady's bike get stolen and yelled some very shocking profanities. 

oh dear.

part nine - bashing around london.

how do you know when your train has arrived at oxford station? 

just look around you and see who's getting off. if it happens to be tottering old men (university professors) and studious looking young men (university students), you're at the right place.

eeep! 

I suddenly want to move to oxford. 

immediately. it's basically the most beautiful place on earth. 

oh! 

the buildings, university, churches...the bleating of the sheep in the rolling green hills, the honking of the geese...is fantastic. 

guys. 

GUYS!! 

england is just the coolest.

ok. 

we went to blenheim palace (in woodstock, oxfordshire) for many reasons. 

the biggest being to see the dress my dear friend atlanta (hi atlanta!) made and was displayed there in the "young victoria" exhibit. 

SO COOL. 

we did see it. 

and OH. 

to see her name on the plaque next to it was EPIC!!!

next we walked around the grounds. 

took a random tour of some rooms led by a ghostly apparition of a lady projected onto the walls (strange).

oh! 

and apparently several movies were filmed here! 

young victoria for one (library scene with prince albert and something else) and a lot of gulliver's travels (never seen it...but really want to now).

back to oxford. 

we walked to the "eagle and child pub" (where c.s. lewis and j.r.r. tolkien used to meet) and just happened to accidentally SIT AT THEIR TABLE!! 

what. 

we tried discussing theological issues while drinking our cappuccinos...but we ended up sitting there and giggling the whole time.

as we walked to the train station, there was an attempt at crossing the street. 

needless to say, we nearly died and I squealed...rather loudly. 

and when I say squealed...it was the guttural rebecca screech that sometimes comes out of my mouth. 

oh gosh.

finally, back to london, we went to see "39 steps" which just happened to be the most hilarious show of all time and now in my theatre bucket list to be in. 

my goodness.

mom and I had to sit separated...and wouldn't you know a huge group of American girls (a little younger than me) show up and sit between/around us. 

I was suddenly in this random group of girls and it totally looked like I belonged with all of them. 

and I think my awkward "staring at the ceiling and pretending to admire the beautiful handiwork" face may show up in a couple of their photos. 

le sigh.

part eight - bashing around london.

shall I tell you about our motel room? 

notice I say mo and not ho...there's a big difference...even if it is called "hotel boka."

you enter with an old fashioned key and think "how quaint."

you see a separate entry room and a glass door to get into the bedroom area. 

the door says push...so you push...and nothing happens. 

turns out you better pull. 

you pull and the door creaks...and when I say creaks I mean a full out nazgul SCREAM. 

that's a lovely thing to wake up to in the middle of the night. 

and it's so hard to reverse what the door says and what you must do... especially when you first wake up.

don't try to flop down on the bed unless you want your back to go out. 

seriously. 

you'll never be the same if you attempt it.

the bathroom is also an interesting place. 

after the first night, we decided to not try to flush the toilet paper. 

it doesn't end well. 

also, when seated you'll realize there's a crack in the seat because it pinches something AWFUL.

so it turns out that just because you're in london, it doesn't mean that everyone speaks english. 

far from it. 

I truly don't think the people who run our hotel have a clue what we say.

in the morning you go into the basement for an "english breakfast" of runny egg, sausage, ham, toast, beans, and rice crispies.

and that's the lovely place we've been living at for the past 3 days (and next 3 nights). 

it's honestly a bit rough...but gives the trip even more character. 

this morning we awoke rather early (or it felt that way...still not over our jetlag). 

we took the subway to paddington station. 

I've never been in quite so many people's business as I was on that ride. 

we were literally touching about 6 different people rather intimately and a few people had the door shut on them. 

it was overflowing and awkward. 

to make matters worse, we had decided to buy coffee to drink on the way...horrendous idea.

at the train station we had no idea what we were doing, all we knew was that we wanted to get to oxford. 

you'd think it'd be easy and well marked, right? 

wrong. 

so wrong. 

also...this find your own seat thing? 

awful. 

we accidentally sat in reserved seats, the quiet lounge, and finally found seats apart from each other. 

someone thought we couldn't speak english because we looked so clueless and idiotic.

part seven - bashing around london.

next stop (after passing by and waving to the queen at buckingham palace) was 221b bakers street. 

oh what a lovely place. 

the museum was very cool (except for the creepy wax states representing villains from the different sherlock holmes books). 

obviously it's not a real location since Sherlock is a fictional character, but nevertheless...I'VE BEEN TO 221B BAKERS STREET! 

guys.

GUYS!

next was a trip to the charles dickens museum. 

a place where he actually lived for 2 years and wrote his first 3 popular books. 

AND they had his desk he wrote all his books on. 

so very cool.

ok. 

so let's talk about valentines day in london. 

I counted about 30 people carrying flowers. 

mom and I went to a cafe for supper. 

awkward. 

there were all these couples being all lovely dovey. 

worse yet, it was a really small cafe so we sort of shared a booth with this young couple. 

it was as if...were they to let go of their hands just once...the universe would collapse. 

luckily for the universe...they never let go once.

sigh.

 I could hear these people talk forever. 

especially little kids. 

is it just me or do kids with English accents sound 10x more smart and look 10x more adorable??\

part six - bashing around london.

we began the day at westminster abbey. 

it's like walking through an indoor cemetery where only important people are allowed to be buried from the last 600 years or more. 

I saw where all sorts of kings and queens and dickens and austen and the like we're buried. 

it was all very cool (in a slightly creepy manner).

in addition to a huge burial ground...I saw the exact place where kings and queens have been crowned for the last hundreds and hundreds of years. 

AND the famous coronation chair ("I HAVE A VOICE!!"). 

weird that graffiti was around even hundreds of years ago. 

who on earth would scratch their name into the coronation chair?!!

we headed down the street (missed our bus and had to wait 15 minutes for the next) and saw an old man playing the bagpipes on a bridge over the thames river (which we were crossing). 

my mom stopped to take a video/picture (we were on the other side of the road)...and a fellow on a bicycle attempted to photobomb her picture and totally smiled at the camera when passing by. 

he didn't make it into any of her pictures, but it definitely gave me a good chuckle.

part five - bashing around london.

in my bright green coat, coral scarf, and yellow gloves...I stand out a little from the more commonly seen blacks and grays. 

not complaining...but I do feel slightly over-colored sometimes.

I won't lie...I have never been quite so cold in my whole life as I've been these past few days. 

I mean, honestly...WHAT IS THIS?! 

I'm wearing about 20 different pieces of clothing and still am freezing. 

I seriously don't even know how that's possible. 

oy.

I always wondered why the british were so fashionable with their wonderful layers and hats an scarves...THEY'RE JUST FREAKING COLD!!

also...I never realized how often I use fake british accents in my daily life...but now I'm suddenly completely self conscious about it.

oh...and it began to slightly snow before the show. 

so london-y!

"kiss me kate" was such a very amazing show.

and the theatre was BEAUTIFUL!

and costumes.

and dancing.

and...OH!

I love the theatre.

part four - bashing around london.

I went to shakespeare's globe theatre. 

sad day when I realized it's not the real building but a very recent replica. 

still cool to see what it WOULD have looked like!

I'd like to let you know I'm at a restaurant eating fish and chips and feeling very british. 

there's a platter of some boiled shrimp, that are still very much intact, staring at me. 

and I've a glass of lemonade. 

why is it clear, you ask? 

I can't say. 

does it still taste like lemonade? 

ya, not really. 

also...chips? 

french fries! 

who knew, right?

and as I sit here...I hear "ho hey" by the lumineers playing on the radio!! 

classic.

there's a sad old man sitting all alone eating his fish and chips with his gray scarf, plaid cap, and brown corduroy coat on the chair opposite him. 

makes me rather sad for him.

also...I had a thought. 

because they drive on a different side here than we do...should you walk on the opposite side of the staircase? 

so puzzling and I sometimes feel like everyone's coming at me from the opposite direction I'm walking. 

what do you think?

here they don't understand the word chips (when you're actually talking about chips. they're called crisps here), french fries (chips), elevator (lift), or pickles (gherkins). 

that's all we've encountered so far.

well...we're headed to see "kiss me kate" at the old vic theatre. tata!

part three - bashing around london.

so far today I could not find the muffin man that lives on drury lane. 

it turns out london bridge is indeed NOT falling down. 

I stood where anne boleyn, catherine howard, and lady jane grey were executed and buried. 

moriarty is not planning any attempt at stealing the crown jewels, for they are all perfectly intact.

and the tower of london isn't really a tower at all but a large old fortress castle OF DEATH.

more soon! :)

part two - bashing around london.

the subway is intense. 

it's a miracle we haven't lost ourselves yet! 

we decided to not be wimps and take the stairs one time. 

150 steps later...we see a sign that the stairs are for emergency use only. 

all that trouble for not. 

dear me.

we went to cecil court (street) and found a whole row of antiquarian bookstores. 

though I found nothing of interest! 

but on the way down charing cross road, we found the BEST one. 

and I found some darling novels...and the total was only five pounds! 

crazy.

we are at a tea shop right now (so quaint and eclectic) and are headed to see "singing in the rain" this evening. 

I'm going on 2 hours of sleep and haven't collapsed yet. 

BRING IT LONDON!

part one - bashing around london.

you guys. 

it's like living in a bbc movie. 

but kind of scary. 

lots of people. 

cars. 

different languages. 

big buses, etc. 

we are at kensington palace...childhood home of queen victoria.

and some young men dressed as courtiers raced up the staircase we were on.
I thought I'd time traveled.
we found them playing cards in the next room.
very jovial and hilarious.
even invited me to join their game.
I wasn't sure if they were serious or not...so I just giggled.
ah me.

but seriously. 

this is by far THE coolest museum of all time.

also...I would like you all to know that I've never been so cold in my whole entire state of being. eek.