Welcome to England

Welcome to England, he said
Welcome to my world
- Tori Amos “Welcome to England”

It wasn’t intentional, but I had a Tori Amos song on my iPhone for almost every leg of my trip.  Will thought it was a little odd.  I put this song on when we landed at London City Airport to start the second leg of our trip.

I’ve been to London twice before, but the last time was 11 years ago and I was with my mom and my mind was clearly elsewhere, because it was right when Will and I started dating.  I wanted to be there with him.  He always said he’d take me to London, and it only took 11 years.

I love the architecture in London; I wish Toronto looked like this.

I have to say, we had the most amazing weather on this trip for Ireland/England/France in the fall.  It was cloudy and overcast in Ireland, but there was no rain.  The first day we were in London, the skies were perfectly clear.

In the morning, we walked around the financial area and to the Tower of London area.

Tower Bridge, taken from London Bridge (which was not falling down)

Tower of London

Then we had lunch in a pub in Hammersmith, which allows dogs (like any proper pub should).

View of the Thames from the patio where we had lunch.  A lovely way to spend a Monday afternoon.

Later in the afternoon, we took a boat ride on the Thames.

This footbridge is famous; it’s appeared in many films including Bridget Jones’s Diary and About a Boy.

After that, it was off to John Lewis on Oxford Street to buy an air mattress for us to sleep on our friend’s floor in his Shoreditch flat, then Vietnamese for dinner.  No outfit photo this day, I looked terrible and refused to be photographed.

Window-shopping in Dublin

I spent a sh*tload of money on food in Dublin (€150 in three days, but I guess €50 a day isn’t too bad), but I did not do any shopping.  In fact, I didn’t use my credit card at all until the Tuesday, and my trip started on Friday.  Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

I did do a little window-shopping on Grafton Street, which really meant I took photos of the window displays at Brown Thomas (upmarket department store, actually owned by a Canadian company).

I wanted to check out MAC’s Venomous Villains collection, but there was no point since it’s cheaper here anyway.

That’s Liam Neeson (yum!) in the photo on the wall

I did find the heads a little freaky

Colin Farrell in the photo on the wall, and Helena Christensen in the photo on the table (not sure why she’s there, she’s Danish, not Irish).

Walk to Dublin…

If I walk to Dublin
I’m gonna pass that turquoise lady in her new Nike flats and something’s flat
I said I need size 10,000 for my ass yes
  - Tori Amos, “Walk to Dublin”

I meant to write about my European adventure sooner, but going back to work and trying frantically to catch up, and a nasty cold intervened in the interim.  But enough with the excuses!  On with the photos.

Ireland was the first leg of our trip (3 days).  I’d never been before, but I took several Irish literature and history classes in university (so I have a little more than a passing interest).  However, I’m embarrassed to say that what I knew of Dublin itself is pretty much from Maeve Binchy books I read when I was a teenager.

We arrived on Friday, October 8, after an overnight flight.  Not too much sightseeing done on that day, we were pretty exhausted.

The River Liffey, just across the street from our hotel.  The bridge shaped like a harp is pretty striking.

Statues depicting the devastating Potato Famine. Disturbing, but an important part of Irish history.

Customs House

The General Post Office in Dublin.  I studied Yeats several times in university, so I had to visit this.

Dublin is definitely a party town.  The first day we were there, we wandered around a little bit, and spent the evening in Temple Bar pub-hopping, eventually ending up in a Japanese restaurant for dinner (not very Irish, but it was some of the best Japanese food I’ve had).

The second day (Saturday), we drove out of Dublin to explore the Irish countryside.

Dún Laoghaire, just outside Dublin

 

At Glendalough, the ruins of a 6th century monastery founded by St. Caoimhghin (Kevin), who lived in a hollowed-out tree. 

At the Wicklow Gap.  It was beautiful there, if a little chilly. 

Will did the bulk of the driving, which was fine with me.  Narrow roads + driving on the left side + big rental car (a Toyota Avensus – Hertz upgraded us, but that’s not a good thing in Europe) = bundle of nerves!  However, I did try driving for about ten minutes.  I kept punching the window looking for the stickshift, turning the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal on, and side-swiping parked cars on the left side of the car because I had no concept of where the car was.  So I can say I did it, but I don’t want to do it again.

We spent our last day in Dublin (Sunday) exploring the city more.

Trinity College Dublin on the left.

 
Grafton Street, the posh shopping street

I forget the name of this church.

 
Saturday’s outfit

• Anthropologie River Delta Shift by Anne Pinkerton
• Club Monaco cardigan
• Wolford tights
• Geox boots

Sunday’s outfit

• Anthropologie Climbing Cowlneck
• Club Monaco cardigan
• Mavi super-skinny jeans
• Geox boots
• Hilary Druxman necklace

Good mirror in this hotel.  Didn’t find one like it anywhere else.

I’ve been gone for a week, I need home for a rest

I took about 500 pictures on my trip (to be culled for duds, I’m sure), and this is the last one I took.

 
Big Ben, taken from the cab on the way to Victoria Station to catch the Gatwick Express to the airport.

Coming home from a trip is always strange.  On one hand, I’m so thrilled to be back in my own place, with my own comfortable bed.  (I fell into that comfortable bed at 7:30 last night and passed out shortly afterwards.  Sooo unbelievably nice after spending the past few nights on an air mattress on the living room floor of a friend’s London flat.  Can’t complain about the cost of the accommodations though.)  On the other hand, I’m sad to be home again.  But the grass is always greener on the other side, right?  I have much to be grateful about my life here. 

Still, I don’t want to go back to work just yet.

And I wish Toronto were as pretty as Paris.

Or as exciting as London. 

Or as fun as Dublin.

I’m leaving on a jet plane

 

Not the most inspiring photo by any stretch, but it’s my hard work of the past few evenings to cram everything I need (including a pair of Hunter rubber boots!) into a suitcase and a tiny backpack (that’s actually smaller than my purse) for my European adventure with my boyfriend.  Dublin, London, and Paris in 10 days.  My flight leaves in 3 hours.  I probably won’t be posting while I’m gone, but I hope to be writing. 

I’m really looking forward to getting away; it’ll be a chance to refresh and clear my head.  I hope to come back feeling rejuvenated and ready to move forward.

Can’t be tempted…

Maybe this is blasphemous to say, but I’m getting really bored with Anthropologie.

My Saturday morning ritual involves groceries and a stop at the Anthro at The Shops at Don Mills, but last Saturday I decided to skip Anthro and just go home. 

It’s not that I’ve replaced Anthro with any other store, I’m just not shopping right now.  Maybe it’s because I’m leaving for my European vacation tomorrow (and not a moment too soon).

Not even the latest Anthro catalogue could tempt me.

 
Maybe because it’s hard to tell what she’s wearing.

Ditto. 

 
Lovely and ridiculous at the same time.

Love the idea of ruffled boots!  But I hate suede.

The latest outfit set couldn’t move me either.

Cartoon doggies!  But nope.

`
Love the tights and boots!  But still nope.

Adorable!   But I already bought the jacket in black. 

I’m hoping my Anthro-aversion will pass, but at the same time, it’s good for my wallet. 

Windows

This week, I’ve felt about a hair away from either a tantrum or a nervous breakdown.  Hyperventilating at my desk at work is not good.

I need a vacation.  Oh wait, I have one soon!  This time next week I’m going to be in Dublin.  I'll be jet-lagged out of my mind, but I won't be here.

In the meantime, there’s nothing that can’t be cured with Vietnamese spring rolls.

Or some eye candy, courtesy of the windows at Holt Renfrew on Bloor Street.

Burberry, with tea set courtesy of William Ashley

Yves St. Laurent, with papier-mache poodles

Diane von Furstenberg wrap dresses (loooove), with stacks of Campbell soup cans (don’t get it)

Louboutin

Can’t afford any of these, but somehow, it satisfies the soul.

Anniversaries.

I’ve had a pretty terrible week.  Work stuff has been dominating; I screwed something up last week and couldn’t fix it quickly, leading me to spend the weekend freaking out that I was going to be hauled into my VP’s office and unceremoniously fired.  I texted a friend/coworker who told me I was being ridiculous and that was 0% chance I was going to be fired, and she needed to come over and beat me over the head.

It’s true.  I always, always fear the worst, because it never turns out as bad as I imagine.  You’d think the fact that I know it always turns out better would stop me from fearing the worst, but no, I think that if I think everything’s going to be okay, the opposite is going to happen.  I need to go into my brain and rewire, seriously.

Thank God for my boyfriend.

We’ve been blessed in my family with our choice of life partners.  Will and I have been together for 11 years.  My older sister and her husband celebrated 13 years of marriage (17 years of being together) in Italy yesterday.  My younger brother and his wife celebrated their first anniversary on Sunday. 

At their wedding in Ottawa a year ago (which my mother tried to ruin, but couldn’t), my sister and I walked our nephew Milo down the aisle.

He’s wearing a traditional Filipino barong, custom-made for him in the Philippines.

My sister is wearing a Nicole Miller dress; I’m wearing a dress by Anne Hung, a local Toronto designer.