During our London visit we stopped to drool twice at the Fred Perry stores in Seven Dials and Carnaby. It’s a good thing we kept our pocket books in check because we only now found out about the Fred Perry store opening in Toronto. Rejoice!
The London Aquarium trumped our list of tourist destinations. The entire visit was basically a virtual Donkey Kong underwater race game to the next level. Where it lacked in the squid department, it made up for in the sharks in your face department. I aint afraid of no sharks – pending reinforced glass.
Oh so London town was oh soooo sweet. This begins my retrospect of the week’s happenings. First off, mad snipety snap braps to Tom and Livs who were gracious enough to have us in for over a week. I feel a lot closer to them after bad hair days, hungover sleepy faces, bad gas and serious eye diseases, so thanks again! Love you long time.
We arrived after a grueling red eye flight from Pearson to Heathrow. Crying babies and loud talkers riddled the flight from start to finish and we didn’t catch a wink. **Fast forward to our arrival at Paddington station** After a peak around we knew we weren’t in Kansas anymore. The beauty of that station left us a little speechless for a moment. This type of observation continued throughout the trip – my never having been cross continent and all. Extreme exhaustion caught up with us when we reached our quarters for the week and we passed out to rest up for a night of party with the hosts.
The week took off after our wake up. We ended up at Plastic People for the last Friday night FWD. This was definitely the best club night during our visit. The sound in that place is really the best I’ve ever heard and the Turkish chain wearing thugs were unforgettable (in every way). What was particularly surprising about partying in London is that it mostly sucked. The music was decent all around, but it’s oh so strange to to face the reality that mainstream sounds in the UK are the underground in Toronto. Although this is hardly surprising, it’s the crowd that did me in. Maybe we attended the wrong nights, but The End and Fabric are everything we hate about Clubland in Toronto: unapologetic shoving, line ups, dress to impress boring Le Chateau type wear. I’m sure I’m generalizing but we didn’t have enough days to do more than 4 nights, 2 of which rocked my socks off at Plastic People – so much so that I fell in love with Drum and Bass all over again (for one tender night). Can I also just mention that the walks home from Plastic People were the best walks of my life – and that’s saying a lot because I have walked many…many places.
Sightseeing was immaculate. We got in the staples: The Museums, The Eye, the Palace, the Churches, the Aquarium. Our ‘oyster’ card helped us ride the transit to wherever our hearts desires and our hearts desired MUCH. When we got off course or got lost, the discoveries only got better. William Blake’s tombstone and some Bansky in the slums was good for the soul.
Now let’s get down to business and discuss food and shopping. Boy oh’ Boy did we ever eat. The eats were good and while I’m sure you don’t want the details of every meal we ingested, I’ll tell you this: it’s diet time. We went the distance from fried foods to haute cuisine. My digestive track is still recovering, believe you me. We’ve gained a considerable amount of weight and now that I’m home I’m trying to wean myself off the salt and sugar and I can’t! I’ve had 2 chocolate bars since I’ve come home and while I don’t restrict myself with diets, I also don’t ever crave bad foods like I have since I’ve come home. I can barely even look at salad and make a straight beeline for the M&Ms and fries. Not to mention that beer replaced water at some point during the trip. I now have the tolerance of a 250 pound man.
Shopping was just as disastrous – bad meaning GOOD. Shoes took over our psyche for the better part of the trip and the search for them was relentless. Londoner’s taste in shoes is far better than Toronto, so we capitalized. Every time I looked down I drooled and ended up blowing almost half my budget on new goods. Though I was a good little traveler and didn’t go over my budget despite my handy dandy credit card that was easily accessible the entire time, so I’m proud of that. I definitely scored most off my list, which included a jacket, a purse, boots, floral print something and a trilby hat. Large up my skills on the street. I stayed focused and avoided Burberry all together. Swish!
So London, I bid you Adieu. My presence is no longer with you but you shall remain in my thoughts forever. ♥
I’m still ironing out the kinks of this new look so have faith that it’ll only get better. Until then, content might be sparse. Once we’re back from London I’ll be posting again full heed with many treats and tricks up my sleeve. In the mean time, if I have but one recommendation it is to check out Christopher Anderson’s visual documentary of Fall 2008 Fashion Week for nymag.com .
Magnificent! Hyperlink below.
Months of fandom culminate tonight with Robyn’s show at the Phoenix. I’m sure you’re all fed up of my schoolgirl gushing so FULL 3 PAGE REVIEW AFTER THE SHOW. Take that!
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edit: review
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So the concert was all I could have ever hoped for. Pre-show we celebrated Cinco de Mayo with something close to Mexican food at Sneaky Dee’s. After sufficiently gorging on Tex Mex we arrived at the Phoenix ready to burn some calories. We vacated to the bar to temporarily avoid the smell of puberty resonating in the place. But, as soon as Robyn hit the stage in her dramatic black batwing ensemble, we scurried forward and let our 14 year old fangirl hit the roof. She did what you’ve already seen on YouTube, but for that to resonate in person was truly special. We left with little hearts permanently etched in our eyes and sang ourselves to bed with a something elicit. And so I leave you with the love-in that occurred when she kicked it old school with ‘Show me Love’.
We spent the afternoon gandering at the cherry blossom trees in High Park that are currently in full bloom. They were donated to Toronto by the citizens of Tokyo to show us how seasonal celebration ought to be. They’ll last about a week so catch them while you can. Go! Prance my children! On that note, we don’t take near enough advantage of our proximity to the park or the fully equipped picnic basket my mother gave me a few years ago. So this summer, I’m gearing up for plenty a picnic in the park. On another note – cherry blossoms? picnics? parks?!!?!? I don’t even recognize myself anymore.
I’ve been beyond sick lately and don’t even know if I’ll be able to make tomorrow’s Acid City launch, but whatever direction I wake up in tomorrow, the party is going to be fab!
Gsus is having their annual bargain hunt sale that will probably include pieces from last year’s line. I’d be there in a flash if I wasn’t in super stingy mode re: London. Details below:
