Hey, London

(Previously: Iceland)

I have a deep, deep, probably overly-idealistic love for all things British. I have to take care not to fall into a trap of trying to become British, because I’m so not, and my attempt at a British accent is, well, daft. Will has noticed I start to take on a British inflection in my manner of speaking after I’ve watched too many episodes of Coupling, so I’m in great, great danger whenever I’m around British people.

But there aren’t many British people in London anyway so I wasn’t in any danger of developing that kind of pretentious affectation for most of the trip.

 
Wacky Brits.

Part of the Old Bailey.

I love love love London. You just don’t see buildings like this many places in Canada.

We stayed at our friend’s flat in Marylebone, which is a great area. Right off off Baker Street, easy walking distance to Regent Park, Hyde Park, Oxford St and Regent St, and a more generous walking distance to the West End, Kensington, Picadilly, Trafalgar Square, etc (but easy for seasoned walkers like me and Will). Marylebone High Street is charming. I loved exploring that area and I hope our friend doesn't move any time soon so we can come back and stay with him again. I had to sleep on a couch for 5 nights, but beggars can’t be choosers.

My pictures are nowhere near as scenic as my Iceland ones (or as you’ll see, my Denmark ones), but it’s such a vibrant, exciting, city with fantastic architecture. (It’s a shame about the poor quality air.)

 
At St. Paul's Cathedral.

 
On the London Millenium Footbridge, with St. Paul’s on the north side, and a view of the Shard.

On the South Shore, near Tower Bridge. The mayor’s office is in the building. I was not in the egg.

Tower Bridge

Tower of London

We were incredibly lucky with the weather. It only rained a little bit one night when we were leaving the pub. Not very typical for London, but we weren’t complaining. It was also warm, but maybe not to the locals, Will and I kept noticing that we were the only ones not wearing jackets.Tough Canadians, right? (It was 20C/70F!)

View of Whitehall from the Jubilee Gardens.

Ah, the London Eye. I decided to go on (by myself, Will declined), and that was likely my only time. It is a crazy tourist trap (I knew that going in), but I ended up in a pod with three screaming toddlers and that kinda spoiled the experience.

Views from the Eye.

 

The other touristy thing I did was take one of those hop on/hop off tour buses. I didn’t stay on for long.

Westminster

Westminster Abbey

Fortnum and Mason – I approve of the colour palette!

Queen’s Theatre in the West End.

At Trafalgar Square, a giant blue rooster on the Fourth Plinth.

Canada House!

Fancy townhouses in Knightsbridge.

Royal Albert Hall

I hate intersections in London. These help.

Knightsbridge

Regent’s Park

There's so much to London that it's impossible to do it all. 5 days wasn't a lot of time. Next time, I would like to wander around Chelsea/Kensington some more. I'd like to explore Notting Hill and Camden. I'd like to move there, actually. If I ever win the lottery (which I probably won't because I don't play), I'd move there in a heartbeat.

On my last day in London, I guess I was starting to look like a local because I was stopped outside of Selfridge's and asked for directions to the Marble Arch. Which I knew. That was my moment of triumph, my moment of hooray, I don't look like a tourist!

I was sad when I left to go on to Copenhagen, but I know I'll be back.

(Next up: Copenhagen…)

Halló, Ísland

I miss being on vacation. But reliving it through photos and blog posts is the next best thing, right?

View of Þingvallavatn, Iceland’s largest lake, in the rain on the way to Þingvellir.

Iceland was not originally part of my travel plans, but it turned out that Icelandair was the cheapest to fly to Europe (by about $200) with a free stopover, so there we were for about 32 hours.

I struggled a little because I do not function so well after an overnight flight and 4 hours of sleep sitting upright in an uncomfortable airplane seat. But we were off right away to visit the sights that we could get to in our limited time there: Þingvellir, Geysir, and Gullfoss.

At Þingvellir. It’s a very bleak and gorgeous landscape.

Next was Geysir, but not before we pulled over to have a 20-minute nap in the car.

Everything was steaming and smelled strongly of sulphur.

Aww, only a baby geyser.

 
Here’s the Great Geysir.

My favourite of the three sights was Gullfoss.

 

It was really cold there though.

 
I’m really bad at getting photos of myself on vacation, but Will got a few of me at Gullfoss, even if I do look a little daft.

Parliament, in Reykjavik. We spent a night in Reykjavik and got to see a little of the town.

The next morning, we drove around the southern coast for a bit.

The continental rift between Europe and North America. Also, see the water? Stand there and look south; there’s no land between there and Antarctica.

Sheep!!

And thus ends my first taste of Iceland. I’d like to go back one day for more than 32 hours.

(Next up: London…)

last of the bare legs

I’m holding out longer than I probably should, but I don’t want to wear tights yet. Then again, the prospect of not shaving my legs is pretty tempting. (Not that I have a lot of hair anyway.)

This was my inspiration photo for the next few outfits:

Anthropologie Carcanet Blouse & Ponte Bell Skirt

Just no tights yet. I can’t. I wore tights in Europe because it was colder, but I’m not ready to work them into my everyday wear yet. I’m in denial, but luckily I’m also a penguin.

Anthropologie Tartlet Burst Top (Deletta 2012) // Antho Scalloped Stripes Ponte Skirt (Girls From Savoy) // Tory Burch Reva flats (2009)

Anthro Tarlet Burst Top // Gap knit a-line // Tory Burch Reva Flats

Didn’t quite work, it’s a little lumpy around the middle. I don’t do tucking in very well.

Anthro top (can’t remember what it’s called) // Anthro Scalloped Stripes Skirt // Tory Burch Reva flats

My favourite of the bunch, I think.

And then there’s always back to black.

Gap Essential V-neck Tee // Stella & Dot Marchesa necklace // Anthro Scalloped Stripes Skirt

back to it

A little less jet-lagged now, but still in the throes of post-vacation depression. Going back to work was sad. But at least it was a short week.

I cheered myself up with some early fall hot pink.

Gap Essential V-neck T // bubble necklace // Gap maxidress worn as a skirt

I’m talking about my vacation with hyperbole (it was wonderful, spectacular, best time of my life!), as with any depression-tinged nostalgia once something looked forward to is over. Of course, no vacation is perfect. I've almost forgotten that I was so tired after the first overnight flight to Iceland I caught a cold, that the diesel-filled London air gave me a hacking dry cough, that my digestive system isn’t on holiday even if I am and too much lovely Italian pasta in Marylebone gave me terrible stomach cramps, that the unexpectedly strong Danish sun gave me mild sunburn, and that I felt pretty sick by the end because of too much eating out and off-diet indulgences. All I remember is that I had a great ten-day escape from normal life and I loved it.

Okay, I’ll shut about my travels for now until I finally finish going through my photos and actually document it here.

10 days, 3 countries

But it definitely wasn’t a race, and sadly there wasn’t a million dollars at the end of it.

I’m still on European time (asleep at 7:30 last night, up this morning at 4:30), and I’m back to work today, so it’s a sad day. I’ll relive my trip with many many photos and some rambling thoughts when I’m less jet-lagged, but in the meantime, here are only a few rambling thoughts.

• I do not like overnight flights.
• Europe is really expensive (duh).
• Pierre Hermé macarons are wayyy better than Ladurée and I wish I'd discovered this sooner in my trip. Also, I was able to eat two types of French macarons without even going to Paris. (Ladurée in Burlington Arcade off Picadilly Circus and Pierre Hermé in Selfridge's Food Hall.)
• The tradition of food halls needs to come to North America.
• Intimissimi needs to come to North America too.
• Scandinavian king beds (at least in hotels) have two separate duvets for each person. This is genius.

Some less rambling thoughts:

Iceland:
Gorgeous country with some gorgeous, bleak, amazing landscape. The first country I’ve ever visited where I don’t speak the language (lucky everyone speaks English). However, it’s not the first country I’ve been to where I couldn’t pronounce the road signs. That would be Ireland three years ago. (Dún Laoghaire is pronounced dun-leery. Go figure.)

The pond in the centre of Reykjavík.

London:
One of my favourite cities in the world. More so after this trip.

The London Eye. One hell of a tourist trap, but like it or not it’s part of the London landscape now.

Copenhagen:
Great city. I really enjoyed my very brief time here. Fantastic weather too; we all got sunburn. Who would have figured?

View of the royal residences from the harbour.

We thought about making it 4 countries with a short trip to Malmö, Sweden the morning before we left, but the logistics ended up being too complicated. Next time.