British Life and Culture - #22 Last one!!

Last night I started watching Made in Chelsea, which is like the British version of The Hills. A bunch of people on this trip have been watching it and talking about how good it was. I hadn't had a chance to watch it yet but last night I finally did and I loved it! They show all parts of Chelsea on the show and it just so happens that I went to Chelsea today!!


Kelsey had been planning a celebration for Emily and Lindsay's birthdays for a while now. Because Emily was obsessed with the show, she's been wanting to go to Chelsea and hadn't been able to yet. She also found this tea place called The Chelsea Teapot and really wanted to go there. At the beginning of the trip, she told us she wanted to go do afternoon tea for her birthday. So Kelsey made a reservation for a bunch of girls at The Chelsea Teapot. 


It was a surprise for the girls so we all had to go there separately. There wasn't a tube station near it so we had to take the tube to Sloane Street and walk down King's Road. I think it was about a 2 mile walk to get there! Once we found it, we went inside and there was a room set up for us downstairs. It was such a cute place. The walls and furniture were all pastels and it was decorated so cute. There was gorgeous china set all around the table so of course we all took a million pictures of it.


After tea, everyone split up. I wanted to go back to Spitalfields Market to get a scarf I had seen there a few weeks ago. I tried to go yesterday but the website said the market isn't open on Saturdays. We didn't have anything to do for the rest of the day so I thought this would be a perfect time to go, especially since this was our last weekend here.


I made it to Spitalfields and went straight to the booth that had the scarfs. Apparently I was lucky because she told me she ran out of the scarfs a few weeks ago and just got them back in. I looked around a little but some booths were already packing up because they were about to close in 30-45 minutes. Then I picked up some dinner from the grocery store and headed back to the flat.

Store Design and Visual Merchandising - #16

Today we left the flat around 9am to go to Portobello Market. We didn't have class on Wednesday like we normally do because we were supposed to go to the market on our own. Going on a Saturday is supposed to be much better than a weekday so we all decided we would rather do that. The other girls wanted to go later in the day but I went at 9 with Mary because she offered to show us around.

I really liked the area around the market. Notting Hill is so quaint and such a cute part of the city. I loved the typical buildings where each apartment was a different color. We walked past all of the shops that were before the market on Portobello Road. They all looked like something I would like but some of them weren't even open yet. Then we stumbled upon the market and started walking through it.

I didn't know all that much about the market before coming here. Mary told us it was the largest and 2 miles long! As a group, we walked past all of the stands that were general merchandise until we got to the food. When we got to the food, we decided to split up. I didn't really want any of the food so I turned around and took my time walking back in the direction we had come from. This time I got to pay more attention to the stalls and particularly the stores on the side of the market. The market had everything from tea sets to antique jewelry to furs. You name it and they probably had it. I mostly looked at the stalls with costume jewelry. There was so much to look at, it was a little overwhemling. Anna was right when she said you have to go with something in mind to look for because if you don't, you won't be able to focus on anything. That's exactly what happened. I wasn't sure what to expect and I didn't have anything in particular to look for so I was just kind of roaming around. Before I left, I did get a small canvas bag. It says The Notting Hill Shopping Bag on one side and the other side has cupcakes on it. It's recyclable and was designed by school children in the Notting Hill area.

The market itself was fun to experience and I'm glad I went. However, most of the stalls are cluttered and that makes it hard to look. The stores on the side lining the market were very small and didn't have much merchandise. I did like going into a couple of those, though. On my way out, I stopped at some of the boutiques that I had been eyeing on our way in. They were all open now so I went in several of them. Some were higher scale than the others and you could tell a huge difference by the store design. The cheaper ones were cluttered and packed full. You could barely move once you were inside. The nicer ones were more spaced out and their window displays were more deliberate. One store I went into was completely jewelry and it was covered from floor to ceiling of glass cases full of jewelry. It was really busy and everyone inside had trouble moving, it was so backed up. Overall, I really enjoyed Portobello. I can see some similarities between this market and the others but this one had more antiques and unique items that can't be found everywhere.

Store Design and Visual Merchandising - #15

This morning we had our British Life and Culture class at 10:00. We gave our final presentations today. Before our trip, each person picked a place that they were excited to visit in London. We all had to give short presentations about the place to the group before we left. I chose Selfridges. I didn't know much about it, except that it was a large department store and that it had won the Best Department Store in the World Award for the second time in a row. I had researched the store to find out about it's history but I didn't really know what it'd be like. We actually went to Selfridges during our first Store Design and Visual Merchandising class so I got to experience it early on. The department store itself was really cool and unique but at the end of the day, it was just a department store. However, they have all these special events going on this summer. They have this big celebration called the Big British Bang, which celebrates the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics. The three parts to the celebration are the Big British Shop, the Big Yellow Shop, and the Golf and Tea Party on the roof. These special events were my favorite part and really set Selfridges apart from every other department store. So I focused my presentation on these events. I liked hearing about other people's places they visited too. Although, many people were disappointed with their places so I felt like I experienced them enough through their pictures and didn't actually need to go.

After class, we had lunch at the Farmer's Market that was outside behind the building. Emily and I got hamburgers again and I think they were the same ones that were at the Real Foods Market that we had been to before. They were so good. The best food I've eaten in London has been from these markets. When we finished lunch, we all road the train to Greenwich for our day trip. The area just became a Royal Borough, which I thought was cool. We had a tour with Sean and saw many things around Greenwich. We even saw them setting up an equestrian center for the Olympics there. We also saw the Old Royal Naval College and the National Maritime Museum. I was disappointed we couldn't walk up to the meridian, which was closed because of the Olympics.

After the tour, we walked around the area a little while and went to the market. This market was very different than all the others. There weren't many vendors there. They all had knick knacks and odds and ends. It kind of felt like a yard sale at some of the tables because everything was so random. However, they had a lot of costume jewelry, which was fun to look at. Mary said the town is trying really hard to keep the market the way it is. Many of the markets are turning corporate and all of the vendors are selling the same thing. But this market is different because each person's things are so eclectic.

British Life and Culture - #21

Today was our last British Life and Culture classroom class. We met for class at the ULU at 10:00. We were split up into pairs and each pair had to complete a small quiz. We had a set of questions about a certain topic and we had to answer three of them to share with the class. My partner was Emily and we had the topic London Men and Women. The three people we talked about were Madame Tussauds, Sarah Siddons, and Ava, the daughter of Lord Byron. Jose seemed pretty familiar with Sarah Siddons, who was a Shakespearean actress and known for the role of Lady MacBeth. Jose said she was really famous. He was also intrigued by Ava, who was the world's first computer programmer. Mary knew a lot about Ava and her background. It was so interesting to hear about everyone's questions they answered. We heard about everything from theater, to the London underground, to the London dead. When everyone was done answering their questions, we got to leave.

Emily and I went back to the flat to have lunch. After we ate, she went to meet Kelsey so they could go to Camden Market together. I had already been there for class and it wasn’t my favorite part of London so I decided not to go. I wanted to go visit the store that I was doing a project on for my Store Design and Visual Merchandising class. Mary said she would go with me, which I was so glad about. We had passed the store before on one of our walks during class a couple weeks ago. I thought the setup of the store was really interesting so I tried to take a picture. The front wall was all glass and everyone inside the store could see out. When I was going to take the picture, I could tell they weren’t thrilled about it. I was nervous about going back and asking them a bunch of questions and Mary is really good with that sort of thing so I was happy she offered to go. We finally met up and had a little trouble finding the store. I knew what area it was in and what road it was on but I couldn’t remember exactly where it was. I looked it up on the internet before we left so I went to pull out my phone to look it up again but I forgot I couldn’t use the internet here without wifi, which has turned out to be a hassle sometimes, like this one. We eventually found it and went inside. I asked a saleswoman some questions and she was really nice. She answered everything for me and gave me a lot of useful information.

Then Mary left to meet up with Kelsey and Emily but I wanted to walk around the area a little more. We had only been to that part of London for a little while during class so I wanted to see what else was there. After, I took the metro to Kensington and walked around that area for a little while. Then it started raining so I headed back to the flat.

British Life and Culture - #20

Today was our last day in Paris. The girls I was staying with, Anna Marie, Lauren, and Erika, got train tickets back to London earlier in the day. I wanted to stay an extra day and the other girls did too so we all got tickets for 6:00pm. Anna Marie, Lauren, and Erika had to leave at 6:00am so they got up at 5:30 and because our room was so small, that's also when I got up. I tried to fall back asleep after they left but I just couldn't.

I was going to meet up with the other group, Leah, Haley, Nicole, and Abby. They said they were leaving their flat at 9:30am so I told them I would head over around 9. I didn't think they would wake up much before 9 so I was trying to pass the time as I waited. I watched French tv for a little while. The only things that were on at 6 in the morning were cartoons and news. Since news in English isn't too entertaining to me anyway I decided to go with the cartoons. Finally 8:00 rolled around so I got ready for the day and I packed up all my stuff. I ended up leaving my hotel at 8:45 and hoped I didn't show up to their flat before they woke up. I walked to the metro station and tried to go to the little breakfast place we'd been going to everyday but it was closed since it was early Sunday morning. Not much else was open either. I went down into the station and it was so empty. I guess Paris is pretty empty on Sundays like London. After all the stops, I finally made it to their flat. But it was 9:45!! It took me an entire hour to get from our hotel to their flat. I had no idea how out of the way our hotel really was.

Then we all left their flat and went to Starbucks for breakfast. We caught a cab and headed to Sacre Coeur. I thought it was funny that the cab dropped us off right at the doorstep. We didn't even have to climb all of those steps! It wasn't raining today so I was glad I came to it for the second day in a row. The day before was so overcast we couldn't see much. We went inside and walked around. When we came out, we decided we would head down into the little town for lunch. On the way down, I kept looking for the artists that my mom had told me about. I thought they weren't there the day before because it was raining but it was bright and sunny today and I still couldn't find any of them. We stopped at the souvenir shops along the way. Then we went to a restaurant for lunch.

From there, the girls wanted to go to Longchamp since they're made in Paris. We tried to catch a cab but were having trouble because there were 5 of us. Most cabs were small cars and only fit 4. We wanted to try to squeeze 5 but apparently it's illegal so we were having trouble finding a driver who would be willing to. We finally did and when we got to Longchamp, we were disappointed to find that they were closed since it was Sunday. We got out and walked a block down to Laduree. The other girls got macaroons. Then we tried to catch a cab again but ran into the same problem. Since we were in a nicer area, I knew none of the drivers would be willing to. Abby and I took the metro to their flat. I stopped at a fruit stand and got an apple and banana before we went in. We packed up all of our stuff and got back on the metro to head to Gare de Nord, the train station. We got there in plenty of time. We got a beignet before boarding the train and then we were off to London again!

Store Design and Visual Merchandising - #14

Today we went to walk around the Southwark area. We all met at the London Bridge Tube Station and walked to the Borough area. I finally got to see  Borough Market! I've been wanting to go there along with Anna, Kelsey, Emily and Mary but they went over the long weekend while I was in Paris. It's mostly a food market and since we went in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday, it wasn't all that busy. Apparently they have other things besides food, like clothes, but I didn't see those on our quick walk through. I had just eaten lunch too so I didn't get to eat anything but I might have to take a trip back there before we leave London to try some of the food. Mary said that they have really good grilled cheeses at one of the booths. 

After Borough Market, we walked along the River Thames. I had already been in this area twice before but I didn't realize where we were because we started out on the opposite end. We walked past Shakespeare's Globe Theater again and Jose gave us a little history on it. Apparently the original one burnt down shortly after Shakespeare's death. For the longest time, there wasn't a building there. The current one was built 20 years ago and is a replica of the original. It was built by an American actor, who was appalled at the fact that there wasn't a building there to commemorate the Globe. 

Then we were standing by the Tate Modern Museum and it started pouring down rain so we ran inside for a few minutes. According to Mary, Brad Goreski was at the museum the same time we were! But we didn't see him. After that, we walked down the river to the Gabriel's Wharf area. We looked in all the little shops there. It's full of craft store and boutiques. There were a ton of recyclable and environmentally friendly items in the stores. They were all very small but packed full. Some had clothes and shoes, but not all of them. Accessories were very popular, though. A couple of the stores were very hippie-like. The area around the stores was very cute. It was a little square. On one side were the shops and on the other were restaurants. There were table and chairs in between. This is one of the few areas in Southwark that hasn't ended up in the hands of real estate developers. 

After we explored this area, we walked across the Hungerford Bridge to the tube station. Then we headed back to our flat. 

Store Design and Visual Merchandising - #13

Today we went to the market in Camden. Jose told us it was very punk, boho, and hippie. I thought it was more punk that anything. It was all very dark and edgy. There were a ton of piercing and tattoo shops. There were vulgar words and symbols on t-shirts or other merchandise in some of the stores. The people there also fit the feeling of the area - they were very alternative.

The market itself was interesting because it wasn't booths set up. They were actual stores and looked more permanent. However, they were a little rinky dink. A lot of them had music blaring that went along with the attitude of their store. Some of the stores had strobe lights, which gave off a party/rave feel. The most common merchandise there was accessories.

There were a lot of vintage shops in this area. I also found that knock-offs were popular. I saw fake Chanel earrings and a fake Louis Vuitton wallet in one of the stores. Every once in a while, I'd come across a very girly store. I would say they were 5-10 in the market. They had a lot of pastel colored clothing and lace was common. They were all owned by Asian people. Everything was very cutesy and bows were everywhere. However, most of the stores were punk.

There was one store outside the market that was on an adjacent wall. It was called Punk Glamour. They had three simple mannequins in the window. They were dressed in skulls, which are typical of the punk style.

The facades of the stores were really unique. They would have giant objects above the doorway, like a big converse shoe was the most common.

This market was not like the rest of London at all. It was like it's own little world. It was also very different from Spitalfields market. Spitalfields was definitely cleaner and the area was a lot nicer. There were restaurants surrounding it and it was covered by a sky-light roof. Spitalfields is made up of entirely booths so it wasn't as permanent as Camden was. I think I liked the atmosphere of Spitalfields more just because it was cleaner and in a better area.