London
I went to London for a week... a few weeks back. But I was to busy to post about it until now. Anyways, it was a pretty great trip. In fact, I wished it would have been longer.
It was a school trip so we had certain things we were supposed to do every day. But we also had plenty of free time to do whatever we wanted.
February 12th: We went there February 12th, really, really early. We met at the airport at like 05:45 I think. Took a flight to Stockholm, then changed flights there. We had to wait for a few hours at the airport, but it was quite alright. I even had some time to hang out with Jonas who was taking a flight to Canada the same day! :O
After we came to London we just went to hour hotel, checked in (that took quite a while), ate dinner, and then went to British Museum. Our hotel was at Russel Square, so in other words very close to the museum.
Everyone was going to the pub by the hotel, but when we got there it was packed. Soo I, Mikaela, and Kajsa (who I shared a room with) decided to go and find us our own pub. Somehow we ended up walking all the way from Russel Square to Chinatown(!). We did find a nice pub though; O'Neill's in Chinatown. They had a live band and all. So we had a few drinks, sat and talked and relaxed, then went back to the hotel. It was a very long first day. Long night as well since it was freezing in our room and we didn't have enough extra blankets for all three of us.
February 13th: Next day we went to Tate Modern. I enjoyed the exhibitions there, although I wished we would have had more time to spend there. I didn't get to see everything. Oh, and they had a great book shop with lovely artbooks there too that I would have liked to browse through longer.
Then we took a boat to Tate Britain. I loved Tate Britain. There were some really amazing paintings there and I would definitely like to go back to spend some more time there.
We were on our own after this, so we took a walk by the Thames all the way to Big Ben. Then headed back to the hotel because we had planned to go out that night and needed time to get ready.
When we were all dolled up we went to Chinatown for dinner. We found a really nice little restaurant. Their food was delicious, but we got to sit just by the window towards the street. Soo, we sort of felt like live mannequins, haha. Everyone passing by couldn't help but stare, and everyone contemplating going into the restaurant would look at us (I'm glad I looked my best to say the least). Oh, and with the food we were given forks and knives... but I had trouble picking up my food with the fork... so in the end one of the staff gave me chopsticks and I was sooo relieved, hahaha. And I ate much better with that, I think he was surprised.
After dinner we went back to that same O'Neill's as the night before. We had a few drinks there. Then we went looking for a club without much luck. We tried one place but it really sucked. D:< So we bought some candy to console ourselves (haha), then walked around for a bit before heading back to the hotel. By then it was quite late anyways.
February 14th: National Art Gallery. Been there before, but it was fun to get another look at everything there. Since there is... well, sooo much to look at. We had some free time after that so I brought Mikaela and Kajsa with me to Camden for some serious shopping, hehehe. I think we all loved it! Nice way to spend Valentine's Day anyhow. And, I got a little loving text message from Åsa at least.
Oh! And when we were at Cyberdog in Camden, Kajsa got singled out as a hairmodel by a hairdresser. She had time for it too, so she agreed to be a hairmodel at a hairdresser convention and get her hair cut live a couple of days later.
February 15th: Went to Royal Academy Of Arts and the Saatchi gallery. The Royal Academy of Arts had a Van Gogh exhibition that I really liked. And the Saatchi Gallery had an exhibition by Indian artists that I found quite intriguing. I mean they had robots built out of lamps and lights (see photos).
After that I followed Kajsa and Mikaela to the hair studio for a little while. I then parted with them to go and meet up with Jan in Covent Garden! :) It was great to see him in person for the first time. We I did some shopping in Covent Garden while talking about anything and everything really. Jan took me to a really neat store called Forbidden Planet. And we had dinner together at Spaghetti House. I also got to see him perform some yoyo tricks. :D ! But yeah, I really enjoyed hanging out with him.
February 16th: Looked at the Crash exhibition at Gagosian Gallery. But the last few days' impressions had started to numb us a little. We went to find an art supply store called Atlantis after that - only we got really bad directions from one of our teachers... on top of the store having changed locations. So when we finally found it everyone else were done there already.
I took the rest of the day off and made a trip to Reading to visit Jan again! :D Like a little adventure. I talked some to a nice lady on the train on the way there.
I quite liked Reading! It is about the size of Umeå I think. We did have a look around the center and shops and such, but it was raining so we mostly sat indoors talking. We had dinner together, and then moved to a pub where we sat and talked and drew each other's portrait. We both sort of forgot about the time though, so when I got back to London I had missed the last tube to Russel Square. But there were night buses, so it was quite alright. I was all alone on the bus for about half of the trip though.
February 17th: EPIC last day. We had the day off if we wanted so I, Mikaela and Kajsa just did whatever we wanted... which was to go shopping and checking out different parts of central London. We went to Covent Garden (where we got some pretty baloons for free), Oxford Street, and Camden again. By the end of the day we could hardly walk anymore, but it was sooo worth it!
So we went back to the hotel, changed shoes, and then went back to Chinatown for dinner at that same restaurant where we got to sit at the window. And guess where we got to sit again? Yep, same table... doh! XD
After that we walked around some, went by Piccadilly Circus, took some photos, had hot chocolate at Starbucks. Oh, how I've missed Starbucks since Japan... I do wish we could have it here in Umeå.
February 18th: Day of going homes. We did alot of travelling and waiting at airports and such. But it was tolerable. I did wish the trip would have been longer though. Two weeks would have been nice. Then I wouldn't have been so exhausted by the constant impressions I think.
The view from our room at the hotel (Royal National). We stayed at the 7th floor.
This is what the hallway looked like... This is from the middle so it was the same view in the opposite direction. Looks like it never ends, huh?
At British Museum. I quite enjoyed the Egyptian department. It was really very inspiring. I have sooo many photos from there.
From when we were out walking the first evening.
The girls are very excited about being in London! :D
On our way to Tate Modern. This is the Thames.
Riding the boat to Tate Britain.
Saw these buildings from the boat. Reeally quirky design!
YAY! Big Ben! <3
Some of my favourite paintings from Tate Britain. Yea, I did take these photos myself. I don't think it was allowed, but I didn't use flash, they're for my personal use, and noone stopped me so hey... >:D
Closer to Big Ben. :D Yup that is me there.
Dolled up for our night out.
;) Mikaela did my hair. /lucky
O'Neill's in Chinatown. Pretty lights.
National Art Gallery.
Me just outside of National Art Gallery. That's Trafalgar Square behind me, and in the distance Big Ben.
Lunch at Yo! Sushi. They have really quite nice kaiten sushi, although pricey. But I approve. Best sushi I've had since I left Japan anyhow.
They were doing construction work of some sort all over London. This is what Piccadilly Circus looked while we were there. A little disappointing.
Oxford Street was just nuisance. Too loud, too crowded, and too little space to move in due to the construction work.
I love this photo I took of Mikaela and Kajsa in the underground.
In Camden. Mikaela is sporting the coat she bought just moments before. She found this at one of the markets in Camden. I found a cool hoodie with a Pacman pattern on it there too!
Kajsa in Camden. The Locks behind her.
Mikaela took a photo of me taking that photo of Kajsa! :O
Outside Cyberdog. Oh lovely store... <3 I could never tire of it. Every time I go to London I need to go to Cyerdog, haha. Even if I don't buy anything. I just love the atmosphere there. I did buy myself some UV glow eyeshadows there this time 'round though.
Kajsa and the awesome robots at the Saatchi Gallery. We're thinking about building one ourselves. Shouldn't be too hard, I don't think, we just need to find the right parts for it.
Comic inspired art also at the Saatchi Gallery. Also part of this show by Indian artists.
Kajsa at the hairdresser, with Bo - her hairdresser for the show. Mikaela took some pretty cool pictures from the show. So even if I didn't attend it I did get an impression of what it was like. They seemed to have alot of fun, although there also was alot of waiting.
Took this on one of the small streets when we were lost looking from the art supply shop.
Loved this house we saw too.
Riding the bus by myself at night.
We got singled out by a shop attendant at HMV and were given these ballons. No idea why, but it was alot of fun! :D
YAY! Balloons! Mine came loose from the string when I was down in the underground though. D: So it got away...
So cute! Also, we made holes in the balloons in our hotel room to get that funny voice you can if you inhale the helium. Fun times!
At Piccadilly Circus. Last night in London, donning new clothes we had shopped the same day. I had bought blue hotpants, hahaha. And Kajsa had bought those cool neon green jeans. Both from Criminal Damage.
From the train on our way to Heathrow. I love the architecture in London... something about brickhouses and really old buildings mixed with modern ones. It just does it for me.
Obligatory tourist photo, haha! But really, those phone booths are so colourful and pretty.
Portraits me and Jan drew of each other:
It was a school trip so we had certain things we were supposed to do every day. But we also had plenty of free time to do whatever we wanted.
February 12th: We went there February 12th, really, really early. We met at the airport at like 05:45 I think. Took a flight to Stockholm, then changed flights there. We had to wait for a few hours at the airport, but it was quite alright. I even had some time to hang out with Jonas who was taking a flight to Canada the same day! :O
After we came to London we just went to hour hotel, checked in (that took quite a while), ate dinner, and then went to British Museum. Our hotel was at Russel Square, so in other words very close to the museum.
Everyone was going to the pub by the hotel, but when we got there it was packed. Soo I, Mikaela, and Kajsa (who I shared a room with) decided to go and find us our own pub. Somehow we ended up walking all the way from Russel Square to Chinatown(!). We did find a nice pub though; O'Neill's in Chinatown. They had a live band and all. So we had a few drinks, sat and talked and relaxed, then went back to the hotel. It was a very long first day. Long night as well since it was freezing in our room and we didn't have enough extra blankets for all three of us.
February 13th: Next day we went to Tate Modern. I enjoyed the exhibitions there, although I wished we would have had more time to spend there. I didn't get to see everything. Oh, and they had a great book shop with lovely artbooks there too that I would have liked to browse through longer.
Then we took a boat to Tate Britain. I loved Tate Britain. There were some really amazing paintings there and I would definitely like to go back to spend some more time there.
We were on our own after this, so we took a walk by the Thames all the way to Big Ben. Then headed back to the hotel because we had planned to go out that night and needed time to get ready.
When we were all dolled up we went to Chinatown for dinner. We found a really nice little restaurant. Their food was delicious, but we got to sit just by the window towards the street. Soo, we sort of felt like live mannequins, haha. Everyone passing by couldn't help but stare, and everyone contemplating going into the restaurant would look at us (I'm glad I looked my best to say the least). Oh, and with the food we were given forks and knives... but I had trouble picking up my food with the fork... so in the end one of the staff gave me chopsticks and I was sooo relieved, hahaha. And I ate much better with that, I think he was surprised.
After dinner we went back to that same O'Neill's as the night before. We had a few drinks there. Then we went looking for a club without much luck. We tried one place but it really sucked. D:< So we bought some candy to console ourselves (haha), then walked around for a bit before heading back to the hotel. By then it was quite late anyways.
February 14th: National Art Gallery. Been there before, but it was fun to get another look at everything there. Since there is... well, sooo much to look at. We had some free time after that so I brought Mikaela and Kajsa with me to Camden for some serious shopping, hehehe. I think we all loved it! Nice way to spend Valentine's Day anyhow. And, I got a little loving text message from Åsa at least.
Oh! And when we were at Cyberdog in Camden, Kajsa got singled out as a hairmodel by a hairdresser. She had time for it too, so she agreed to be a hairmodel at a hairdresser convention and get her hair cut live a couple of days later.
February 15th: Went to Royal Academy Of Arts and the Saatchi gallery. The Royal Academy of Arts had a Van Gogh exhibition that I really liked. And the Saatchi Gallery had an exhibition by Indian artists that I found quite intriguing. I mean they had robots built out of lamps and lights (see photos).
After that I followed Kajsa and Mikaela to the hair studio for a little while. I then parted with them to go and meet up with Jan in Covent Garden! :) It was great to see him in person for the first time. We I did some shopping in Covent Garden while talking about anything and everything really. Jan took me to a really neat store called Forbidden Planet. And we had dinner together at Spaghetti House. I also got to see him perform some yoyo tricks. :D ! But yeah, I really enjoyed hanging out with him.
February 16th: Looked at the Crash exhibition at Gagosian Gallery. But the last few days' impressions had started to numb us a little. We went to find an art supply store called Atlantis after that - only we got really bad directions from one of our teachers... on top of the store having changed locations. So when we finally found it everyone else were done there already.
I took the rest of the day off and made a trip to Reading to visit Jan again! :D Like a little adventure. I talked some to a nice lady on the train on the way there.
I quite liked Reading! It is about the size of Umeå I think. We did have a look around the center and shops and such, but it was raining so we mostly sat indoors talking. We had dinner together, and then moved to a pub where we sat and talked and drew each other's portrait. We both sort of forgot about the time though, so when I got back to London I had missed the last tube to Russel Square. But there were night buses, so it was quite alright. I was all alone on the bus for about half of the trip though.
February 17th: EPIC last day. We had the day off if we wanted so I, Mikaela and Kajsa just did whatever we wanted... which was to go shopping and checking out different parts of central London. We went to Covent Garden (where we got some pretty baloons for free), Oxford Street, and Camden again. By the end of the day we could hardly walk anymore, but it was sooo worth it!
So we went back to the hotel, changed shoes, and then went back to Chinatown for dinner at that same restaurant where we got to sit at the window. And guess where we got to sit again? Yep, same table... doh! XD
After that we walked around some, went by Piccadilly Circus, took some photos, had hot chocolate at Starbucks. Oh, how I've missed Starbucks since Japan... I do wish we could have it here in Umeå.
February 18th: Day of going homes. We did alot of travelling and waiting at airports and such. But it was tolerable. I did wish the trip would have been longer though. Two weeks would have been nice. Then I wouldn't have been so exhausted by the constant impressions I think.
The view from our room at the hotel (Royal National). We stayed at the 7th floor.
This is what the hallway looked like... This is from the middle so it was the same view in the opposite direction. Looks like it never ends, huh?
At British Museum. I quite enjoyed the Egyptian department. It was really very inspiring. I have sooo many photos from there.
From when we were out walking the first evening.
The girls are very excited about being in London! :D
On our way to Tate Modern. This is the Thames.
Riding the boat to Tate Britain.
Saw these buildings from the boat. Reeally quirky design!
YAY! Big Ben! <3
Some of my favourite paintings from Tate Britain. Yea, I did take these photos myself. I don't think it was allowed, but I didn't use flash, they're for my personal use, and noone stopped me so hey... >:D
Closer to Big Ben. :D Yup that is me there.
Dolled up for our night out.
;) Mikaela did my hair. /lucky
O'Neill's in Chinatown. Pretty lights.
National Art Gallery.
Me just outside of National Art Gallery. That's Trafalgar Square behind me, and in the distance Big Ben.
Lunch at Yo! Sushi. They have really quite nice kaiten sushi, although pricey. But I approve. Best sushi I've had since I left Japan anyhow.
They were doing construction work of some sort all over London. This is what Piccadilly Circus looked while we were there. A little disappointing.
Oxford Street was just nuisance. Too loud, too crowded, and too little space to move in due to the construction work.
I love this photo I took of Mikaela and Kajsa in the underground.
In Camden. Mikaela is sporting the coat she bought just moments before. She found this at one of the markets in Camden. I found a cool hoodie with a Pacman pattern on it there too!
Kajsa in Camden. The Locks behind her.
Mikaela took a photo of me taking that photo of Kajsa! :O
Outside Cyberdog. Oh lovely store... <3 I could never tire of it. Every time I go to London I need to go to Cyerdog, haha. Even if I don't buy anything. I just love the atmosphere there. I did buy myself some UV glow eyeshadows there this time 'round though.
Kajsa and the awesome robots at the Saatchi Gallery. We're thinking about building one ourselves. Shouldn't be too hard, I don't think, we just need to find the right parts for it.
Comic inspired art also at the Saatchi Gallery. Also part of this show by Indian artists.
Kajsa at the hairdresser, with Bo - her hairdresser for the show. Mikaela took some pretty cool pictures from the show. So even if I didn't attend it I did get an impression of what it was like. They seemed to have alot of fun, although there also was alot of waiting.
Took this on one of the small streets when we were lost looking from the art supply shop.
Loved this house we saw too.
Riding the bus by myself at night.
We got singled out by a shop attendant at HMV and were given these ballons. No idea why, but it was alot of fun! :D
YAY! Balloons! Mine came loose from the string when I was down in the underground though. D: So it got away...
So cute! Also, we made holes in the balloons in our hotel room to get that funny voice you can if you inhale the helium. Fun times!
At Piccadilly Circus. Last night in London, donning new clothes we had shopped the same day. I had bought blue hotpants, hahaha. And Kajsa had bought those cool neon green jeans. Both from Criminal Damage.
From the train on our way to Heathrow. I love the architecture in London... something about brickhouses and really old buildings mixed with modern ones. It just does it for me.
Obligatory tourist photo, haha! But really, those phone booths are so colourful and pretty.
Portraits me and Jan drew of each other: