Dodgie Times in London

London was by far the funnest visit yet since being in Europe for two months. From our days full of visiting limit-pushing designer shops and sections of town to our nights of witnessed fist fights and party ragers of all ages; it was surely a week load of AWESOME.

The greatness of London came before we even got there. We were fortunate to fly into the city of rain on a gorgeous day with a one hour duration of fantastic views. We flew over the sea reflecting the sky we were in; making the view confusing of which blue was the sky and which was the sea. Then we floated with the clouds above the mountains. They were hiding in their hills little pouches of the bluest water I have ever seen. It was a fantastic, uplifting morning flight into an only slightly dreary London.

It was such an energy boosting flight that led the man at borders to tell me to "sober up." So, don't worry America, I am making a good impression for us at border lines with my intoxicating energy ; ).

We then started our time in London getting our tourist sites checked out of the way first. We all hopped from site to site on a coach from seeing the London Bridge, London Eye, Big Ben to shoving ourselves into a little red telephone booth. AAnnnnd then we were let free to actually do fun things in London ; ).

That night we made our way to around Soho where we stumbled upon a loud chorus of drunk men. We couldn't turn down an opportunity of singing with ecstatic middle-aged Londoners, so then came a night of tributes of Queen to Donna Summer. And who knew they had a whole other, funner part of the hokey pokey!?


I wouldn't have thought everyday following could be even more fun than the one prior. The next day we visited the V&A museum which was absolutely fantastic and inspiring.

We then ate a big cake for lunch and hopped from shop to shop . The shops and merchandising of them were so edgy, innovative and exciting. I want to be in London!

But never more did I want to be exactly where I was than that evening. We went to the theater show Priscilla Queen of the Desert. The most colorful, fabulous, hilarious, and best costume filled anything to ever be created. What could possibly be more fun than three diva drag queens on a bus in the middle of nowhere? My face still hurts from my plastered smile of shock and laughter of what three drags on a road trip means.

Our next day was London designers overload!

We first went to Pinaki Studios which houses workplaces for all types of artists; jewelry, interior, fabric designers etc. We met and heard from fabric designer Arantza. She is extremely innovative, making pieces of 3-dimension, with rust details, etc. She works for many theaters and movies to create original fabric for costumes.

We then visited Zandra Rhodes' studio for some educational awesomeness. And by that I mean we played dress-up after hearing about these dream garments from the co-designer =].

That day ended with a lecture from couture millinery designer Prudence. She had a "lovely" bio full of how lovely everything is, which is quite easy to say when your least expensive hat is a "lovely" 800 lbs. Millinery is a fantastic dying art so it's great someone is making the big bucks with it!

The next day we had a free day to invade London. Natalie and I filled most of it exploring the east end. We hopped from shop to shop around and down Brick Lane. The streets were full of vintage stores and boutiques of young fashion designers, painters, sculptures etc etc etc. It was also flooded with young kids dressed like us . . . but cooler! This was such a refreshing feeling being around people trying to be different and new; Italian style has been making me a bit conservative! uuughhAhhh! ;)

We ended our day in East London too at a 1920's themed club. A live band played that perfectly mocked the twenties! Dancing to them in our fringe, pumps, and new tights completed the dream of wanting to live a night from the twenties.

We spent about 3 hrs hopping buses back to our hotel in West London, but along the way we ran into all sorts of worth while events. We witnessed two fist fights, one being between two girls on the ground beating each other in mini skirts over some Mcdonald's "chips" . . . "I'm loving it."

Sadly our week had come to an end, but beautifully at Windsor's Castle. It was a gorgeous, cool day that was a bit calmer than the rest to help us end our fun in London.

London felt great and oh, one day, I'm going back!